Sdjsfdjklfsd. Suspended because of rain? Oh cruel baseball gods. On the plus side, I didn’t miss much when I picked up a shivering Cabide DJ from 30th Street Station, laden with MPC, Miami bass records, and a boatload of DVDs and CDs.
Who is Cabide DJ? Only the craziest, most incredible live performing DJ from all of Rio de Janeiro, cranking out an endless wattage of funk (aka baile funk or funk carioca), Rio’s homegrown style derived from Miami booty bass.
Over at my bread ‘n’ butter blog, Beat Diaspora, I explained the full story. But to summarize for the Philadelphians: Cabide is one of the originators of this crazy mash-up of Miami bass beats with Portuguese vocals and off the wall samples. Every weekend, a million plus cariocas (residents of Rio) frequent massive bailes funk (funk balls — so to call the genre “baile funk” is a misnomer; to any real funkeiro it’s just plain funk). Some are thrown by the armed criminal factions that control Rio’s drug trade in the city’s 700+ favelas (squatter communities, City of God is a good place to start though not at all the full story), but plenty are thrown in sports clubs, community spaces, out in the street, or even in chic clubs downtown. By and large, though, this is the music of the city’s young & poor, but endlessly exuberant.
Other than mega-star DJ Marlboro, it’s a first-time event to get a legit DJ born and raised in Rio’s funk scene up to the States and playing shows outside Brazuca (Brazilian immigrant) hotspots like Newark; Boston; Queens; Hyannis, MA; Framingham, MA; Danbury, CT; and Bridgeport, CT. Even XLR8R is blowing it up. And to some extent, Philly is a natural stop for a funk DJ, seeing as O Senhor Diplo was instrumental in popularizing the sound among American ears (cf some early mixtapes), which he continues with the documentary Favela on Blast. It just premiered in Rio a couple weeks ago, and Cabidão himself makes an appearance. Diplo and Cabide will be sharing the stage toward the end of the Mad Decent tour in Bmore (thx Cullen!), and maybe Philly too if the stars align (Starlight Ballroom, that is). Plus, Philly’s got a growing Brazilian community. The Flamin Hotz posse is gonna blanket the Northeast tomorrow with flyers, followed by gorging ourselves on Brazilian BBQ (assuming this rain delay keeps up). Speaking of FHZ, consider yourself lucky that we dropped some massive funk releases this year, which facilitated Cabide’s tour.
The local sched:
- Tuesday we kick it off with WKDU’s Rhythm N’ Time at 1-3 pm (listen live online or 91.7 on the FM dizzle).
- Thursday night, an FHZ throw down at the Medusa (or should it be “O Medusão”).
- Next Monday, we be Jangin’ it up. Flyer forthcoming.
And if you weren’t convinced already, just check out the motherfuckin’ sampler de fogo.
Too bad U.S. customs got their panties in a wad about this one. He’ll be bringing the heat regardless.