Narratives about the city: Racionais MC's rap

• Grant number: 25/01004-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: June 30, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Simone Scifoni
• Grantee: Paulo Rodrigues Lima
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This undergraduate research project aims to reflect on the role of rap by the group Racionais MC's in constructing narratives about the city. Rap, which belongs to hip-hop culture, comes from the peripheries, challenging the concept of abstract urban space and revealing the daily lives of marginalized communities. That way, rap makes it possible to understand the geographical and historical dynamics in the city of São Paulo and, in particular, the processes of formation of the peripheries, based on socio-spatial segregation. The path of the research will be an analysis of the work of the Racionais MC's from the perspective of two themes: everyday life and spatiality. Both are understood as articulated dimensions, based on Lefebvri's reading of everyday life from the point of view of the working class social subject, and considering the periphery as the locus of this social class. Thus, through a methodological approach that encompasses bibliographical analysis, study of song lyrics and field observation, this initiative aims to investigate the role of rap as a movement that reflects the materiality of urban dynamics in the city of São Paulo. (AU)