Baco Exu do Blues’ speech about black corporeality

From parody to censorship of racist stereotypes

Abstract

Flagellated since the event of slavery, due to structural racism, black corporeality still lacks narratives that strengthen it in political-cultural engagement. Stereotypes dedicated to black women and black men are parodied and censored in the compositions of the Bahian rapper Baco Exu do Blues, through acid criticism. In the dialectic that is established in the production of language, in response to racist and anti-racist statements, the artist engenders the recognition of the positive capabilities of Afro-descendants by bringing narratives of empowerment, especially for black youth. Rap works by disseminating that assuming blackness is a political act and necessary to face prejudice and discrimination. It is a struggle fought at the level of constructions of everyday ideology, which influences individual consciences and all systems of human expression. Based on the assumptions of Dialogical Discourse Analysis, the present work aims to examine the conditions of production of the discursive materiality of black corporeality and Baco’s discourse about this constitution in his songs. The theoretical basis of the research, in addition to the Philosophy of Language, also dialogues with the Theory of Literature and Cultural Studies. As a research method, the metalinguistic approach is used. Sometimes parodying, sometimes censoring the commonplace, the rapper promotes black pride. Thus, a language is produced that encompasses the philosophy of Black Consciousness, the thought that corresponds to an essential part of the struggle that seeks to repair the damage suffered by oppression and the silencing of alterities dominated by white supremacy.