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.

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!

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

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

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