This playlist would make absolutely no sense if I relied only on American artists or male artists. We’re here for diversity, creativity, freedom, courage and self-expression; and as a woman and proud Brazilian, I feel like I have the right and the responsibility of giving space to female artists and Brazilian artists, especially when there are so many making good music that sounds perfect for this playlist.
We had Ladybug Mecca with Digable Planet’s “What cool breezes do”, but now we’re gonna talk about a lady who was not only born but also raised in Brazil: the fabulous Tássia Reis.
Black music, jazz, soul music and brazilian music are great influences to this singer, songwriter and rapper, and this song is jazz rap (or “rap jazz”, like she says) at its finest.
Tássia’s voice is beautiful, the piano is mellow, the bass playing in the background is absurdly sexy… The whole song is so smooth that you’d think Tássia would be talking about love, sex or just chilling; but no, she’s speaking about empowerment and representativeness for people from the ghettos.
It’s amazing how classy she can stay, even in moments while she sounds as threatening as a gun (“C’est fini, aqui é clack bum” - note: “clack bum” is the sound of a gun), although, overall, the lyrics convey her resolution to stay true to herself in a peaceful way.
Most of Tássia Reis’ songs are louder than this one, with stronger beats, and you should check them out too because they’re great and deliver powerful messages. But in “Meu rap jazz”, her collected confidence is her weapon to defend her respect as a black woman from the “periferia” (“ghetto”), resulting in an irresistibly fancy song.
Follow us hereYou can learn more about Tássia Reis here:
About the curator: Ana Clara Ribeiro
Music, art and entertainment have always played a big role in the life of Ana Clara Ribeiro. She grew up in Gurupi (an inland city in Tocantins, the youngest State of Brazil), listening to all kinds of music, reading, writing, watching stuff and connecting them to her personal beliefs and other ideas she read about.
As she became a lawyer and a writer, all the topics to which she is constantly exposed continued to give her insights about life, people and the universe, through the lenses of art.
Nowadays, when she isn’t analyzing lawsuits or producing content about Law, Marketing, Business or Music, she is certainly doing something related to her various personal and professional projects, always to the sound of a playlist as eclectic as her life.
