new music: brazilian rapper thiago elniño celebrates spirituality and african heritage in ‘filhos de um deus que dança (children of a dancing god)’ ep

By Robin Batista*, AFROPUNK contributor

Brazilian rapper Thiago Elniño releases his EP “Filhos de Um Deus Que Dança” (Children Of A Dancing God) and celebrating his roots by mixing african sonorities and rap.

The EP strongly embraces the African religious traditions that are so important to Elniño, reaffirming the beautiful vibe that we saw in the video for the song “Diaspora”, released some months ago to give us a taste of how the EP would sound like.

In the four song project, Elniño puts his poetry to work in service of his African ancestry and spirituality, in an attempt to show how the Afro-Brazilian faith made him empowered and had a huge impact on his life. Beyond that, racism and other racial issues are treated in this EP, which is a strong sign that Brazilian rappers are awaking for racial matters, not only being more open to discuss racism in their productions, but also trying to spread the word about the problems on being African in the diaspora and not having preserved the right to your identity. As we can see in Rincon Sapiencia’s and Família Zero Bala’s recently released songs and videos, it seems that an African awakening, through sonorities and issues, is starting in the Brazilian rap scene.

May this African awakening through music and culture turn Brazilian hip hop scene into something revolutionary again?

Listen to the EP here
Download the EP here: https://www.mediafire. com/?tyk9pic95897hcm

*Robin Batista is a São Paulo-based designer and AFROPUNK’s contributor.
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