Brazilian baile funk or funk carioca can be pretty heavy and wierd the first time you listen to it, so if your not immediately feeling the Bassquaking beats, crazed rave stabs and hysterical portugese rhymes you have to put in in some sort of context. Think 2 live crew's' 'Me so horny' crossed with early Prodigy and your nearly there.
I first heard funk at
Sonar 04 when the Godfather of funk
DJ Marlboro killed it. Opening with Tag Team's 'Whoomp- There it is', he played an incredible hour long set of dirty Rio funk, to thousands of Euro-ravers that had never heard it before. Within seconds the dancefloor was full. I was liking these beats so much that I went to see him play again in London a week later. He gave me a couple of cds and then I was hooked. I did a bit of research and found out that this music wasn't made by some trendy dance producers but by some of the poorest people in South America who live in the favela ghettos around the outskirts of Rio.
Marlboro had brought back some Miami Bass records to Brazil in the late 80's a few kids started making their own localised versions of these beats with some fierce Mcing over the top. They started playing them at Bailes ( favela Balls ) and it became the music of the people in the same way that Hip Hop was born in the Bronx in the late 70's. Everyone else in Brazil thought it was rubbish.
A year later I was lucky enough to be passing through Rio and tried to find some fresh funk. It wasn't happening. I thought this stuff would be everywhere but no one knew what I was talking about and I spent a few days trying to explain to various record shop staff that I didn't want to buy any James Brown cds. Eventually I found some in a dirty market in downtown Rio where some kids were selling cds out of a bag.I bought a few for about 10p each. They were incredible.
While I was there I visited Rocinha favela, the largest slum in Rio. It was a pretty crazy place and lived up to all the cliches in
City of God. Some gangster kid walked passed me carrying a golden gun like in James Bond. Apart from that it was quite chilled and all the people I met were really friendly. I could hear funk blasting from people's shacks and saw kids in the narrow streets practising their funk dance routines. It was inspiring to see peope living in such a dangerous and poverty stricken place but they are still making some of the freshest and original forms of global hip hop.
This is how deeply they Roll in RioI have made this bitesized mix with some of my favourite tunes. The sound quality is a bit shit in places but it should be played with as much bass as possible for the full funk impact. However, like drum 'n' bass you won't really 'get it' till you hear it on a big soundsystem. But for now...Play loud.
download ROCINHA FUNK ATTACK Tracklist
INTRO
BASS GEN XX - ROCINHA STREET TRACK 6
UNKNOWN - ROCKY THEME
DEIZE TIGRONA - INJECAO
UNKNOWN - FUNK NEUROTICO 1
UNKNOWN - FUNK NEUROTICO 2
FELIPE CARVALHO DJ & MC KULA - VIRA DE BRUCO 2006
BOLA DE FOGO E AS FORGUENTAS - ATOLADINHA
UNKNOWN - FUNK CRUEL 10
MC SAQUINHO - MONTAGEM THE SMITH
DENNIS DJ & MC CABO - TIRE A CAMISA ( DJ GORKY REMIX )
DJ SUJINHO - TA DOMINADO
PITBULL - ABERTURA
SD BOYS - POPOZUDA DO PLANETA
UNKNOWN - FUNK NEUROTICO 23
UNKNOWN - MONTAGEM COCA SKOL
BONDE DO VINHO - DEITA NO CHAO ( REMIX )
OS CARRASCOS - TRES TENNORES
Beat diaspora This bloke is living it.
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