You may have heard about the edgy techno dance music of Brazil’s slums, often known as baile funk or funk carioca–but short of going to Rio, seeing Favela on Blast is as close as you’ll get to a full immersion in this down-and-dirty music. Bumping and grinding doesn’t begin to describe the typical baile funk dance floor workout, but the genre’s over-the-top lewdness is part of its role as a releaser of various tensions: sexual, social, economic, and racial. Draw your own conclusions about whether it’s bawdy or obscene, empowering or degrading, but wonder no longer what the fuss is all about.
