Hailing from Sao Paulo, Brazil, artist Zezao got into street art in the early 90’s when kids world wide were being indoctrinated into graffiti after watching flicks like Style Wars, and Wild Style. Zezao’s blue abstract monochromatic symbols, or “flops” as he calls them, could easily be viewed as alien scripture, deciphered only by it’s author. His work was birthed out the old code that whatever one come’s with, it better be original. No second coming toys allowed. Zezao dwells in the subterranean, literally. He’s …
Tag: brazil
In terms of martial arts, when one thinks of Brazil, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) comes to mind (“Jiu-Jitsu” is an old western spelling/pronunciation for what is known in Japan as Judo). An influential figure in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from its early beginnings is Mitsuyo Maeda, a judōka (Judo expert) and a prizefighter in no holds barred competitions that traveled the world performing Judo demonstrations and fighting in various competitions. Maeda broke with Judo traditionalists, preferring combat sparing to cookie cutter kata forms, and he fought for …
When you think of Brazilian music; Samba, and Bossa Nova may come to mind, but there are other sounds like candomblé, capoeira music, choro, MPB (Música popular brasileira), music of the Tropicalia movement, rock, psychedelic, funk, Afro-Reggae, mangue bit or beat, Brazilian Hip-Hop, Baile funk/Funk carioca, and axé to name a few from the plethora of genres that exist in Brazil. There, people take sports (Football) and music with equal levels of seriousness and passion. You can learn a lot about a country’s history …
– The Roots recently released another concept album And Then You Shoot Your Cousin following the previous concept album 2011’s Undun. The concept of this new album is made up of characters, stories, satirical commentary on violence in Hip-Hop and American society in general. In an interview with Sway, Questlove and Black Thought reveal the name of the album And Then You Shoot Cousin was inspired by a line from a KRS One song. MC’s more worried about their financial backin’ Steady packin a gat as if …
With the World Cup going on in Brazil, for those not caught up by football (soccer) fever it’s a good time to revisit DJ/producer Diplo and his label Mad Decent’s 2008 documentary Favela On Blast. The documentary is about the music sub-culture in the city of Rio de Janeiro (in the poor neighborhoods, the favelas) called Baile Funk or Funk Carioca: a bass heavy sound with electro drum beats, reminiscent of Miami bass and electro funk of artists like MC …
Socials