In this article I examine different moments of the hip hop movement in the city of São Paulo. I analyze the intimate relationship of this phenomenon with urban segregation. I first discuss the rise of break dancing in the downtown region in the mid-1980s. I find that the themes and sounds present in the music of this period express aspects of the centrality of public life in the metropolis. In the following decades, there was a shift of hip hop towards peripheral neighborhoods. In this context, I analyze the relationships between rap and a new modality of urban segregation, marked by a withdrawal of the elites into vibrant v.8 n.1 josé carlos gomes da silva fortified enclaves and the transformation of peripheral neighborhoods into “war zones,” controlled by local micro-powers and police violence. At this time, rappers assumed a position as chroniclers of a violent, segregated and silenced urban reality. I also map new cultural productions with a focus on saraus, which are spaces that bring together rap musicians, as well as poets and marginal writers. The frontiers between these groups are increasingly tenuous, many artists have dual affiliation. What unifies them is their reaction to and protest against violence and urban segregation.
youth; music; urban segregation