Rise of young hip-hop 'funkeiros' as young as 8 causing alarm in Brazil

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Children as young as six are being sexualised as part of a new dance craze
They are Brazilian funk stars who glorifying crime, drugs and promiscuity
Family campaigners have slammed the trend which is hugely popular
Six-year-old MC Vilaozin has launched his first single 'Slap On The Bum'

Published: 09:32 EST, 10 July 2015 | Updated: 10:08 EST, 10 July 2015

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An eight-year-old girl gets down on all fours and wiggles her rear from the stage of a packed club, egged on by a rowdy crowd of revellers.

An 14-year-old boy dances with a woman dressed as a teacher, surrounded by a group of young teen girls who girate in revealing miniskirts. A boy aged 12, draped by women thrusting their hips in G-string bikinis, raps: 'Get ready young girl, I know you like it, go shimmying down...'

In most parts of the world, such disturbing videos would provoke a national outcry - and arrests.

But in Brazil the children portrayed in these music clips are not seen as victims to be protected, but as celebrities. Each enjoys huge success, millions of online hits, and have hundreds of thousands of fans.

Music: MC Vilaozin launched his first single imaginatively titled 'Slap On The Bum'. He is just six years old

They are some of the rising child stars of Brazilian funk, the ghetto dance craze which typically glorifies crime, drugs and promiscuity - and which is taking the Latin American nation by storm.

MC Melody, 8, performs four packed shows a week in funk clubs in her home city, Sao Paulo, and has over 700,000 Facebook followers.

Last month her name was one of Google's most searched terms in Brazil, with over 50,000 requests in just one day.

The 14-year-old boy, MC Pet, rakes in more than £24,000 a month with performances and music videos and has an army of devoted young female fans.

And the vulgar song performed by 12-year-old MC Pedrinho, in which he also asks a girl to kneel down and perform a sex act on him, has more than 20million YouTube hits.

Only in recent months has Brazil's justice system, under pressure from alarmed observers and children's advocates, belatedly moved to censor the child funkeiros' explicit music and performances.

But with their music becoming a national craze, particularly among teenagers, most admit it will be an uphill struggle to change the way the child funk stars are perceived by the vast majority of the population.

In fact, despite the polemic, the young 'artists' are more often feted for their success - even by the country's mainstream TV channels.

In one report by Ego, the 'celebrity' news magazine of Brazil's biggest broadcaster Globo, MC Pedrinho was celebrated as a young 'Eminem', with an army of young female fans who call themselves 'Pedrinaticos'.

Explicit language: MC Brinquedo, 13, has a song which includes the lyrics : 'Rub, rub, rub your turkey in her, because she likes it'

And the Record TV channel, famously owned by a powerful Evangelical church, even followed the lives of the child 'celebrities' in a special fly-on-the-wall documentary.

The funkeiros whose homes they visited included 13-year-old MC Brinquedo - which means Toy - whose lyrics include: 'Rub, rub, rub your turkey in her, because she likes it'. The video gained six million YouTube hits in just six months.

Instead of warning of the dangers of the sexualisation of children, the programme gushed over how 'well behaved' the star was at home, and how he didn't have a girlfriend despite the female attention he receives.

The saddest thing is that, as well as the distortion of their values, children are being robbed of their innocence, something that once gone cannot be restored

Ricardo Cabezon, child advocate

Another article, in MixMe, one of Brazil's biggest entertainment websites, listed '13 Reasons Why MC Brinquedo Is Better Than Justin Bieber'.

And even Icelandic singer Bjork added the oxygen of publicity to the youngster's career when she played one of his songs at a party in New York last month, a fact which was reported by all the mainstream media back home.

The in-demand rapper now gets over £1,000 for each show, performing up to 15 a month.

Lawyer Ricardo Cabezon, president of Sao Paulo's Child and Juvenile Rights Commission, believes that child funk is stealing away children's innocence in Brazil - the country with high levels of child abuse and the second-highest rate of child prostitution in the world.

He said: 'It's no longer a surprise to us that children are appearing in videos with obscene choreography and songs with lyrics which portray women as mere sexual objects, adopting mannerisms and behaviours which would be questionable even in adults.

'So the question that arises is, why is it taking us so long to do something about it? The saddest thing is that, as well as the distortion of their values, children are being robbed of their innocence, something that once gone cannot be restored.

'Taking away from a child the right to a chlldhood is a truly horrific crime.'

Youngest: Six-year-old MC Vilaozin sings a song written by his father and manager'manager' Wellington Silva

Twerking: The clip shows him dancing with and pretending to slap the bottoms of two girls, his 12-year-old cousin and her 19-year-old friend

MC Vilaozin pictured rapping in a recording studio

Characterised by a frenetic, base-heavy beat, along with a vocal beat box, Brazilian funk music emerged in the late 1970s from the favela slums of Rio de Janeiro, and has often been linked to crime, drugs and underage sex.

The most controversial version, called Proibidao - or Censored - funk, is replete with pornographic lyrics which banalise sex and often appear to encourage violence against women.

The erotic dances, meanwhile, are often little more than a simulation of intercourse.

At all-night funk parties - or 'bailes' - which attract more than a million revellers every weekend - MCs perform their hits in front of packed dance floors where drugs and sex often flow freely, and gang violence is common.

A number of funk DJs have been murdered during their shows, while fatal shootings during funk parties are an almost weekly occurrence.

But only recently has the music genre started to see the emergence of child MCs who, despite their young age, continue to use the same sexually explicit language and dances as their adult counterparts.

Psychologist Rosely Sayao says the trend represents a concerning 'invasion of the adult world into children's lives'.

'What is worrying is that these videos have an audience, and they are not just adults. One way or another we think they are interesting, and we are the ones who sustain this type of behaviour.

'Everyone who has children and who watch these type of videos, we are being responsible for this continuing.

'Look at the hypocrisy. We are all afraid of harassment, sexual violence against children, when we ourselves, our society, our culture, stimulates it by allowing these types of things. We need to treat children like children, eroticism and sensuality should never become part of the world of the child.'

Everyone who has children and who watch these type of videos, we are being responsible for this continuing

Psychologist Rosely Sayao

For Fabricio Ribeiro, from the Newton Paiva University in Belo Horizonte, the music could damage the healthy development both of the child 'artists' and their many young fans.

He said: 'The negative effects of this type of contact is that the construction of their sexuality, which should happen in a slow rhythm, is knocked over by eroticism.

'This has been happening for a long time, with [other types of music], but it has now gained a new form. Children today are not only spectators, but, also, agents which promote this sexualisation.'

For many poor parents, the huge popularity of funk - and the potential to earn life-changing amounts of money - is motive enough to push their children into an X-rated adult world.

Last week a new child funkeiro was born when six-year-old MC Vilaozin launched his first single, 'Slap On The Bum'.

In the song, written by his father and 'manager' Wellington Silva, 25, the boy sings: 'Slap her on the bum, sit down with your p***y'. The clip shows him dancing with and pretending to slap the rears of two girls, his 12-year-old cousin and her 19-year-old friend.

Rising star: MC Pet is well down the road to success, thanks in part to his brother who was shot dead

But shopworker Silva says: 'Bum isn't a swear word. Actually the controversy is good, because his work becomes even more well known.'

Incredibly the clip has already gained four million views on YouTube, while the child has been featured on one of Brazil's biggest magazine programmes, Domingo Espetacular, also on the Record TV channel.

Another child funkeiro, MC Pet, is already well down the road to success, thanks in part to his older brother, MC Daleste, who was shot dead onstage at a funk show in 2013.

Before his death, 20-year-old Daleste was one of Brazil's most famous rappers, whose repertoire included songs about drug dealers and hating the police, including one entitled 'Killing policemen is our goal'.

We need to treat children like children, eroticism and sensuality should never become part of the world of the child

Rosely Sayao

His 14-year-old brother, real name Peterson Kevyn, took up where he left off, but this time with lyrics about drugs, women and breaking the law. One of his songs, with more than 18 million views, goes: 'I know I'm a minor, but I'm out of my head on the fast lane, I'm not allowed to drive, but I'm being the driver anyway.'

Their aim is to reach the heights of fame achieved by Brazil's most acclaimed young funkeiro, 15-year-old MC Gui, real name Guilherme Alves, who earns around £30,000 a month, and has over 30 fan clubs all over Brazil with 800,000 Facebook fans.

The rapper, who started singing aged nine, has a upmarket clothes boutique in Sao Paulo and an office with 15 staff who manage his career and bookings for shows, which average 50 packed venues a month.

For many fighting to stop the perceived assault on Brazilian childhood, the greatest demon is music manager Emerson Martins, 42, responsible for producing some of the mini-funkeiros most controversial tracks.

In a house he calls the 'dreams factory', next to the Heliopolis favela in Sao Paulo, he has taken in a number of young stars who dream of being Brazil's next funk idols.

Money: Some of the stars make up to £30,000 a month and have fan clubs and a huge Facebook following

Sexualised: Antoher child star, MC Du Conventi, dances with girls in a video shoot

Clips produced at the three-story house, which has a recording studio and video editing suite as well as a swimming pool and dormitories, have gained a total of 20 million YouTube hits.

Leading Martins' list of 15 funk stars is MC Pikachu, named after the Pokemon cartoon character, who moved to the house six months ago from his family's home a poor district on the outskirts of Sao Paulo.

Now aged 15, the rapper's biggest hit is entitled 'She wants wood'.

Real name Matheus Sampaio, MC Pikachu now performs four shows a week in nightclubs in the city, which often go on all night. He can earn as much as £10,000 a month, and recently purchased a brand new Chevrolet Montana pick-up truck for his father.

But he admits his mother doesn't listen to his songs. He said: 'At first she would tell me off and tell me to go to church, but now she can see that this is my work and I'm earning money, so she respects that. She says that she trusts me and if this is my work, then fine.'

Bum isn't a swear word. Actually the controversy is good, because his work becomes even more well known

Mother of young funkeiro

For Martins, those who complain that the songs encourage the sexualisation of children and contribute to Brazil's child abuse epidemic are 'hypocrites'.

He said: 'Why is funk being persecuted? It is because it's from the periphery? I don't see any problem at all… they want to do with funk what they did with rap, which is to discriminate.

'The kids just sing about the reality that's on the street, on television, and on the internet, which is their entertainment. What do they find there? Dirty stuff.'

The advance of child funk into Brazilian popular culture was unrestricted until earlier this year, when an online petition which gained nearly 25,000 signatures jolted Brazil's prosecution service into action.

The reason was the video of eight-year-old MC Melody, dancing provocatively on stage in a funk club. As she danced her father, also a funk rapper, sings: 'Call the little girls and do a square on all fours'.

The video quickly gained more than 300,000 hits on YouTube. In another song the young girl, real name Gabriela Abreu, shows her midriff in a skimpy miniskirt and top, and sings: 'I confess that one kiss awakens in me the urge.'

The petition called for the authorities to act and investigate if Melody's father, Thiago Abeu, known as MC Belinho, and who is also his daughter's manager, was breaking the law by sexually exploiting her daughter.

Vulgar: MC Pikachu, named after the Pokemon cartoon character, is just 15, and his biggest hit is entitled 'She wants wood'

Flashy: MC Pikachu (second from left) can earn as much as £10,000 a month, and recently purchased a brand new Chevrolet Montana pick-up truck for his father

Abreu responded in a recorded video rant: 'I think you are a band of bigots, who want to finish

with funk. Funk is allowing a lot of poor people the right to have money, to buy a car, a good house, to buy a gold chain which cost 25,000 reals (£5,000), like this one, which you jealous people aren't able to buy yourselves.

'You say I'm a paedophile, but what is paedophilia? You are the paedophiles, because you are seeing sensuality in an eight-year-old child. You should be saying, that's so cute, because that's what it is.'

Amid a growing calls for action, Sao Paulo's prosecution service have now launched an investigation into the activities of child funk stars, including whether their parents and managers are breaking child welfare laws.

Prosecutor Eduardo Dias de Souza Ferreira said the explicit content of the songs 'bruise the dignity of children and adolescents.'

He said: 'Brazil is democratic, but it's not a whorehouse. If it is understood that there is pornography in the songs, there will be punishment. Social network sites will also be told to change the way the content is presented. With regard to the artist agencies, if they are proved to be guilty, we will look at their revenues to issue fines as well.'

But few believe firm enough action will actually be taken to stem child funk's increasing popularity, especially as banning orders will have to be issued by each judge in municipalities where shows are taking place.

And while some child funkeiros have had videos or fanpages removed from the internet, new ones appear almost as soon as they are taken down.