O som que vem das ruas: cultura hip-hop e música rap no Duelo de MC´s

Abstract

The present work aims to evince the relation between music and urban culture, in order to demonstrate the influence of customs and social contexts in the poetic and sound production of rap music. In order to do that, an entire trajectory was made in order to trace the origins of hip-hop culture, starting from the block parties in Kingston and New York, all the way to the city of Belo Horizonte Brazil, where the weekly Duelo de MCs (MC Duels) have taken place at the Santa Tereza overpass amphitheater between the years of 2007 and 2013. The streets, for hip-hop culture are an institution. Gathering places, for learning and discovery. It is a space where dance and MCing competitions, also known as break and freestyle battles, respectively occur. Freestyle is the development of improvised rhyming, created spontaneously by the MC or rapper. These Duelo de MCs have different types and models, the most recurrent one being the collision of offensive verses. The winner is determined according to the audience's vote, through shouts, clapping and hand-raising. Along with the rhymes, Djs play what is known as a "base", or rap instrumentals which assist in the MCs improvisation. The sound of these bases also reveals a lot about the history, culture and the social code among rappers and hip-hoppers. Manipulated in studios, with the juxtaposition of musical themes and the distortion of pitch and tone, they seek to reproduce the grime of street noises, whilst emphasizing lyrics for social justice, or perhaps as a means of personal vent for frustrations. Along with that, there is also an image repertoire of garments and video clips which try to reinforce this logic. By studying music and hip-hop culture, this work demonstrates that other themes also come about in this very universe, such as: identity, urban means, social codes, violence and representation. Face-to-face interviews were made with the Família de Rua group; an organizing entity of the Duelo, and with Douglas Din, a renowned MC at these events, in order to obtain the point of view of some central characters into the study.