Coke. Guns. Booty. Beats. It’s the new style of “funk” that has taken Rio’s favelas by storm:
Five A.M.: In the sultry depths of Rio de Janeiro’s Nova Holanda shantytown — or favela (pronounced fuh-VELL-luh) — more than 1,000 people are dancing in a narrow street. A wall of speakers stacked 15 feet high and 60 feet wide sends a dirty electro beat shuddering through the ground. On a tiny stage, MCs Juca and Paulinho* shout out the lyrics of their hit “24 Hours”: “Bullets into the Terceiro,” they say in chorus. “Shoot the snitch!” Suddenly the crackle of gunfire cuts through the bass: From the middle of the swaying crowd, someone is shooting into the air.A sea of hands goes up: The men point their index fingers and cock their thumbs, waving imaginary guns over their heads. Other hands form into C and V shapes — the Rio gang sign of the Comando Vermelho, the “Red Command” drug faction that runs this favela. On the stage beside Juca and Paulhino stands a young man in his early 20s; he has a pencil moustache, wears an expensive blue T-shirt with a picture of a surfer on the front and is holding a sub-machine gun. He smiles with approval at the show.