MV Bill
MV Bill, real name Alex Pereira Barbosa (born January 3, 1974), is a Brazilian rap singer, actor, songwriter and co-author of the best-selling book Falcão - Meninos do Tráfico. The initials "MV" stand for "Mensageiro da Verdade", Portuguese for "Messenger of Truth".
MV Bill | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Alex Pereira Barbosa |
Born | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | January 3, 1974
Origin | |
Genres | Brazilian hip hop, Political hip hop |
Occupation(s) | Rapper |
Years active | 1998 – present |
Labels | Universal Music Brazil |
Associated acts | Mos Def, Chuck D |
Website | mvbill.com.br |
MV Bill is one of the leading and most controversial rappers of Brazilian hip hop in Rio de Janeiro. Rio remains as the center of developing Brazilian politics.[1] MV Bill is an advocate for getting the Brazilian youth out of the drug trade and into some other forms of self uplift, so he began a network of NGOs located in Rio, which strive to teach hip-hop skills, graffiti, and break dancing to children, alongside educational classes such as computer training. Many of his songs contain lyrics discussing the Brazilian youth lost to the trades and confrontations in Rio.
MV Bill has also funneled his passion for social justice into a book, Cabeça de Porco, that he co-authored with Celso Athayde and Luis Eduardo Soares, one of Brazil's foremost social anthropologists. The book, published in 2005, revolves around the issue of social injustice and violence in Brazil and discusses what must be done to solve the problem.[2]
His Teen Center is somewhat like the Brazilian version of 'THE VIADUCT' located in Tacoma, Washington. The center is run by volunteers.
MV Bill appears in an episode of "Black in Latin America".[3]
Early Life
Alex Pereira Barbosa was born in the Cidade de Deus neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro on January 3, 1974. His father, Mano Juca Barbosa was a firefighter while his mother Dona Cristina was a housewife.
Discography
- 1998: Traficando Informação
- 2002: Declaração de Guerra
- 2006: Falcão, O Bagulho É Doido
- 2010: Causa E Efeito
Soundtracks
- 2011: Beat the World
References
- Behague, Gerard. "Rap, Reggae, Rock, or Samba: The Local and the Global in Brazilian Popular Music (1985-1995)." Latin American Music Review 27, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2006): 79-90.
- www.BrazilianArtists.net, the A-Z of Brazilian Arts, Entertainment & Cultural Events in the UK Archived 2008-02-19 at the Wayback Machine
- "Black in Latin America". Retrieved 2011-05-03.