Rap battles bring together several MCs, from newcomers to the most famous in the local Rap scene, such as DuRap | Photo: Disclosure/Used with permission. This text was authored by Gabriela Santos and Tatiane Araújo. It was originally published in March 2022, by Agência Mural. The article is reproduced here in a partnership agreement with Global Voices. “If you love this culture like I love this culture, shout hip-hop!” This sentence is repeated like a mantra, loud and clear, by the competitors and the audience watching yet another rap battle on a hot Friday night on the East Side of São Paulo. The Brazil Square (Praça Brasil, in Portuguese) in Itaquera is the place that hosts the weekly Battle of Zil, now returning to the in-person format. Known as one of the largest in the region, this rap battle was created in 2017 and it is notable for its rapid growth since its return in July 2021 — the period when the COVID-19 vaccination campaign gained momentum in Brazil. The battle has already gathered between 100 and 300 people in the famous neighborhood square. There they watch the disputes between several MCs, as the artists who rhyme and compete in the tournaments are called. Participants range from newcomers to the most famous in the local rap scene, such as MC DuRap. This type of event has spread throughout the outskirts of São Paulo, Brazil's largest city, being held in public squares or on the main gates of train stations by young people inspired by rap. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person events were canceled, and only now it has been regaining strength. Igor Franulovic, 22, the main organizer and host at Batalha da Zil (Zil's Battle), points out that the event is a lot more than a musical meeting, but rather “a social project in the peripheral area to reveal artists.” The student Felipe de Souza, 18, who also acts as an organizer alongside Igão, goes further and says that the battle “is a space to vent, to get to know other realities, and is also a welcoming environment.” Nisque MC, who lives on the East Side, said she sees in this growing movement a path of new perspectives for the residents of the peripheries. “In the quebradas (hoods), the option always seems to be soccer or crime. With the battle, we bring different things to the communities and transformation through rap,” she said. “We pass on the vision to the kids.” Another battle that bets on the transformation of the hoods is the BDA (Battle of Aldeia), one of the main ones in Brazil, according to the organizers and members of other battles throughout the state of São Paulo. It happens every Monday at the Praça dos Estudantes in Barueri in Greater São Paulo. Always crowded, BDA emerged from the dedication of Bruno Angelo de Souza, 32, better known as Bob 13. The founder lived in Tupã, in the interior of São Paulo, and moved to Barueri in 2016. During this period, he realized the lack of street actions aimed at young people and combined the dream of making a living out of rhyming with the need to insert the rap movement into the community. At the time, the average public attending the BDA was more than 2,000 people per night. But in 2020, the pandemic arrived, and plans changed with the ban on events with a large concentration of people. The organization of the battle was forced to explore new strategies and decided to bet more on the digital space. Bob 13 says that at the beginning of the pandemic he was unsure. “What a desperate moment, all the battles in the country reached level zero, no power of action and no work available” — Bob 13, from the Battle of Aldeia. One of his main questions was: “How do we make a rap battle happen with no audience and no MCs face-to-face?” So he came up with the idea of holding a long-distance rap battle, using only the voice of the participants, through the Discord application. But it lacked the unique energy of an in-person battle, says the organizer. “Battles that had more than 100,000 hits on YouTube started to have less than 10,000,” he says. As vaccination progressed and pandemic numbers dropped, they started putting MCs in the studio to record images and thus ensure that the public would watch the performances. BDA's Anniversary, 2017 | Photo: Disclosure/Used with permission. On May 5, 2021, the BDA celebrated its fifth anniversary, there was even a celebration in a concert hall in central São Paulo, including a BRL 60,000 (around USD 11,800) prize for the winners. Now, in 2022, the battle gradually returns to in-person, with events at the Students’ Square (Praça dos Estudantes). “The public is coming back 100% with us, the views are coming back too, and we will keep working,” he says.