Pina, Marcos Roberto: “Tá patrão”: a study on artistic and musical work in the funk ostentação music genre in the city of São Paulo, Brazil

This research aims to analyze the work relations of the MCs (Master of Cerimonies) of the musical genre known as “funk ostentação” in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The MCs are responsible for the composition and/or presentation of the music offered to the audience through virtual platforms and/or live performances in clubs and block parties. The interest is to verify how this specific aesthetic of the “funk ostentação” articulates and helps to consolidate the “funk music” market in Brazil, which emerges as a promising professional alternative in the scenario of cultural production for a growing portion of young men and women living in the poor neighborhoods of the city of São Paulo. The MCs also take a leading role as trendsetters, promoting a lifestyle through the lyrics of their music, whose main theme revolves around the incentive of the “conspicuous consumption” of luxury goods, reinterpreted as a measure of individual value. This music project characters whose trajectories were previously confined to the so-called “territories of poverty” now at the heart of brazilian consumer society, making the access to consumption a common denominator, where the representations of “center” and “periphery” meet. The starting point is the discussion about artistic and musical work, analyzing the meanings of the work category itself in the “funk music” market, considering the influence of social class, gender and generation in the construction of the MCs trajectories. The methodology is qualitative, contemplating an ethnographic effort to accompany the musical shows in clubs and block parties, interviews with key informants and also analysis of the music lyrics, which I consider as legitimate illustrations of the values ​​that influence the organization of this artistic work.