"Eu tenho algo a dizer": o educativo dos Racionais MC’S contra o racismo e o capitalismo no Brasil

Abstract

This study analyzes the trajectory and discography of Racionais MC’s, seeking to understand how their works constitute an educational element (educativo) and what formative intentions guide their artistic and political production in confronting racism and the socio-racial inequalities produced by capitalism in Brazilian peripheries. Starting from the understanding that education is not limited to formal school spaces, this study recognizes black cultural expressions, such as rap, as important arenas for the production of knowledge within these contexts. Understood in this research as a peripheral epistemology elaborated from the daily experiences of the black and poor population, “street wisdom” manifests in the group's narratives as a form of critical reading of reality, approaching the concept of “escrevivência” (lived-writing). In this sense, the discography of Racionais MC’s constitutes the primary source of analysis, understood as an educational path constructed throughout their artistic trajectory. Methodologically, the work articulates bibliographical research and the analysis of five tracks, dialoguing with the conception of the educational element proposed by Sebastián Plá and with the methodological contributions for the analysis of popular song formulated by Marcos Napolitano. The theoretical-conceptual framework relies on authors from the post-colonial and decolonial fields, who understand racism and capitalism as historically inseparable structures, built in the colonial world and reproduced in modernity through discourses that produce subalternized subjects. Throughout three chapters, the research points to the existence of an educational dimension in Racionais MC’s, since their works intentionally articulate subjects, knowledge, and places based on the experiences of the black and peripheral population, operating not only as a counter-discourse but also as a counter-culture against the hegemonic narratives that sustain racism and capitalism in Brazil.