In The Suitcase in NYC with DG

In the Brazil TakeOver on New York's @halfmoonbk radio, DG brings together Sambass, Jungle, DnB, Rap, and Funk in a mix filled with national productions. Black electronic music from Brazil is Black electronic music from the world.

When I received the invitation from Lara (@larasanches), I accepted immediately. It was an opportunity to be part of a Brazil TakeOver on a foreign radio... you know what I mean? And if the idea was to take control of the radio's programming, with the participation of several DJs from this side of the Americas, I committed to filling my set with productions from this same 'enemy territory.'

I needed to take these references I had from here and pack them in my suitcase to travel with my mix. Many of these productions were made by friends of mine, people I admire, and I know their hustle. These national producers and beatmakers carry both underground and mainstream music on their backs, with their tracks being played at every electronic music event you can imagine.

Celebrating this invitation meant, for me, celebrating the work of these music producers: I don’t produce, I research... but who produces?

The album "Na Estrada" by DJ Patife was the starting point for all the inspiration for building the mix and the visual concept of this work. I am an enthusiast of jungle and drum and bass, these Afro-diasporic genres make up the whole mix. The idea of using the suitcase in the photos, the jump, all of that directly references Patife’s work. Of course, we added our elements, the favela, the soccer field, the team shirt…

In addition to DnB, "Sambass," and Jungle, I made sure to include other things that also resonate with me. Electronic music has always crossed my path; it’s hard to pinpoint a moment when I first encountered it, but I know it was always present, whether in the jukebox with technobrega, rap, the funk from the parties, the music inside the video game LAN houses, FIFA Street... it’s a tangle of influences coming from various places.

I can’t remember a day when the favela’s soundtrack was silence.

Of course, I can name some of the artists who inspired me in this work. We have some standouts when it comes to drum and bass and jungle: I really like the musical, historical, and social work of @blackatdj, DJ Fabz, Fernanda Porto, Marky (no comments needed), my partner Ak1n, Nia Archives… so many others.

But I still feel that our scene is missing something. Unfortunately, we have few DnB and Jungle DJs and producers from the favela. I don’t know any personally. The absence of these people at the parties, either enjoying or playing, is evident. It seems like we always have the same small group at every event; we have a lot to show, but we need space for that. What @larasanches did was provide that… giving us space to show a bit of the musical diversity of our favelas.