List Season Ain't Over Until I Said It's Over Dammit
I'm sorry that it took so long but y'all, it's finally finally here. No joke, it took me about 3 months to put this together and write it all, so I apologize from the start if this looks like a manic mess, because it is! What I tried to do here is gather up 100 of the best songs that showcase the insanity of what funk is through ALL of Brazil. Compared to when I started getting into this around the beginning of the pandemic, it's really crazy to see how many other gringos are now interested in this scene, because it wasn't like that when I first started my journey! However, I don't feel like us gringos are doing the proper dives to get the full proper understanding of funk and its different styles and scenes, so today, I'm going to try my best to showcase as much as I can! There's loads of cities that many of y'all may not know about that contribute to the diversely insane spectrum of funk, so I hope you can learn about a few of them here.
To the Brazilians, I am far from an expert - Just a deep admirer and enjoyer, so I may have some wrong facts; Just let me know if there is anything like completely wrong however, I worked pretty hard to be as informative as possible here. Hopefully in the future, I will try to do something similar to my Jersey Club Starter Kit 2k24 (shameless plug) where I will list crucial producers from each scene, however I think a proper introduction to these numerous scenes are needed, so I tried to do that here with this list. There'll still be omissions and I know that, so I apologize if I miss something.
However this will be another doozy as usual, so get y'allselves comfy and ready to be obliterated by Brazilians so here we go!
100. DJ TONIAS - signatonias
Oh man, starting off with an absolute goodie. If you've spent more than a minute delving through the insane internet-poisoned side of Soundcloud's funk scene, then there's a really good chance that you've caught a glimpse of São Paulo's DJ TONIAS and his madness. This dude loves to take familiar, sometimes even more gringo-friendly tunes and gilds it with surrealist funk motifs that's a weird match that still works in this harmonious manner, kinda like Takis and Nutella (Don't knock it til you try it bitch). This one might really be my fave of theirs as they take the all-time DJ Mehdi (RIP!!) track "Signatune" and revitalizes it in a way that we've never seen before. The tambor rhythms that's later met with more traditional pagode/samba grooves are an alien backdrop to the French classic, however in practice, in a flawless experiment of madness. French Funk? Funk House? Who the fuck knows (or cares) anymore.
When looking at funk from a wide angle lens, I feel like after a while, even the most novice gringo can start to piece together how Rio is the hub for true, pure 99% THCa bubble hash resin funk. If you're like, "What The Fuck Are You Talking About?" understandable, but what I mean here is that Rio's funk is easily the most traditional, no frills style out of the bajillions different sub-scenes and subgenres being cultivated over there on a daily basis. The "boom cha cha boom cha" and drum-heavy rhythms are huge tellers that you are listening to something from RJ or something adjacent to the state, but that doesn't mean these folks are making anything less interesting than the other alien-like cities, as GG Albuquerque needs to write like an "Encyclopedia of Funk Drum Beats" at this point because theres too many damn rhythm types and styles to keep up with in Rio - It's genuinely exhausting, but shows how constantly-mutating the famous city is on their side of the funk spectrum. Here, DJ GB DA DISNEY, of BAILE DA DISNEY fame (yes that's a real place) takes the iconic San Andreas theme and tacks on this tambor beat that's articulated by this strange beeping at the end of the loop that makes it almost hypnotizing. It's quite simple but it does the trick like nobody's business.
97. DJ's Rafinha Dz7, M13 Da ZO, Léo da 17, Kath, Gustavo de oz, Menor JM, Rafa de VM - SET DOS CALVOS
Like what DJ Jeeh FDC and Biel Divulga showed you in #99, São Paulo is just fucking Bonkotown where everybody got flying cars and has to get hearing aids by the age of 30, as this is the home of the ever-flourishing, endlessly branching monster that is funk mandelão or funk paulista. Even as someone who has been engorging this shit into my ears for almost half a decade now, the amount of different styles within the mandelão spectrum would require like a 7 hour Ted talk where I black out on lança about halfway through - You have automotivo, bruxaria, ritmada, agressivo, assombrada, mini game, berimbau, magrão, Verizon5G, among surprisingly many more mutations in just that single state. Mandelão itself literally deserves a book written about it, because it's really that deep for such a subgenre that isn't even a decade old.
Okay back to the song itself before I go on a 7 paragraph tangent on only the 4th entry: Here, we have something that almost feels like a parallel to Jersey Club megalabs, where you get a multitude of like-minded producers, give them a prompt and let them go to town, however with these funk producers, they all took the assignment sheet and started rolling up with it because every single pivot during these 8 minutes is just out-of-nowhere and will fry your senses up. Especially here when you have some of the best in São Paulo like Rafinha DZ7 and Léo da 17, this is a track that makes me want to do no describing whatsoever and just let you go in blind with the sole expectation that this will fuck you up, so have fun with this one!
Alright, first Belo Horizonte entry on the list, so if y'all want to play a drinking game today to ruin your life, take a swig every time you see the initials BH because you'll be in Davy Jones's Locker by the time we hit #60. In terms of advancing their signature sound, (it's a close one) I feel like Belo Horizonte is making the most interesting trajectory out of anywhere in Brazil because this super young sub-genre has already had loads of different waves and style changes to the point where I'm afraid of missing a day of SoundCloud scrolling because I feel like I'm going to miss something crazy going on in that one city - It's pretty insane.
As for this song here, the original pissed Nelly Furtado off big time, but I'm sorry, I know Timbaland isn't snap, crackle, popping in my ear, but Treyce bodied this interpolation, where it birthed about 75 gajillion montagem remixes from just about every corner of Brazil. One of my many faves is this BH MTG from DJ HN DO ALVORADA where he transports Treyce into the evil Mario haunted castle, where weepy theremins and cursed beeps and boops terrorize the original and transforms it into something sooooo far away from the original source material - A regular, almost instinctual pattern among each and every funk scene in Brazil.
There comes a time in your manic pursuit to discover all the music in the world (that's never gonna happen you fucking idiot) where something genuinely baffles you to where you literally have no words - Yeah I say that a shit load but most of the time it's just hyperbole, but this..... this........ I don't even know how to describe it other than this is captain insano music. JUDAZzz was someone I found one night just mindlessly going through artists, and they really are one of, if not THE MOST, unconventional producers in one of the most unconventional music scenes in the world. Take a look at their profile and you get loads of black metal imagery, occult creepy-pasta-like pictures, and loads of other edgy teen shit, but man the music is pretty fucking good. This one in particular feels like you're trying to listen to a normal funk song but Satan pulled up to your kitchen to put your head in a blender all while your speakers are still bumping. If motherfuckers can call that phonk bullshit funk, then power electronics boy over here can be properly categorized as funk as well. Fuck RateYourMusic!
Mentioning Belo Horizonte earlier, the state that it's located in, Minas Gerais might be the most rich and abundant state in terms of batshit styles coming out of the country. You have your obvious BH scene, but two other cities that I see from time to time making otherworldly funk are Juiz de Fora (more on them later, trust me) and Caratinga, both pretty far from BH but making super unique funk on their own. With the latter two, JF and Caratinga's funk is super rooted in the occult and is some of the ghastliest club music being made at any corner of the universe. Case in point, Caratinga's DJ ADÊ DA ANTENA is sticking his hand out of their grave like a zombie and bringing you down to the underworld with this incredibly eerie and strange tune, taking traditional funk motifs with those drums and making something super fragmented and on the verge of a breakdown any second. That part at the end where it gets a little normal with those tambor drums actually feels pretty chilling after you've been bombarded by those ghosts for so long - Might need to invest in a night light with your big ass after this one.
"Stereo Love" might seriously be the Chipotle Tabasco of music - You can put that shit just about on anything (maybe except psytrance) and it's practically the greatest thing ever. More on them later, but Brasília's rensgo is a producer that I have been preaching for years, as they have been the prime internet funk alchemist, mixing various regional styles and creating practically a whole new universe in funk music that feels just so far and beyond anything else. rensgo is one of those artists where you can point them out pretty quickly, as they have such a unique and unitary style, unlike anybody else in the funk stratosphere. Here on this Stereo Love MTG, they bring along DJ P7, one of São Paulo's most important and formative producers in its own mandelão movement to make this hazy interpretation that has you endlessly floating throughout the eternal coldness of space. Everything is drowned in reverb as these twinkly iceburgs of sound hit you at the force of 20 Titanics, bringing you in this freefall til the end. I say this a lot, but seriously a one-of-one artist.
A SP goodie where you got a simple formula here: Take that Tycho ass ambient bullshit made for kids born in 2005 and add some really loud bird noises over it. That's it. Nada damn other thing in this song, however it doesn't tarnish any of the insane aura that it emits here. Angry Birds ass song.
91. DJ MENOR DA SERRA - MTG RAINHA DO FUNK
A BH goodie here from scene regular DJ MENOR DA SERRA that's almost the same story as the track above: Take these barebones elements like a 5-piece puzzle for babies (the constant horn loop, bellowing bass tones, and traditional drums) and smash it all with a sledgehammer, here being this tuin-heavy noise that I can only describe as giants slipping on their kitchen floor - It's just so visceral and almost comical, but it works perfectly well as I can picture an entire street losing their entire shit when this comes on.
90. DJ GP 011 - SET ASSOMBRA MANDELÃO
I don't think folks understand the vast difference between the funk you'll find on SoundCloud and then the funk you'll find on YouTube - I feel like they're the two main reservoirs with how funk is released, however surprisingly these reservoirs are vastly different. With SoundCloud, I feel like it's the primary one, as you get most of your main artists in each city putting out music on there - Especially Rio, BH, and other cities in Minas Gerais; However, YouTube seems to be the main hub for São Paulo (they still use SoundCloud obviously) and its thousands of branches of mandelão. If I had to choose one where it feels like you're really at the end of the internet finding these insane artists, it would easily be YouTube, because you'll find these teenagers making literal occult music from hell and they only have like 700 subscribers and I feel like if I listen to one of these songs, I'm gonna have a curse put on my crops or some shit. DJ GP 011 was one of those discoveries where I was like, "Man does this shit ever fucking end? (Spoiler: It doesn't)," as this kid reminds me of an earlier DJ Arana, but loadsss eviler. This set has so many insane ideas being thrown around, you can barely get a grasp of what the fuck is going on and the visuals would probably scare the shit out of your little cousin. Funniest part about this is that there's like 50 other instances of the same shit on Youtube - You can just get sucked in a wormhole one night and next thing you know you're fucking with producers who only got like 3 fans and you're 2 of them. Insanity.
89. DJ SALLES - NOS MELHORES AMIGOS
Alright, so we've covered Belo Horizonte and Caratinga, so it's only right to finally introduce the other city from Minas Gerais making funk that sounds like it's coming from the future underworld year of 2124 - Juiz de Fora or JF for short. Like this place is the best kept secret in funk, as this is just a conglomerate of differing styles all being entranced and cursed by this indescribable, inhuman force that sounds just so unlike anything else in funk music. It takes that modular, sample-based basis that BH lives by, but flips it upside its head and turns it into this form of alternative alchemy, rather than someone working on this in their DAW. DJ SALLES is one of the best producers pushing that dark magic into the city, as this is just BOMBASTIC, UNORTHODOX, AND STRAIGHT UP STUPID. The sample is just being met by a Category 9 Hurricane of terror and destruction, and it genuinely almost feels too good to be true how insanely evil this all sounds, as you'll be pulling up the covers extra snug tonight after playing a few of these JF tunes, so get ready.
Another appearance by our good ol' friend "Stereo Love," and now it took a quick trip to BH so that it could be eviscerated by notable producer DJ LV MDP, as he takes that sample and tacks along MCs Rick, TH, and Theuzyn with it to make this super airy and dreamy MTG that has you feeling like you're stumbling around Rome at 3 in the morning. Short, sweet, and most certainly, to the point.
More obscure YouTube paulista goodness and this time, we have a real big fave of mine, DJ SURTADO 011, someone who's really a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to experimenting with different styles. The thing with these producers is that, while some do, many don't really revolve around one specific style like the ones described in #97, and they are always trying different sounds that really makes tracks like these interesting. This one in particular starts absolutely absurd, as that high pitch synth is just tearing through your ear membrane, and then it just keeps morphing afterwards: It turns into 4-on-the-floor house, to tuin-heavy bruxaria, to spacey, murky synth funk, and it just keeps going on and on - There's genuinely no proper structure here; These kids are just tacking on beats next to each other, and just goes to show that these stupid European motherfuckers with their 789 plug ins in Ableton Pro Tools 9.0 aren't jack shit, no matter how many fancy shiny toys they got to make their shitty ass music. These kids blow them out of the water any day of the damn week.
Hopping back to BH where DJ MACK shows us why this city is one of the best in the world at doing more with less. "VAI VAI JOGAR" is a tune that feels super super thin, as there's barely a handful of samples and sounds being played here, however despite its barebones nature, it's crafted in such a way that you're still being smacked in the head with an auditory mallet. Those amplified and overdriven vocal breaks just rattle your chest cavity as it's just constantly reverberating, no matter the room size. Play this out in the street at night and all the Rock Bottom citizens are gonna come out and start talking to you with their fartin' raspberry noises.
Finally, we have an outlier from the usual funk areas as we have Rio Grande do Sul's DJ GUDOG, someone whose sound does float around the mandelão/crackerscallingitphonk realm, despite living away in the southernmost state in the country. Here with "H E E L B A S S," it feels like Gudog is conjuring this through some type of magical Transformer bus that's futuristically beeping across town - The way the synth bellows and rings out like this cyberpunk church bell while the bass is destroying any remaining integrity of your car sound system because they got this mixed at the Jellyfish Jam Studios, the way its bumping so much. Incredible.
Here, BH's DJ Gustomares is showing us his best interpretation of what it would sound like if Godzilla would've accidentally stumbled upon a baile in the city and was given a really sick ass slide whistle; I'm not joking either.
I mean I don't think I have the words that could sell you on the sheer insanity of the first few seconds of this one. I'm sure this is probably what it sounds like in the samplee's everyday life because this is another absurd highlight in that JF/Caratinga realm of funk, however household name DJ BL FAIXA PRETA is actually in Rio and DJ JC is from Águas Claras, a really small neighborhood 4 hours east of Belo Horizonte, so this shows how far this sound has spread and how it's a result of all these different styles melding together in the most fucked-up way possible. The chipmunkly corrupted drums met with the deep ramblings of that voice saturating the rest of the track feels like this subliminal Saw trap that I have cleverly got myself out of, but maybe I do want the lil homie on a tricycle to put me in this meat grinder, so it's all cool. Seriously from another planet.
82. DJ Gouveia, DJ Deivão, MC Menor MT - GALOPEIRA NÃO PARA DE CAVALGAR
Yee haw
81. DJ Dz - MTG KIKA NA PONTA DA PIKA
Funk BH has lived many different lives throughout its short history so far, however the era that seems so intriguing to me is the initial primitive era of BH where producers were just throwing all these samples at the wall hoping they stick and turned out to be a really incredible barebones blueprint to one of most interesting music scenes on the planet. While many have moved on from that particular style, DJ Dz's music is like this alternate universe where they continue to refine that particular 2016/'17 style in such a mind numbing way. From the Joker laughing in the background, to the dude playing the triangle inside the cursed temple, to the whole track falling apart like something Indiana Jones would be running out of, Dz is making hazardous materials in his bedroom and has to be stopped (no he doesn't).
80. Chediak - VOLT MIX DO BRUXO
Juiz de Fora's Chediak isn't someone associated with the spooky scary scene as discussed earlier, however their music is more associated with standard club music, as he is the head of SPEEDTEST RAVE, a super versatile electronic rave label that showcases some of the best artists in Brazil. Here, they take one of funk's biggest hits of the year "Baile Do Bruxo," and revitalizing with the classic, almost pre-historic Volt Mix beat (Did a little feature about this last year). Pretty simple remix (also another slight appearance from Stereo Love), but it's the perfect song that makes me feel like this really funny video. Also s/o Chediak, because they're like a super super nice and inviting dude lol.
It sounds like Cyndi Lauper is trapped inside one of those Mario pipes while Belo Horizonte's DJ Lucas is just smacking the shit out of everything with a huge hammer. That part towards the end where he throws that thud into a lower octave could probably register the on Richter scale given the right circumstances.
78. DJ TENEBROSO ORIGINAL - MISTÉRIO DE SALÉM
One of funk bruxaria's greatest magicians is easily DJ TENEBROSO, someone who has helped spread that sound from SP onto many more ears than originally intended, as they have one of the hardest hitting styles in a subgenre that lives, breathes, and dies by being as loud and destructive as possible. This one starts off with a Bach organ intro and then with barely any warning, Tenebroso just smacks the shit out of you with a shovel the size of a Volkswagen Gol. It's just so bombastic and loud for the rest of the tune, all you can do is put this on the car and treat the streets like it's Burnout 3.
This one is pretty simple - I love this because of the ridiculous ass sample, which became even more ridiculous once I did more research about it (I won't say explictly but this really worked Tiktok kids into a shoot). Add in the mad genius of another BH great DJ KARUSO, as he tacks on these 8-bit drips and droops that gives it that signature Minas Gerais surrealism that makes every tune from the state this otherworldly thing that's sets them apart from the rest of the world. BH é nois fr.
Finally, I get to talk about this insane man. I'm really glad that Rio's DJ Ramon Sucesso has been many gringo's breakthrough to get into this because it's a perfect segway to get into more insane producers like him, because somehow.... it gets even more insane? While yeah Ramon is one of the best in the world right now (you'll see later), I'm meaning that there's some producers in the Rio area making that DIY sound from hell but in even more experimental ways.
Niterói's DJ Yure 22 is one of the first producers I recommend to folks when they want to get more into Rio funk because he's been easily one of the best doing it in the past couple of years, just making shit I can barely categorize as each track from him is just so unorthodox to the naked gringo ear. A lot of it is still indebted and can be traced to traditional tambor-like rhythms that's always been associated with funk, but Yure just takes them all and cranks it up to around 111 making something that blows out your speakers immediately. Here, the drums and guitar that sounds like it's trying to summon a snake are being demolished by bass that can be described as a nuclear tuba following around you - It's constantly moving up and down and will drive anyone else in your house absolutely insane (Trust me, my girlfriend wasn't fucking with this once shit in the house started shaking). Throw this on in the jalopy one time.
Belo Horizonte's DJ YAN DO FLAMENGO is another one of those artists that's been in the scene since its early days and is just another look at how unique and rich this vast scene is. Yan really leans on that more ominous and atmospheric side of the BH sound, as all of his songs really invoke that feeling of stumbling around an unknown street in the middle of night, scared as all hell. With this tune in particular, "UM POUCO DE MALANDRAGEM," it feels like there's supposed to be red alarm lights should be accompanying the alarm-like nature of the synths here, while the rest of the tune feels like it's just fleeting endlessly in this empty void. I really don't know how they get these visceral reactions out of me, for how barebones and thin these songs are on paper, however it works every single time.
74. DJ PH - MTG HORAS IGUAIS
I really don't keep up with Brazilian hip hop that much because my Portuguese proficiency is incredibly embarrassing, however from what I've exposed myself to, I've really found to like dudes like Oruam and Wiu, mostly due to this song in particular, "Hora Iguais." Hella NBA Live menu vibes but these two work together so well, especially Oruam, however there is no song in Brazil safe from being turned into a MTG and Juiz de Fora's DJ PH has an interpretation that is so far away from the original, I can't help but put my hands on my head in disbelief, because JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. Like put this loud enough on your speakers and I swear your house starts getting tremors or something - The barbarity of the high-pitched drums, slashing through both MCs voice transforms this lowkey, driving-late-at-night ditty into a whole ass fucking war hymn. Like this is the shit that makes me start looking at seeing how we can protect our ears by putting kevlar or something on them - I need to still experience this when I'm a crazy tapped-in old man.
Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck
I really have no words for this man...
Zona Norte, BH's DJ DIDI is one of the city's best harbingers of destruction, making shit that turns baile floors into a "don't touch the lava" challenge. His best 2023 effort was easily "MEGA PRA FODA," a huge hit for him, as this boasts this repeating vocal line that reminds me of something very very stupid, but it really serves as a good backbone to MCs TH and Fabinho OSK and a beat that sounds like someone tried sampling them opening up a can of coke and just went to town on it. Another no-frills, straight-to-the-point banger from one of the best cities in the world.
69. DJ Ruanzito - 3 MINUTINHOS DE PEGA O BEATZIN
More inhuman madness from Juiz de Fora, and this time, we have one of the city's best, DJ Ruanzito, giving us remixes of multiple popular tunes, however he is cursing them all with this beat that feels like it just showed up at your house like the scary folks in The Strangers - It's so incredibly unsettling and inflicts this fog of evilness to all of the songs that he's remixing here. Then you have those bellowing horns from hell that just permeate everything with terror when they appear - It's like he made this beat from a spellbook or something - Genuinely insane.
68. CL FAIXA PRETA ft MC MOZIN, MC PÂNICO, MC RF - VAI TOMANDO
Another lowkey fave of mine, CL FAIXA PRETA is from Além Paraíba, a fairly small town in Minas Gerais and his style of funk gravitates more towards that absurd Rio style we were discussing earlier with folks like Ramon and Yure22. CL just adds this tinge of baffling unorthodox bullshit that just keeps me glued to whatever he's doing. On this one, you can tell the 8 bit Mario influence immediately from those batshit insane ploks that have such an unsettling chromatic climb to them, while Kevin o Chris is appearing in the background like force ghost going "TOMA TOMA TOMA" on top of that absurdity. It just keeps going and going too like you're running out of time in a game, however I can imagine how insane a dancefloor can get if this would come on.
67. DJ K, MC RD, MC MN, MC Fefe Original - OLHA O BARULHINHO DA CAMA RENK RENK 2
São Paulo funk bruxaria stalwart DJ K becoming one of the producers to really catch onto gringos was totally not in my "Funk 2023 Bingo Card," but with his acclaimed release on experimental music label giant Nyege Nyege Tapes PANICO NO SUBMUNDO, it was then I started to believe in divine intervention. DJ K is one of the most vital producers in both the birth and boom of funk bruxaria, as they are someone who really pushed that subgenre into what it is today - A loud messy apocalypse of tinnitus goodness. This one is a standout for me in particular because it really shows you everything good about DJ K's style - From the bitcrushed coin noises, to the signature purge alarm noise, to the out-of-sync 8-bit noises that get me seeing double, K throws all of these insane noises together to make something so incredibly moody and also cinematic in a way. Everything is just so hard-hitting, with the agressivo kicks smacking you to bits next to the metallic thuds leg sweeping you at the same time; You might need a smoke break after this one...
66. DJ BETIM ATL - BCT NO CABEÇĀO x QUERIA MODER ESSA BOQUINHA
I really hope you took that smoke break because we are getting straight back into hell for your ears as Belo Horizonte's DJ BETIM ATL is someone whose sole purpose in life is to make sure you aren't hearing shit by the time you hit 45. The constant bombastic nature of his style just gets you to put a helmet on and brace for whatever he's going to throw at you once you press play. Here, BETIM relies heavily on this 4000-man horn choir that are serving more as a grim warning, rather than a harmonious sign, as this all builds up to another one of these piercing alarm noises that slashes through the rest of the track. No matter how much Funk BH you listen to, you still can't prepare for stuff like that, so those "catch you off guard" moments are just these endless dopamine banks for me lol.
65. DJ TH DO NOVA - FILHA DA PUTA FOFOQUEIRA
Juiz de Fora alone may account for all of my nightmares for the past few years, because it literally never ever ends over there. DJ TH DO NOVA is just plain ol' evil - I can't really do much more elaborating to get to that point; Their music feels like it was made in some Brazilian catacombs where their only light source is their DAW and ritual candles. It's just so incredibly murky and so far beyond anything else in the country; It's why I say JF is the unsung hero of funk in Brazil. Here, TH has everything enshrouded in this ghastly cloak, as it's just this misty monster stalking upon you in your sleep. The devilish voices being used as the beat at times feels like they're Hell's sergeants, instructing the damned for an eternity, so you're paler than a paper towel by the time it's over. Also couldn't forget the V-V-V-V-V-V-V-VAPOV-V-V-V-VV--V-VVAPO part that's sprinkled in - Just maniacal
64. DJ KN de Vila Velha, MC Leon, MC Marlon PH - FUMA DO KUNK AMOR
It only took about 30 songs, but we've finally made a stop in Espírito Santo, a coastal state that borders both Rio and Minas Gerais where they have their own strain of funk that really lives and breathes in the adjacent cities Vitória and Vila Velha. Description wise, I feel like it's a bit of its own thing, but I feel like you can take influences from both Rio-centered funk, with a lot of the songs being more drum-heavy and less reliant on samples, while they also take inspiration from the uncomfortable eeriness from funk in MG, where you have this own singular thing that works really well. One of the state's biggest DJs is easily DJ KN DA VILA VELHA, someone I recommend immediately when talking about funk from Espírito Santo, as he's really the blueprint of that style. His album from 2023 TERRA DO KN is a flagship work for the state, and his biggest single from there "FUMA DO KUNK AMOR" is a perfect descriptor of how ES funk is. The deranged drums that feel like they're being played on a skeleton's ribcage, the thick horns that sound like they belong in a foggy lake at night, and the other samples being sprinkled in like it's a formula for a poison all add to the unsettling nature of it all, and just shows really how endless these styles are.
63. DJ THALES JQL - MTG MALIGNA
Out of everyone contributing to that vastly unique sound in Belo Horizonte, DJ THALES JQL is like if the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse fused into a single being – a sonorous alchemist of doom and destruction that can destroy any fancy ass speaker system within 20 seconds or your money back guaranteed. No matter how many times you think you’re ready, you are never fully prepared to listen to a DJ THALES tune. There's like this dub-y nature to his sound that is just so unlike anything else in BH as his style is more akin to something on Hyperdub, rather than a baile in town. All THALES needs here is this hydraulic press of bass that engulfs you while this sentry synth is combing through the rest of the tune like distress signal coming from afar. Just so unique, in a style and scene that dies by singularity and one of the best in Brazil altogether.
GORDÃO DO PC is one of Belo Horizonte's premier producers, as they really are one of the main faces of this scene, as it's hard to take your attention away from someone who calls himself "O Comedor de Hambúrguer" - A real personality and one of the best in the city. On this one he tags DJ LUCAS DE PAULA along with him to make a song that would get anyone to invest in Akoin, Akon's own currency, as this is one of the best interpolations of a song of his I ever heard. It thomps the shit out of you in the car when loud enough, so a must-listen for anyone with a Honda Accord.
BH magician DJ NK DA SERRA takes one of Brazil's biggest artists Kevin O Chris and turns him into this dancefloor robot that sounds like they belong on an early 2000s trance song. The tremolo nature of Kevin's voice met with the moodiness of the piano chords being played on top of it makes it feel like I should be in a pitch black dark club full of strobe lights. Another Belo Horizonte banger that shows that not one song over there sounds alike.
Going through the comments of this one almost made me legit stop writing this because all of them sound like they're on a Mt Eden dubstep video, plus they are all my fault lmao like I go through 1000s of funk songs a year and never see this many comments in English - It's legit scary. Songs good tho, but god I am so sorry lmao.
This one is destroying me
More from the Caratinga/JF Industrial Complex and this time Caratinga's DJ MK literally gives you no time to prepare, as they start to play Avicii immediately from an evil bluetooth speaker you can find at the dollar store and just that alone is enough to put you into shock, but this dude just keeps going. The song morphs into this guild of laughing monsters just staring at you intensely, whilst everything else sounds like they're being consumed by demonic shadows or some shit. Everything here is that slasher movie menace chasing after you in the woods and you trip on a root and it's that feeling of terror and that acceptance of that said terror that makes these cities two of the most underrated in the world.
So glad I got KN to be folk's first exposure to funk from Espírito Santo, because there's so many more artists from that state making that same type of cursed funk that keeps you up at night. DJ JV DE VILA VELHA is another notable producer from that particular scene and I just couldn't leave out this insane 20 minute mix that he did for Carnaval last year. It has so many different styles of those cursed drum patterns I was discussing earlier that are just so unorthodox, but they work so well. I also love when producers put future years in their song titles, acting like this will be the wave in 2029, and with the way these motherfuckers work, I wouldn't be surprised if this is how funk sounded in 5 years. Always pushing the envelope these folks...
Another appearance from bruxaria giant DJ K and he brings along DJ W7 with him to make this banger that really sounds like the fucking Space Invaders are hurling towards earth. It starts off with this build towards these bassy tones and then all of a sudden, you are hit with that tuin noise and the songs just turns into solely an alarm to alert 8-bit earth that the entire world is fucking ending. These are one of those moments where a song just hits like a real-life status effect on you because once that tone hits, it's like the "poisoned" marker came out and you're all coughing and shit. Just so ferocious and a perfect song to see if you're homies are real ones or not.
I mean do I even have to do explaining why this one is on here? Just press play and find out why because L M A O
Another São Paulo appearance and this time we have DJ PATRICK ZS with some of the most absurd uses of samples you'll see on this list. He starts off with Hollaback Girl and turns it into this strange ritualistic hymn and then like not even seconds later, YOU GET THOSE GOOSEBUMPS EVERY TIME which throws your head on a swivel for the rest of the song. Everything here is encased in this resinous occultness that feels like your computer is going to be cursed after playing through it 3 times in a row. It just keeps building until these somber pianos appear and an almost out-of-tune, synth comes in to get the brainwashed funkieros moving in unison. A strange one, but a banger for sure.
Enter Campos dos Goytacazes' DJ MATEUS DE CAMPOS, easily one of my favorite producers in the country, as he has one of the most inhuman styles out of anyone. Funnily enough. Campos dos Goytacazes is in Rio state, so it has nothing to do with those other scary places we talked about earlier, however Mateus's sound is much more akin to something from JF rather than something from Rio, because this shit is insane. The EDM motifs here are being met with beats that sound like there's a Pong tournament being played in Hell, as the manic pinging and ponging met with other dark and moody sounds sets up an atmosphere that is unlike anything else. By the time you're halfway through the song, you got a forcefield of fog appearing in your house and horror movie monsters are roaming your house, so what else wouldn't you want from something like this?
Using those memes in the last 2 entries to continue our stay in Campos dos Goytacazes as we have DJ 2K FXP with more shit that sounds like it should be playing inside of cemeteries to awaken the dead, rather than plain ol' baile parties. 2K utilizes a multitude of pitch-manipulated samples and patterns to make something that'll get that one guy to show up at your house to ask to RETURNNNN THE SLAABBBBB. There's so many samples being used here too, so the beat here is so disjointedly syncopated in such a way that it feels like it's this wooden roller coaster swaying and ready to collapse any second. He then adds in this montage of more popular tunes to act as the star on the tree, but when the tree is just made of bones and blood, it's pretty jarring to have a little pretty star on top. Pure avant-garde surrealist goodness.