Rap is a form whose content is determined by its performers. Rap can be party music and consciousness music, a celebration of bling and a challenge to the status quo, lyrically stupid and smart, depending on who’s behind the mike. What’s remarkable is how this African-American sound, born in the inner cities of the U.S., has blanketed the world, its gestures and styles appropriated for different purposes in different hands.
The PBS documentary “Estilo Hip Hop” (out on DVD) examines the phenomenon of political rap in three Latin American nations through the lives of representative performers, Okulto (Chile), Eli Efi (Brazil) and Magia (Cuba). All three belong to strong families and are committed to the communities where they live and work. All seemed to find a voice under the influence of American hip-hop. Discovering Malcolm X and the Black Panthers through the music and videos of Public Enemy inspired Efi to learn the history of black Brazil. Unfortunately, only Magia incorporates the musical culture of her homeland into the imported sounds from South Compton.
The social conditions opposed by the three rappers are similar yet different. In Cuba, the disparity between rich and poor isn’t wide, yet Magia rages against the persistence of racism and sexism and speaks circumspectly of those parts of the Castro revolution that went awry. Efi is painfully aware that blacks occupy the lower tier of Brazilian society. Poverty and social oppression top the list for Okulto.
Well made and efficiently edited with nary a wasted moment, “Estilo Hip Hop” is a rare, close encounter with the discontented in troubled societies and the messages they proclaim.
