Caetano Veloso, the Brazilian super hero of MPB (Música Popular Brazileira) said in an interview in 2004 that if it was up to him, Rap de Felicidade would be one of the funks that had a guaranteed spot of honour in the history of the Brazilian music. The song, published 1995, is perhaps the biggest funk song of all the time and if you are even slightly interested in the genre, you probably have heard it already a countless of times.
Rap da Felicidade is sung by MCs Cidinho & Doca - born as Sidney da Silva and Marcos Paulo de Jesus Peizoto - from the favela of Cidade de Deusin Jacarepaguá, the Zona Oeste. The infamous favela was built to accomodate the refugees of a deluge in 1966 and quickly descended into an inferno of violence, due to the rich neighbourhoods rising around it and the resulting increase in the demand and traffic for drugs in area. Cidade de Deus was made famous by the book of the same name from 1997, by Paulo Linz, and especially the already classic film based on the book.
The song became an immeadiate success. Together with Rap de Armas and Rap do Borel, the equally classic hits of Junior & Leonardo and William & Duda, published around the same time, it paved the way for the funk carioca to enter the record industry and the main-stream consciousness. Cidinho & Doca made their first full album, Eu só quero é ser feliz, and got to taste a slice of a sweeter life: Cidinho later recalled how he suddendly found himself as a happy owner of a house and a car - the stuff of dreams for a young favelado - and 21 pairs of imported tennis shoes on top of that. Cidinho & Doca have kept up a succesful career for over ten years and Cidinho's daughter, born in 1996, is already following in her father's footsteps on the career of an MC.
The impact the song has made is partly due to it's highly conscious social content. It serves to illustrate that not all the funk music is about praising the organized crime, like the proibidão-funk, or detailed descriptions of sex. That's why I've posted the lyrics below, with a somewhat free translation. I especially like the part about the tourists and coconuts, since like a proper gringo, I often enjoy coconut water by the beach, too. Aqua de coco even rhymes with sufocu.
| Rap da Felicidade Eu só quero é ser feliz Andar tranqüilamente na favela onde eu nasci E poder me orgular e ter a consiência que o pobre tem o seu lugar Fé em Deus... DJ! Minha cara autoridade eu já não sei o que fazer Com tanta violência eu sinto medo de viver Pois moro na favela e sou muito desrespeitado A tristeza e a alegria aqui caminham lado a lado Eu faço uma oração a uma santa protetora Mas sou interrompido a tiros de metralhadora Enquanto os ricos moram numa grande e casa bela O pobre é humilhado e esculachado na favela Já não agüento mais esta onda de violência Só peço a autoridade um pouco mais de competência Diversão hoje em dia não podemos nem pensar Pois até lá nos bailes eles vêm nos humilhar Fica lá na praça que era tudo tão normal Agora virou moda a violência no local Pessoas inocentes que não têm nada a ver Estão perdendo hoje seu direito de viver Nunca vi cartão-postal que se destaque uma favela Só vejo paisagem muito linda e muito bela Quem vai pro exterior da favela sente saudades O gringo vem aqui e não conhece a realidade Vai para a Zona Sul para conhecer água de coco E o pobre na favela passando sufoco Trocada a presidência uma nova esperança Sofri na tempestade agora quero a bonança O povo tem a força só precisa descobrir Se eles lá não fazem nada faremos tudo daqui Rap of Happiness My only wish is to be happy Go peacefully in the favela where I was born And be proud and know that the people have their place Faith in God... DJ! My dear authority, I don't know what to do With such violence, I'm afraid to live 'Cause I live in favela and am very disrespeced The sadness and the joy walk here side by side I do a prayer to a protector saint But am interrupted by shots of a machine gun While rich live in a big and beautiful house The poor are humilated and told off in the favela No longer do I stand this wave of violence I just ask from the authority a little more competence Amusement today, we cannot hope for Since there to bailes they come to humiliate us There in the square everything was so normal Now the violence is a fashion in the place Innocent people who have nothing to do with it Are asking today for their right to live Never saw a post card that pictures a favela Just landscape, very nice, very beautiful Who goes by the favela feels sadnesses The gringo comes here and doesn't meet the reality Goes to Zona Sul to meet the coconut water And the poor in the favela have a hard time Change of the precidency, a new hope I suffered in the storm, now I want the calm People be strong, all you need to see is if they do nothing there we’ll do it all from here |
"Eight years later after the song's initial success, the Rap da Felicidade is one of the few funks that, in the mixed crowd of the TIM festival, under the direction of DJ Marlboro, is sung together by everyone - from the patricinhas [a nickname for the daughters of the upper middle-class, among whom Patricia is a particularily popular name for a girl] to the waitresses selling beer, from the clubbers to the security", writes Silvio Essinger on the importance of the song in the book Batid ão: Uma História do Funk. Batidão, by the way, is a highly recommendable reference, full of interesting anecdotes, for the funk carioca-fans reading portuguese.
And after the duo's letter to the authorities, from the favela with love, let's finally take a listen to the song:
| Cidinho & Doca: Rap da Felicidade (zShare) |
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