The Vai-Vai parade, the greatest champion in the history of São Paulo Carnival, displeased police officers and right-wing politicians, who demanded an apology and called for the school’s public funding to be cut.
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The reason was that on Saturday night (10), at the Anhembi Sambódromo, a wing portrayed the Military Police (PM) riot police with demonic features, alluding to the police repression that was on the rise in the 1990s.
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In a note sent to Brazil in factVai-Vai reaffirmed the content of the allegory and said it has “freedom” to stage it.
“In the 90s, public safety in the state of São Paulo was an important and latent issue, with very high mortality rates among the black and peripheral population,” said Vai-Vai.
“Furthermore, it is public knowledge that the precursors of the hip hop movement in Brazil were marginalized and treated as vagabonds, suffering repression and often being arrested just for dancing and adopting a style of dress considered inappropriate for the time,” he continued. the school
Understand the plot
With the samba-plot “Chapter 4, Versicle 3 – From the street and the people, Hip Hop: a São Paulo manifesto”, the parade paid homage to the album “Sovivendo no Inferno”, by Racionais MC’s, one of the most striking of its kind. Released in 1997, the album portrayed the wave of police brutality that São Paulo experienced in the 1990s.
The best-known case of the time was the Carandiru massacre, in 1992, the largest massacre ever recorded in a prison. The dark episode was recorded by Racionais in the song “Diário de um detento”, which belongs to the album honored by Vai-Vai and, consequently, ended up in the 2024 parade.
Police and politicians attack
São Paulo police chiefs released a statement of repudiation. In a harsh tone, the union that represents the category (Sindpesp) said that Vai-Vai “treated the figure of law enforcement agents with derision”, “affronted the security forces” and disrespected “selfless professionals”.
Federal deputies Captain Augusto and Dani Alonso, from PL, sent a letter to the mayor of São Paulo (SP) Ricardo Nunes (MDB) and governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans), asking that Vai-Vai no longer receive public money in 2025.
Read Vai-Vai’s note in full:
“In this context, throughout the parade, a series of historical highlights were made, such as the art week of 1922 and the release of the album “Sovivendo no Inferno”, by Racionais MCs, in 1997. “Surviving no Inferno” is the The group’s second studio album, released by the Cosa Nostra label on December 20, 1997.
It is considered the most important album in Brazilian rap. In 2007, it was ranked 14th on the list of the 100 best albums of Brazilian music by Rolling Stone Brasil. In 2018, the album was included by Comvest (Permanent Commission for Entrance Exams at the State University of Campinas) in the list of mandatory reading works for the Unicamp entrance exam from 2020 onwards. Months later, the work became a book, published by Companhia das Letters, such is their relevance.
According to Rolling Stone Brasil Magazine, which ranked the album in 14th position on the list of the 100 best albums of Brazilian music, “Surviving in Hell put rap at the top of the charts, selling more than half a million copies. Racism, misery and social inequality — themes touched on in previous albums — are exposed here like a big open wound, see ‘Diário de um Detento’, inspired by the great Carandiru massacre”.
In other words, the wing portrayed in Saturday’s parade, from the Vai-Vai samba school, in light of the freedom and playfulness that carnival allows, paid a fair tribute to the album and to Racionais Mcs himself, without the intention of promoting any type of individualized attack or provocation, but rather a wing, like the other 19 presented by the school, which pay homage to a movement.
It is worth highlighting that, in this historical period of the 90s, public safety in the state of São Paulo was an important and latent issue, with extremely high mortality rates among the black and peripheral population. Furthermore, it is public knowledge that the precursors of the hip hop movement in Brazil were marginalized and treated as vagabonds, suffering repression and often being arrested simply for dancing and adopting a style of dress considered inappropriate for the time. What the school did, on the avenue, was to insert the album and the historical events in the context in which they occurred, in the parade’s plot.”
Editing: Matheus Alves de Almeida