Ideologies of Marginality in Brazilian Hip Hop

A Visual Critical Ethnography Of Youth Development In A Rio de Janeiro Favela

“…Specifically in Brazil, hip hop has been used widely to contest the subordinate place of Black people in Brazil and form an identity for marginalized youth (Pardue, 2008;Yúdice, 2003). Early Brazilian hip hop modeled itself after early U.S.…”

“…NGOs associated with the women's and Black women's movement; and state departments of culture, education, labor and health (Pardue, 2008).…”

“…In his ethnography of São Paulo hip hoppers, Pardue (2008) found that virtually all were invested in telling the reality that they knew with the aim of legitimating and possibly empowering themselves while telling their stories (mainly of race and class) to mainstream Brazil. Common themes of hip hop narration include police brutality and corruption; and the scarcity of schools, libraries, cultural centers, and social services.…”

“…Pardue (2008) referred to a study that estimated that there were an approximate 5,000 hip hop performance groups in São Paulo alone, and that tens of thousands of youth looked to hip hop to shape or confirm their identities. Yúdice (2003) explained how hip hop has become the basis for a youth development ideology in numerous NGOs in both Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, but devoted much of his research to funk music in Rio de Janeiro.…”

“…The literature talked about hip hop and funk music being the most prominent in the lower class urban center of Brazil. But where hip hop is the music most popular in the favelas of São Paulo, funk is the music that evolved in the favelas in Rio de Janeiro (Neate & Platt, 2010;Sneed, 2008;Pardue, 2008;Yúdice, 2003). A few of the participants characterized the music popular with favela youth as being hip hop and funk (i.e., Gão, Maiquinho, Rafael).…”