OSGEMEOS: Segredos - Ep. 01 - Todos os caminhos levam à São Bento

The following series was recorded duringthe Covid-19 pandemic. All the safety protocols were applied and the guests and crew were tested. In our youth, we had no idea of what this could become in the future and lots of people didn't support our opinions and needs of fun and culture.

We didn't want to follow a cultural pattern, we wanted to know the culture itself. And suddenly after so long for you to be who you are and for us to have this space to talk about our trajectory, our history, this means that we were right. SECRETS <i>Our history blends with Hip Hop culture and its four elements.

</i> <i>Formed by different generations of artists who came from the street</i> <i>And nothing builds itself. </i> <i>And this union is what fortifies and keeps Hip Hop alive. </i> Nelsão, you had the illustrious idea of going downtown, put a radio there, open a circle and dance.

Me and downtown had an identity because since 77 we used to met on Viaduto do Chá and they put K7 tapes, James Brown, stuff like that and we played, we danced, fooling around. Then what happened? It happened that when we passed on the 24 de Maio, in the crossing of 24 de Maio and Don José Gaspar, there was a garden with a monument, full of plants, we used to sit in that place and in front of it, there was the big stone.

So there, man, you could do backspins, headspins, you name it. . .

It was our stage. Because of that, we start to dance more on 24 de Maio. <i>It's my beat!

</i> <i>It's my beat! Yeah! </i> This is Ricardinho, the infamous Electric Boogie, one of the biggest culprits of all this happening.

<i>These are the Electric Boogies! </i> When I went to the USA in 1982, on the weekends, there were people who did parties, right? - That's when you saw the breakdance?

- That's when I saw the breakdance. Until then, I only knew how to dance funk, I enjoyed funk. How was the first time you saw it?

If this is dancing I want to dance, because everything new I wanted to learn, you know. Then I said, "I'll dance. " and then, on the day I returned to Brazil, it was my turn to enter the cypher.

Were you there André, on that day? I think they were on that day. - Were you there that day?

- I was. When he comes with the information from there, he comes with the style of footwork from there, he comes with the Moonwalk. The moves he put there in Fantasy were already a bit ahead.

- You used to dance? - Not even Michael Jackson. .

. No, I used to do capoeira. So, the battle I had with him was a battle of an original B-boy that he was - .

. . against a capoeira.

- And how did you start? I started dancing because in my neighborhood there was a funk group. and they danced funk, but they also did capoeira.

So they mixed capoeira with funk, which reminds a little the breakdance, right? The break, it's kind of a transition from funk to break, because when we realized, we were already doing breakdance, but it was still funk, it was a mix, right! ?

But when I saw, like, the originality that he brought to the break, then I saw that it was different from the funk. I said, "Wait a minute, what he's doing is different. " And then the break arrived.

That we didn't know the name, we didn't know what it was, we only knew that it was amazing and we wanted to learn that. Broooo, when I saw that I said "That's it! " Did you use to dance on 24 de Maio?

- Did you join the cypher? - Sure, several times! The first time I went in, I saw Nelsão: "Let me dance!

" He said, "Waaaaait! ! !

", you know how he is. And it went on and on and then everyone left, the people who were watching, who gave money, they've passed the hat Then, bro, he said "Man, now you dance! " "Now I don't want to, there's nobody watching.

" He said, "On my cypher, only enter the ones I know that can dance. " I went to the ground, did a backspin, stopped on an inverted bridge, when I got up, he said: "Man, you dance well, stick with us! What's your name?

" I said, "My name is Jaque. " "No, your name is Jack! " And then I also remember the 24 de Maio, - What do you remember from the 24th?

- São Bento. . .

At the 24 de Maio, I only saw it one time. I was working as an office-boy and I heard the sound, right! ?

It was playing an electro, a break. Then I went to the cypher, and I saw the guys dancing, I said, "Ooohhh. .

. " Look at this! That's it!

- What year was that? - 83, 84. .

. around that. At the end of 84 we were on the street at the beginning of January of 85 there was huge rain in São Paulo, a lot of flooding and I was weak, I had pneumonia, a problem in my lungs And I stopped, the doctor thought that I was gonna die.

. . And I couldn't go back.

And so, we didn't have the strength to go on without him, because he was the one in charge of everything, of fights, he used to handle everything. We were kids; he used to sort things out, you know? So, they went to São Bento Station and they saw a place there that didn't rain, They've said, "It's here.

" And São Bento is nothing more than the people who were on the street and went to São Bento. It became an extension, right. But it was in the São Bento that the crews rise, Beat Street, the graffiti, the desire to record music, make records, so I think there.

. . Was the evolution of those coming with us.

. . Hip Hop started to have a format there, at São Bento, Now it's Hip Hop, everybody.

. . It's when we understood what Hip Hop was.

We understood what the hip hop was about. HIP HOP IS A CULTURE BASED ON 4 ELEMENTS The first time we went to São Bento, that they took us to São Bento, I remember the first person we saw it was you. Me?

<i>When I remember, from the times of São Bento</i> <i>Let's say, at the beginning of the movement</i> <i>When we didn't even think about video clip</i> <i>The flow of rap was much simpler</i> Exiting the subway, right away, we saw you. <i>To get to the subway I took the bus</i> <i>A braided in my feet like I always wear</i> <i>My street friends next to me</i> <i>tripping on the sound coming from our radio</i> You were in that yellow and black outfit and that Kangol you wore, which was a little hat It was a hat. .

. I don't know, for a while that was my trademark. - A trademark - Yeah, it became my trademark.

I remember that we saw that, "Wow, he's like the guy from the movie. . .

" It was really crazy when you showed up at São Bento, as you were little kids, you were the youngest and then we were very careful when you went there because we had in mind that it was very important. . .

The prejudice towards us was so big that it was very important for people like you, at that age attend São Bento. Because it showed to other people that it was a family environment, an environment where. .

. - Healthy. - You'd learn positive things.

Cultural. And we took great care to make you feel good and also that you don't see things you shouldn't, since you were still kids. THE FOUR ELEMENTS WON A VERY SPECIAL PLACE IN DONWTOWN.

And there we have the unexpected DJ DJ, MC, B-boy. . .

and the guardian. I just remember one thing, I was at São Bento, a guy from the Eldorado label arrived and said, "Who makes graffiti here at São Bento? " You were already gone.

"Ok, what do you need? " "You'll paint the cover of Thaíde and DJ Hum's album. " How's that?

And then there is 10, 11am or so Thaíde and DJ Hum end up going to the studio to take the picture You know what's the great irony? It's that the guys spent the whole night, making the graffiti, but on the cover is me with the spray can. São Bento was very important, right?

! For this exchange. .

. - For me São Bento. .

. - Of information, knowledge. .

. São Bento could be for us, you can say, like an opening like a TV show audience leader for those who liked that and didn't have any information. So there came a time when there were 40 people there, everyone had something to say, every week something new.

It was prevalent that, "Look what I learned. . .

", "Did you see that? ", "Look what I learned. .

. ", "Look how it was. .

. ", "How do you do it? ", "Look at my new tape.

", "Whose sound is that? ", "How is that? " And then what grab me was the Malcolm McLaren videoclip.

I said, "What the fuck is this? " This thing is the sound of the record, I could hear it, listening on the headphones in my stereo. And I would tell the guys in the hood, and they, "No way, that doesn't exist.

" And I started to make some little balls, then I was playing. We had a lot of instrumental tracks at the time. When I got there, that I played, I played the.

. . And I took another copy and.

. . Then I bring it back, but this.

. . you had a coffee and came back but the vocals didn't start Then Marcião said, "Holy shit, you do like the Americans!

The Scratch, bro! " {\an8}Move a record back and forth making percussive and thythmic sounds {\an8}This stuff has a name? I just called it editing, because you keep mixing again.

"No man, you're prolonging the beat. " Then he pulls out a magazine, "This here, it's what the guys do! " And I had no clue, bro.

. . But it was that scratch.

. . - The Baby Scratch.

- But it's magic! And that's when he said, "What do you do? " I said, "I come from balls, parties and such.

. . " Then he said: "No, we are going to São Bento, but next week I will bring a guy.

. . Guess what?

Who also does like the Americans, sings like an American. " But then when I met Thaíde who did a rap, in honor of Cláudio, who had died and we made a connection and then I was invited to join the Back Spin Crew. But you had your style of doing it because I remember.

. . with the microphone you took the crowd, "Let's go!

" "Now let's do it from here to there. . .

" - It was kind of an MC, right! ? - Something like an MC Because then you start to imagine, see on the records, then you start to deduct.

The B-boy is the first exponent of the Hip Hop movement. Abroad, the DJs already existed. We didn't even know what Hip Hop was.

Here, the DJs were doing parties. It was a time when information was arriving, right, much more information was arriving than in our generation. We remember being here in Cambuci and hear: "There's a DJ that has some songs.

" We were kids, saw the guys dancing on the doorstep of our parents' "Where do you get these songs? " "It's the Ninja, Ninja, Ninja. .

. " Who is Ninja, brother? The ninja became like an entity.

We need to know who this Ninja is! Until we managed to go to his house. Really close to where we lived!

And we got there, the record players, - . . .

the mixer. . .

- His house looked like a lab. An amplifier, I don't know what, everything connected. - "Dude, it looks like.

. . - Full of tapes hanging.

It looks like what we saw on Beat Street, when the guy is mixing, it's the same. Ninja was the guy who saved me, once at Palmeiras. Ninja saved me once.

I went there to play with Edi Rock and Ninja was the Circuit Power DJ. You know. Then I went to play the record, on a 1200 MK, right, bro.

I've used to train with the wood turntable, the Garrard ones. Then I've played the instrumental, scratched it, and it skipped. .

. Then I tried, scratched it, skipped. .

. Then people started booing me, bro, It was the time of "Get out of the ball. " Guys would tear you down.

So the Ninja came to me, the guys booing me: "Mother fucker, get out! " "You sucker! " Then I got scared.

I froze. Then Ninja came to me and said: "Don't care about them, man. don't care about them.

Rewind the record, calm down, don't scratch anymore, just play the music. Don't care about these guys. " You know what I mean?

This I'll never forget, this can't be forgotten. So you arrived here in Cambuci, met the Fantastic Break crowd With the tapes there, the box of tapes, and that's how. .

. That's how I started to hang out {\an8}with the Portal crew. {\an8}That's when the guys took me to São Bento, {\an8}that's where I started dancing there, you know?

{\an8}Then, as an irony of fate, I hurt my leg. Then I had no other way out, I said, "I like it. " It was already in the blood.

. . You put yout focus on the music.

Then, right away, I've quit my day job and bought a pair of turntables. The whole story. .

. What's your first memory from São Bento? Both 24 de Maio and São Bento were milestones for the exchange of information.

The first memory I have, it was cold, it was a Saturday, and I arrived. . .

Right? You arrive. .

. - Shy. - Treading softly, right!

? I don't know anyone. And then I said, "Can I dance?

" Then I started dancing and the guys liked it. Yeah! !

! Fresh! When we went to São Bento bro, it was a totally abstract universe nobody knew what was gonna happen.

What's your first memory you have from Hip Hop? First memory you have or could have been - A guy from São Bento or. .

. - My first memory from Hip Hop that grab my arrention. .

. I was at the Clube da Cidade and Mc Jack entered the stage. <i>People listening and walking down this street,</i> <i>thoughtful and aimless looking for adventure.

</i> And I remember that after that moment when I saw Jack there and right after I went to São Bento, that was it, I saw Jack at the club, "Damn, this shit is crazy! " Then Brown said "Bro. .

. , São Bento! " We were kids who went to all the dances.

We went to parties from Thursday to Sunday. Our addiction was go to parties. We went to listen to music, to know new music.

Also, Brown only knew there when he became an employee at. . .

on the Stock Exchange, when he worked with Kleber and said, "We have to go! " The first one you posted there did you do it with Brown? - With Brown.

- And you Edi Rock? How was the first time you remember having a. .

. or a party in the hood? - Where it was?

- I saw it on TV, bro. <i>I'm Rock, I'm Black, I'm Samba. </i> <i>Born in São Paulo, I am a brood of Rap Bamba</i> <i>I'm from that time that only us believed in it</i> <i>a walkman in the ear fell asleep and dreamed.

</i> And then the guys were dancing on 24 de Maio, and that's what led me to go downtown. Then I went to 24th and I met the guys. In the subway, I remember that I was on the train, towards São Bento Then I saw the.

. . the one who did the mimes, in gloves and such, Don Billy.

I saw him on the subway. 16 , 15 years old if I'm not mistaken. I think I was younger.

That magic, you see on TV and. . .

as a kid you become a fan quickly. So, It was this passage from funk to rap. And the breaking was in the middle, right!

? So I met KL Jay exactly in that transition. Then after I've met KL Jay I saw him playing, he use to play with K7 tapes, 3 in 1.

And I wanted to do that. I became a KL Jay fan before I met him. I was his fan, like.

. . I admired him; he was already famous in the hood.

And then we danced a little, for a while we formed a breakdancing group. And then the party crew and then I said "I don't want to be a DJ anymore, I'm going to be MC and you're my DJ. " He said "Ok, let's go!

" <i>My name is Edi Rock and now I'm going to show that</i> <i>Rap is an art and that's why I'm going to sing. </i> <i>Turn up your radio and listen to</i> <i>the bullshit that you're gonna love</i> <i>. .

. and I wonder what would become of me if I couldn't sing. </i> It was common at the time everyone try to do everything, right!

? DJ, graffiti, B-boy. .

. We did what we could, right? You did break dancing, then you became a DJ.

It was through my introduction to Hip Hop that I wanted to go after the turntables, because. . .

What did I think? "I need to practice this! " "I need practice to learn.

" LATE 80'S The first time I went to São Bento I already had an argument with the security who were there. "Hey, go out. .

. " I said, "What's that, bro? These guys aren't even cops.

" We already had the hood mentality and the guys had other mentalities. - Its was you and Brown? - Yeah!

And we started to go there. {\an8}<i>We came out of the underworld, look at that but who would say</i> {\an8}<i>it's not the American ghetto, it's Brazil, the periphery</i> LATE 80's {\an8}<i>Anything can happen, no one can avoid</i> {\an8}<i>people who kill, people die of foolishness,</i> {\an8}<i>it's all very normal, inspiration. .

. </i> One of the two from the North and one of the two from the South met at São Bento Why do you think the group was so successful? - When did you join?

- We liked each other. . .

Right away! Like, Kleber liked Brown and I liked the way he was - It was supposed to be. - We don't know how to explain.

Cool! We also can't explain why we paint and draw together. Because the guys.

. . It is true.

<i>I've dreamed of being Thaide, the guys one by one,</i> <i>Black Junior, MC Jack, DJ Ninja and DJ Hum</i> <i>I shot to death, got lucky and went to the game,</i> <i>I come from the North Side, if I fall I'll come back younger</i> I don't know if it was at Palmeiras or Clube da Cidade. . .

I saw Thaíde in those parties that Chic Show used to bring. . .

MC's, international artists. And then I saw Kool Moe Dee and on the same day, if I'm not mistaken, Thaíde sang. I wanted to do the same, you know?

I said, "I'll try! " That's when I told Kleber, "You're going to be the DJ and I'm going to be the MC. " And then I mimic both Kool Moe Dee and Thaíde.

{\an8}<i>Throw me a rock, I'll throw you a grenade. . .

</i> When we first heard your music from Cultura de Rua, Corpo Fechado It was a game-changer. because it was a rap that spoke about a reality that you lived, that many people lived and straight to the point, in a very direct way. .

. a punch in the face Different from that thing about having fun, let's hang out, let's dance, whatever. You arrived kicking ass with that song.

It was a lot of fun and suddenly you see a funk, how we used to say, a "spoken funk. " from the hood, to the hood. For me it was a surreal because besides being the first song, the first.

. . - Autobiography?

- Yeah. . .

Let's say so. It was during the military regime, at the end of the dictatorship. Where I've said, "Throw me a rock and I'll throw you a grenade.

" "I burned a police car that goes down in the hood. " I'm a son of Ogun with Yemanjá And that played on all radio stations in the country, in the main ones, number 1 in the main radio in São Paulo, at the time, it was Band FM. So it was surreal for me.

<i>My name is Thaide</i> There are many stories, you can go on the internet, you'll find the stories. You can find records. But all this information that exists in Brazilian Hip Hop, we are the protagonists of that time because we didn't have the information.

So everything you hear about the beginnings of hip-hop, are the beginnings woven by these guys here. {\an8}It's great that we can tell our own story {\an8}and not let other people tell. {\an8}And this is a great opportunity, here's the tip for everyone, {\an8}try to tell your story, regardless of what you do, if you are a street vendor, if you are someone in the everyday hustle.

It doesn't matter. Tell your story. Only you know who you are, only you know what you feel.

NEXT EPISODE And the graffiti? How is the history of graffiti in Hip Hop? We believe that graffiti, in our life, it served as a portal.

Even without knowing what it was, how it was, style, history, it has already infected me. What would be for us, graffiti artists, without the city? What would the city be without graffiti?

And at the bottom, there was graffiti, it was the first time I paid attention. You have to take the things you like, keep drawing and drawing, understand what you like and pass it on to your drawing. I want to understand how the guy scratches.

How does he. . .

the record goes back and forth, right? and it gets a rhythm. How this magic happens?

When I touched the vinyl, I said, "This is what I want in my life! " So it wasn't seeing, it was feeling. Music for me is about feeling.

I like to compare this thing to a shamanic beat. And "BUM" and you scratch it, and you try to do something there, draw. THE NATIONAL HIP HOP IS A COLLECTIVE CONSTRUCTION.

COUNTLESS PEOPLE PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN SHAPING THIS CULTURAL MOVEMENT. THE PEOPLE THAT APPEAR IN THIS SERIES ARE JUST A FEW OF THEM. WE WOULD LIKE EVERYONE TO FEEL REPRESENTED, AS UNFORTUNATELY IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO CALL EVERYONE.

AT LEAST FOR NOW. . .