Life of a Phrase (part 3) - Emicida
Source: Relicário, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Leandro Roque de Oliveira, better known as Emicida, is one of the most popular MCs in Brazil. His name is a combination of “MC” and “homicida” (“homicide”) because he kills at improv battles. He later created an acronym for his nickname: Enquanto Minha Imaginação Compuser Insanidades, Domino a Arte (“As long as my imagination can compose insanities, I’ll rule the art”). The song AmarElo, in which he samples the Belchior song that contains the Zé Limeira phrase, has become a protest anthem in Brazil. The title of the song is the word for “Yellow” but it is stylized to break it into two words, “Love” and “Bond.” This YouTube version of the song starts with an almost-3-minute voicemail from someone reaching out looking for someone to talk to about how much they are struggling. The song itself responds with a message of hope and resistance. This YouTube version is just the song itself, starting with the Belchior sample (see yesterday’s post).
“AmarElo” (“Yellow”/“LoveBond”)
[sample of Belchior song]
I dream higher than drones
My kind of fuel? Hunger
To destroy like a cyclone (Get it?)
So that tomorrow won’t be just a yesterday
With a new name
The vulture circles
Longing for the fall (No luck)
When the heartbreak ends, bro
I’m more than this shit (Much more)
Body, mind, soul, kind of an Ayurveda
Like water, I flow through the rocks
In the obscure drama of this whole plot
I’m the playwright
Beckoning you to get out of the mud
While inflaming the world
Without melodrama, I seek cash
This is Hosanna underway
Capulanas, katanas
Looking for Nirvana is the way
It’s a dog-eat-dog world
Losing ain’t an option for us, right?
From off in the distance
Straight talk sprouts
Don’t shut up
There’s no way to let it slide
Our goal is to shake the ground
Under those who laughed at us homeless (Go!)
[feat. Majur]
I’ve bled too much
I’ve cried a ton
(I need to take care of myself)
Last year I died
But this year I’m not dying
(This year I don’t die)
I’ve bled too much (Too much)
I’ve cried a ton
Last year I died
But this year I’m not dying
(Belchior was right)
Prized figurine, shining in the darkness
Since the hood, let loose
With a big hat from the ghetto and a bunch of friends
With guns hidden away and the worst impulses
Only God and I know
What it is to have nothing, to be thrown out
I put lines into the world
But I’ve wanted to put them in my wrist
Without money to burn, we’re not worth
A sad dog’s life
“Early Today” wasn’t a hit
It was a call for help
Bro, a grudge is like a tumor, it poisons the root
Where the audience just wants to be happy
With their heads in the clouds
Where the latest trend is depression
That looks like vacation
Grandma says, hating the devil is super easy
What’s hard is living in hell, and you realize
That the same bastard empire that doesn’t take you seriously
Gets involved to drag you in the mud
Fight back!
[feat. Pabllo Vittar]
Let me speak, and not my scars
They are costars, no, better, extras
Who shouldn’t even be here
Let me speak, and not my scars
So much pain stealing our voices, you know what’s left of us?
Targets walking around
Let me speak, and not my scars
If this is about living, reducing me to survival
Is stealing the little good I’ve lived
Finally, let me speak, not my scars
Thinking that those evils define me is the worst of crimes
It’s giving the trophy to our tormenter and making us disappear
I’ve bled too much (I spoke!)
I’ve cried a ton
(What’s beautiful is the sun that invades the cell)
Last year I died
But this year I’m not dying
(Freedom, brother!)
I’ve bled too much (Too much)
I’ve cried a ton
(More important than ever)
Last year I died (But so what?)
But this year I’m not dying
I've bled too much
I’ve cried a ton
(I’ve cried too much)
(We are the street)
Last year I died (And so?)
But this year I’m not dying
Hey, gangsta! Hey, gangsta!
Raise that head
Dry those tears, got it? (You yourself)
Breathe deep and get back in the ring (Go)
You’ll get out of this prison
You’ll go after that diploma
With the fury of the sun’s beauty, understand?
Do that for us
Do that for us (Go)
I’ll see you on the podium
Last year I died
But this year I’m not dying