Racionais MC's: From the Streets of São Paulo

Four young men form a group in the outskirts of São Paulo. The end of the eighties. Rap is just spreading and they describe their own neighbourhoods: police violence, prison, racism and poverty. They do not work with record companies. They press their own cassettes and sell them on the street. Radio does not play them, television does not call, and the albums still sell in the millions. One album describes a prison massacre and that track causes argument across the country. The documentary shows the group today and those days together. Juliana Vicente directs. Mano Brown, KL Jay, Ice Blue and Edi Rock speak in it. It is a Brazilian production. The documentary went out on streaming and was the first substantial film about the group. The matter it treats is staying independent; the group grew by staying outside the mainstream system. The documentary takes race and class in Brazil as direct subjects. The narrative makes heavy use of archive recordings and concert footage. What the group's words meant socially is inside the narrative; the songs entered school curricula as well. The narrative does not go far into the tensions between the members. The documentary was made under the group's control and the critical distance is weak. Its limit is method; the narrative is chronological, weighted to admiration, and there is little that is new. Who it is for: viewers curious about the history of hip hop and Brazilian culture. Who it is not for: it is single voiced, the subject narrow, and the ending a celebration.