Anyone remember ‘favela funk’? It was bigged up as some kind of late Brazilian entry into the big beat and Miami bass arenas before everyone realised that for every Vai Popozuda there were ten really loud and shit versions of something like Who Let The Dogs Out? Sung in Portuguese. Fast forward a decade to the ‘now’ of ghetto funk and Bulabeats’ latest signings Brazilian crew Funk The System are clearly keen to provide something a little more like you were expecting when you first heard of ‘baile funk’ and wash away the nasty taste of rubbish versions of the Baha Men. Hence their use of vocal samples from Digital Underground, Missy Elliott and…hold on – wait a minute – the fucking Ying Yang Twins and euro-housers N & K?! Alright so half their vocal sources are still well dodgy. Despite this all the cuts on Mashups Vol 1 sound better than their sources (and if that isn’t a key aim of a mashup, I don’t know what is) in a Miami Bass-influenced ghetto funk stylee. Which is some achievement if you’ve heard N & K’s Just Cruisin.
Monkey’s note: Since this post was originally written the EP has become available free via bandcamp – see player below.
(Out 9 July)