Crônicas do Brasil | Mr. Bomba

I first met Mr. Bomba in 2005 during a trip to São Paulo when my homie Cabal told me he wanted to bring me to meet the illest beat maker in SP. I remember I took the subway to meet them and somehow I fucked up. My Portuguese was still shit then and I was having a hard time figuring if I was in the right place or not. I randomly bummed a smoke off this old dude to give myself something to do so I could figure out where I was without looking mad lost. You don’t want to stand out on the street in SP, nah mean? I lit up and the thing literally disintegrated on me instantaneously. I had heard about these buck a pack cigs that fell apart on ignition, “poor people cigarettes,” my friend had called them but I had no idea. I don’t smoke so I didn’t care but it didn’t do much for me trying to blend in. As I tried not to combust, I heard the click boom of two 15 inch kickers blasting out of a two door Volkswagen Gol and Cabal was racing up the block. Back on track we rolled to Bomba’s and weaved through the dark crib to the studio in the back, following the smell. We sat down, sparked up, and dumbed out on kid’s beats for the next four hours.

Bomba’s sound pulls from rare Brasilian to DJ Premier to Timbaland and Kanye. His beats are big roaming landscapes, perfect MC playgrounds. I knew from jump that the dude had something special going on. Back in NY, I told Disco D about Bomba and Cabal, as well as their partner, my man P. Rima and not long after D had them organized into Braza, a three MC group that melted both gringo and Brasileiro hip hop, baile funk and D’s brilliant ghetto tech into Brasil’s new new shit. Sadly, Braza didn’t get to realize their potential with D’s passing, but they remain known as a progressive part of Brasilian hip hop history.

Fast forward to 2009, Mr. Bomba is on the warpath. He’s done beats for kings of Brasilian hip hop like Marcelo D2 and Rappin Hood and has recently finished work on legendary slain Brasilian rapper Sabotage’s posthumous album. His last single “Biriri” defined a new São Paulo sound called Tranco which could be described as an electro, reggaeton, baile funk, and hip hop hybrid anchored by the sound of Olodum percussion from Salvador Bahia. He is soon to release his first solo album De Ponta a Ponta and start a national tour of Brasil.

I linked up with Bomba to get a look into what’s poppin in hip hop in Brasil this summer and of course to see what the big homie’s next moves are.

Describe São Paulo to someone who has never experienced it.
São Paulo is the biggest city in Brasil with a population of 20 million people, most of them living in the outskirts known as periferia. They’re the ghettos, and they’re different from the favelas in Rio. The favelas here don’t stay in the central part of the city so its like we have two different cultures in the same city. The fact that São Paulo has the best nightlife in the country is because we don’t have anything else to do for a escape.

How do NY and SP compare?
Here is even more of an urban jungle. Its street crime infested, night clubs packed with girls from the rest of the country, best eats, lots of graffiti and skateboarding.

Does São Paulo have its own sound?
The sound of São Paulo is hip hop, baile funk, house, samba and forró. In the middle of that I created a new style called Tranco with the song “Biriri.” Its rap but with the mixed SP flava.

How did “Biriri” come about?
It happend when my homie got out of jail with mad new slangs and one of them was “biriri” for cellphone. I grabbed that in my mind while I was browsing through my beats and I just heard the beat saying “biriri biriri biriri.” I handed the rough mix to some DJ’s and all of a sudden I was being asked to perform without even knowing the lyrics yet.

Who have been some of your influences growing up and currently?
I was raised listening to Run DMC, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, Kool Moe Dee, Boogie Down Produtions, Poor Righteous Teachers, EPMD and Public Enemy and also Jamaican music like Shinehead and Shabba. If I wanted to say some of my favorite artists of all time it would be Sabotage, Tim Maia, Jorge Ben, Roberto Carlos, Black Juniors, Thaide, Racionais MC’s, Marcelo D2, Biggie, Kanye, Jeezy, Weezy, Jay Z, Earth Wind and Fire and from there it goes…

Why do you live to do what you do?
I always knew from day one on the stage that it’s what I would end up doing for a living. I love the life, it can go from one day arriving in a helicopter for a show opening for Snoop in front of 75,000 people to the next day being arrested for smoking weed in a travel bus or having our equipment trapped inside of a car during a police blitz and then having our car taken because our contractor was a drug dealer.

What is your new project all about?
It’s called Mr Bomba: De Ponta a Ponta. Its my first solo album and is the best album I’ve produced so far. I did it with help of some of the best musicians from the country. I was lead to do it because of the success of “Biriri,” you know, people was charging me for that.

Who are you working with right now, any new artists?
I always do everything for myself, but I do that nonstop so I have plenty of material. I also have my artists like Mc Jota, Obaminha and SP Funk.

What are your plans for this summer?
I’ll be touring with my new album through the country, starting another one and maybe enjoy a little bit of the summer up in the Apple…

Word up, any shout outs?
Thanks Dad for the swagger. Music has no bounds so check the credits and maybe you will see me. I have to say that I had good teachers so thanks a lot Disco D (r.i.p.) and shout outs to Jay Jonhson, Benny Blanco, Sujinho, Cassiano, Nossa, L.F. and Loira, Dj Vlad, and all my New York People out there. Peace!

Check out Mr Bomba’s Myspace and his Youtube channel too. If you want to get at homie to build, rock a show, whatever, holler at me and I will put you in touch. É Noi$$$!!!