AmarElo

Even without speaking Portuguese, I could feel the weight of what Emicida was trying to say. With a little help from Google Translate, it became clear how important that message is. AmarElo is about identity, resilience, and hope, especially for Black Brazilians, but also the poor, lgbtq and more and it doesn’t shy away from hard truths. Musically, it didn’t do much for me. The beats and production are serviceable but uninspired. Just not really that good. Yet in this case, and how hiphop and reap actually should be, it really doesn’t matter. Hip-hop is a storytelling vehicle, and AmarElo delivers a story worth hearing. Sometimes the message is more vital than the music. This is one of those times.

Maybe if I spoke Portuguese I would like this more. The beats are pretty generic sounding and wiki says this guy is pretty good emcee but not speaking the language it's hard to appreciate. So overall it sounded like generic hiphop I'd hear through the speakers of an annoying person on the subway. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Even if the lyrics were worthy of a Nobel Prize in literature, I don't think understanding them would make this mess any more listenable. This LP aims for Bad Bunny-esque grandeur but fails to capture any kind of life or melodic inspiration in the instrumentals, and the Drake-like vocals do nothing to help.

Not a clue

Brazilian rap from an artist with a portmanteau “Emcee” and “Homicide” name? Seemed like a hard pass. Instead I listened to it twice. This may very well be my favorite rap album!

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Principia, A ordem natural das coisas, Paisagem, Ismalia, Amarelo

I understood maybe 10% of the lyrics on this album but man it rocked. It’s like groovy spanish hip hop/r&b and it’s catchy as hell.

Great Brazilian hip hop album with very cheerful and happy songs. I don't understand a bit of the lyrics, but to me it sounds like a party is going on here and I wanna join.

I thought this was pretty great, even with the inevitable language barrier (with my poor college Spanish creating a false sense that grasping the Brazillian Portuguese is almost within reach). So I feel like I was missing out on a big piece of this but still really enjoyed the music.

Hip hop, MPB. En portugués. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

This is cool, though understood none of it. The Portuguese is cool to listen to.

Decent, even if my Portuguese is rusty. Much better than the other Brazilian rap album I know by o'rappa

Tony Christie enters the chat. Is this the way to AmarElo? Has Emicida spent every night hugging his pillow? Is Emicida expecting Sweet Marie to be waiting for him? Crap jokes aside, this is some decent enough Brasilia hip hop, with pedestrian but competently executed beats. The flow is decent enough, but having zero grip of Portuguese clearly doesn't help. I can only assume it's quite good. Thankfully he's got enough variety in his delivery to make it listenable - obviously not including the absolutely wasted jive talks about - well, I don't have the first clue, do I? I don't understand Portuguese.

Bright, sunny and poppy, one has vastly increased one’s knowledge of Brazilian hip-hop and can now say one has a favorite Brazilian mc. This is just pure musical enjoyment, as easy and relaxing as a day on the beach. Last few songs are of a notably different tone and feel and significantly undercut the plus and positive vibes. Spoken word bits should be cut. Would be a fun add to list proper, just for the sake of globalization and diversity of vibe.

Sample heavy, with lots of interludes, and lots of guest vocalists, and very very good. Other than being in Portuguese, it could be a "golden age" hip hop album!

September 4, 2025 HL: "A Ordem Natural das Coisas", "Prinicipia", title track, "Ismália", "Libre" Not as crazy about: "Eminência Parda". (Makes me wonder whether trap is boring in every language) Hard to rate at first, as even with the "prerequisite" Brazilian records like Caetano and Clube da Esquina, I felt pretty out of my element. After I skimmed over other people's reviews, I had a eureka moment, and that was when someone brought up contemporary rappers Drake and Bad Bunny. I have put on a couple of both their records this year, and while decent my opinion consistently landed around a 3 to 3.5/5. Hence, my realization that I would rather listen to this thing by Emicida rounds it up to a four. Well, that and the use of classic sounds of 'música popular brasileira'. Never hurts an album from my experience.

Die not have a clue what the songs were about. But the vibe was good

Pretty interesting variety of hip hop and rap... though the language made it a bit more difficult to appreciate it also kept it interesting in that you could focus on the flow and vibe. Glad to experience it.

Enjoyable

Up tempo bop

I have recently developed a bit of a bias against the Brazilian Portuguese language, though no fault of Mr. Emicida but rather due to some personal issues I am working through. I tried to put those aside when assessing this, and I think I did a good job, but it is important to note that this album is probably better than I give it credit for. Hip Hop is a genre I always enjoy, and I find it a treat when it comes from other languages and other cultures.

Brazilian hip-hop that fairly interesting at times even without understanding the language, other times less interesting

This is pretty far outside my wheelhouse. Seemed ok? A bit light on for a rapper whose name is related to the word homicide. But hey. The tunes were pleasant enough. 3/5.

Enjoyed this, no idea what he’s rapping about mind you.

Feels like the type of music I would enjoy and beats are good but language barrier holds me back from fully enjoying.

A minimum three for the inclusion of music from somewhere other than the UK or US.

It’s pretty good for what it is, but it’s really not for me.

Cheerful

It's a good album. I don't know much Portuguese, but I will say it's nice to finally a rapper on this list who doesn't use the n-word (or even the Portuguese equivalent)

I really enjoyed this. Fun and accessible vibe that is underpinned with real musical depth. Thanks for recommending this. Fave Songs: Pequenas Alegrias da Vida Adulta, Principia, A Ordem Natural das Coisas, Quem Tem Un Amigo, Paisagem

Not fully my thing, but interesting

I worried it was going to be jazz. It wasn’t, hurrah!

Not going to down vote cos it was Portuguese. Liked the backing and the flow.

Ritmos brasileños, con estilo. Muy en su línea. Un poco para amantes del género. Buen sonido en general, aunque no termino de enganchar con él

Again, can't give an opinion on the story telling but music was in accord with vocals

I really ike his style- musically complex and chill. A mixture of rap, and R&B maybe? It's a shame Spotify doesn't do subtitles but I get the gist.

I may not be able to understand most of the album, but I am a sucker for when hip hop is paired with a genre you don't see too often and MPB is a great pairing. Just wish it kept that pairing the whole time and I think this would be something truly special.

Brazilian rap. It's got some good hooks, and if I understood what he was saying, I might like it more, but rap really isn't a genre that I listen to.

I was not in the mood for this and expect I will never be.

AmarElo has its moments, obviously the Portuguese means it's a sizeable language barrier but it's decent modern rnb (far more than it is hip hop) and when it sticks to those smooth grooves it's good; Paisagem is really good, 9nha has some subtle bossa nova running through it that makes it work, but while it comes across earnest and fairly well put together, a lot of it just doesn't really resonate with me through the genre and the language. Slap bang in the middle so just under 3, 2/5.

Really struggled to get into this, the language barrier didn’t help and what I’ve seen of the translated lyrics are pretty great, and the vocal delivery was strong enough, but the music was just really bland pop-rap that did absolutely nothing for me

Noise that annoyed my daughter.

Brazilian hip-hop?! It’s much chiller than I thought it would be. It might get another play-through.

Perhaps the most popular Brazilian rapper in the past decade or so, Emicida grew his reputation on the internet before breaking out and finding himself in several video game soundtracks. This effectively put him on the radar for American audiences despite clearly being meant for a Brazilian audience (he exclusively raps in Portuguese and lyrically focuses on social issues pertaining to his home-country). To that end, I can still appreciate and respect what he's doing with his platform as an artist, but I simply don't resonate with it all that much. Musically, this is rap with extremely rounded edges. Though I appreciate the various Brazilian music influences that are infused into the beats, production is squeaky clean to the point that I rarely found myself fully engaged with this album. Which is a shame because it seems as though this guy is fairly popular and well-enjoyed, though has not quite eclipsed the legacy of Racionais MC. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: I'd add Racionais MC before considering Emicida for a spot, but Brazilian hip-hop ought to get some recognition.

For everyone being apologetic about not understanding Portuguese, don't worry. This album sucks even more if you understand the lyrics...

I can see why someone would like this but as a non Portuguese speaker I just found myself going along with the beats instead of enjoying the full song. But overall good production just lacking the ability to understand it. 2.5/10

Horrible

This is my pick for the challenge, so it's obvious a 5-star. I chose this album because, while the original list offers a somewhat decent introduction to Brazilian music, it lacks recent releases and artists. That omission makes some sense given the list's UK/USA-centric lens, but it also leaves a huge gap. So I wanted to bring something from the 2020s to the table, especially for those who aren’t specialists in Brazilian music but want to know more about it. Particularly, this is not my favorite Emicida's album (probably it is his debut "O Glorioso Retorno de Quem Nunca Esteve Aqui"). However, his most recent release "AmarElo" is quite interesting and appropriate to show the quality of Brazilian music, especially the hip-hop of the last 2 decades in the country. At the same time that he does not leave the "classic" Brazilian hip-hop/rap in his songs, "AmarElo" brought some new layers to his work. Just looking at the feats and special participation and even ignoring the content, it's evident that it's respectful to the tradition of Brazilian music (songs with Zeca Pagodinho and Marcos Valle), without losing the wave of new talents (Pablo Vitar, MC Tha), also inviting internacional people that talks a lot with brazilian history (Papillon and Ibeye). Looking at the lyrics, it's clear that he didn't lose his initial anger (almost essential to Brazilian hip-hop as an essential protest kind of song), but he also assumes a more mature way to look at things. There’s protest, yes, but there’s also hope, healing, and celebration. I could go on about this album, but for the purposes of a list like 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, AmarElo offers an essential snapshot of modern Brazil (musically, politically, and emotionally). It deserves a place. For those really interested in learn more, Emicida released a documentary-like movie on Netflix with the same name where he explains a lot about the process of creating the album ;-) .

Given that so much of it's lyrical content is vile homophobic & misogynistic crap is a rap album improved by not understanding what's being said? Whatever the answer, this is truly terrible.