{"id":35960,"date":"2014-09-05T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T10:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/?p=35960"},"modified":"2017-03-01T13:00:41","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T13:00:41","slug":"new-noise-pearls-negras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2014\/09\/05\/new-noise-pearls-negras\/","title":{"rendered":"New Noise: Pearls Negras"},"content":{"rendered":"
We talk to the hottest new rap trio on the scene, the Pearls Negras, about how they’re single handedly bringing the sound of Rio back to its roots, and seeing the world along the way<\/p>\n
Hailing from the slums of Rio de Janeiro the Pearls Negras (Black Pearls) are quite unlike any other group on the musical horizon. An all-female rap trio, Alice Coelho, Jenni Loyola and Mariana Alves have repurposed the heavily macho and misogynistic style of music so prominent in the slums of Rio, known as \u2018Baille Funk\u2019 and merged it with trap beats, spitting about social injustice with flow that would make rappers with double their pedigree wince.\u00a0 Did I forget to mention they\u2019re all just 17 or 18?<\/p>\n
A multi talented bunch, they met at an after-school theatre group organised for the community in Vidigal, and started making music soon after. Spotted at a show by producers David Alexander and Jan Blumentrath (who previously worked with Yo! Majesty and Dominique Young Unique) they persuaded them to lay down a few tracks before signing them to their label Bolabo. They released their first mixtape Biggie Apple<\/i>, (about their dreams of visiting New York) late last year, and since then they\u2019ve been taking over Brazil, totally changing what it means to be young, female and rapping. We caught up with them on their first trip outside of their home country to chat favelas, future plans and why they want to change the way people listen to baille funk.<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n What was it like where you grew up?<\/b><\/p>\n We were born in Vidigal, a favela in Rio. It\u2019s was lovely growing up in Rio and especially in our community in Vidigal. Rio has such a fantastic reputation, it\u2019s known the world over as a place people want to visit and one of the most fun cities in the world, with some of the best beaches! We\u2019re proud to be able to say that we\u2019re from there, and from the favelas, and we talk about that a lot in our raps: about where we live and where we grew up, and it\u2019s important for us to be able to represent the place that we came from in that way. It\u2019s a point of pride, for us, being \u201cfaveladas\u201d [girls from the favelas]<\/i><\/p>\n How does it feel being known internationally?<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s amazing for us, all the things that are happening. We\u2019re representing our hometown, our favela. Whenever we post pictures or videos people always comment being like \u201cthose are the girls that are showing Vidigal to the world!\u201d We don\u2019t even know what to say, honestly, it\u2019s an absolute dream – \u00a0it\u2019s incredible!<\/p>\n How did you meet the guys behind Bolabo and end up working with them?<\/b><\/p>\n We met them in a neighbouring favela. After our show they came up to us, but could only speak in English and didn\u2019t speak any Portuguese, and so they got a translator and booked us to go into the studio and lay down some tracks. We recorded 7 songs, then they returned to London, and then got back in touch saying they\u2019d liked what we\u2019d done a lot. So we arranged to shoot the videos for \u201cPensar em Voce\u201d and \u201cGuerreira\u201d in the favela. We love working with both of those guys, they\u2019re super talented, plus it feels like we\u2019ve known them forever, we get on super well. Musically they\u2019re just intuitive \u2013 they know exactly what we\u2019re going for. Together we make a really strong team, they make us feel good about our future.<\/p>\n