More favela beats

I found another compilation of funk from the favelas, this one called The Rough Guide to Brazilian hip-hop (see reviews here and here). It contains some nice tracks. Many of the songs riff on Samba and R&B favorites, and some are downright romantic. The track by the pair of convicts who make up the band 509-E (the number of their cellblock in the horrific Carandiru prison), for instance, is pure syrupy pop. The music I heard in Rocinha and throughout Rio’s favelas in 2001-2002, was different: lean, loud, spare, and tough – and sometimes even discordant and grating. This CD seems designed for ears not quite used to the coarser side of Brazil’s hip-hop scene.