by It is with a speaker in one hand and a cap in the other that John Carlos begins another day at work. It’s almost 10:30 and there are three minutes left for the metro to reach Jardim do Morro station in Gaia. While the Brazilian artist steps away to have a few minutes of silence, Flizzi (Flávio da Costa) and Rickas (Pedro Riquito), the other two members of the Coletivo dos Trilhos Para o Mundo, step aside and let him concentrate.
“for everything gifts/ Have a nice trip / First permission/ to reach the carriage“, begins Yannis, as soon as he enters the metro to Porto. Hard to start, some take off the look of the mobile trying to understand the origin of the device and others leaving conversations in the middle to listen to the rhymes of the group advancing through the various carriages.
“The friend took care of the disguise / takes hair from above and leaves it only on the sides”, further throws it knocker aged 33 years. Sitting in one of the chairs, the man in his 70s laughs and agrees.
The return of the rain also serves as a new rhyme, a woman’s laughter accompanies it rap music and the cowardice of a young man pretending to listen to another song is the perfect way to end the show.
Teresa Pacheco Miranda
Coletivo have been in Porto for just over a month, but in Brazil they are already “a well-known group”, which includes several musicians who, like John, would get together to rhyme at the Galeria do Rock shopping center in Sao Paolo. Pushed by his friends, this musician started making rhymes in the São Paulo subway, to the point where it was, by choice, the only job he had.
“I lived well on tips,” he admits, but the desire to do the same on the subway in other countries spoke louder and, last summer, he decided to take a chance. “When I started rapping in the subway, I had already decided that I would go wherever there was. I went to Rio de Janeiro, Portalegre, Bahia, I went to a lot of places and I already wanted to know what it’s like to rhyme meters in Europe,” he tells P3.
On the Porto Metro, travel along the Trindade lines to Senhor de Matosinhos station, from Jardim do Morro to João de Deus or through busier areas such as Casa da Música, Viso or Senhora da Hora. Gradually, the group becomes as famous as when John was in Rio de Janeiro and received messages from passengers on social networks, on days when he did not appear on the carriages.
The female voice from the metro warns that we are almost at Trindade station and therefore it is time for the team to pass the cap to those who want to contribute. John said thank you at least seven times, but just contributing with applause makes him happy. Gustavo Borges, another member of Coletivo, didn’t join the group because he had classes, and Flizzi and Ricas decide to rhyme as a duo, on the next trip to Franco.
Rhymes without authorization from Metro do Porto
Until now, Coletivo assures that it has never had problems with passengers and that it has asked Metro do Porto for permission to act and make collections, but it adds that it has been refused.
Contacted by P3, the company confirms this version. The request was rejected, “as it called into question the basic condition of comfort and tranquility for customers inside the vehicles, enshrined in the General Conditions of Carriage”, he explains.
Teresa Pacheco Miranda
Metro do Porto also reports that it has received four direct complaints, but there are also those who express dissatisfaction with the security guards of the vehicles because of the noise or the demand. Behind Flizzi, leaning against one of the subway doors, it says that loud music is prohibited.
In this second trip to Franco, Flizzy and Rikas engage in a rhyming duel and bring smiles to the passengers they meet. There is a message for the couple who got up to leave and even a compliment for a woman who already prepared the flour. “I can only thank you for helping / ’cause it’s these coins that help rhyme / It’s the coins and people’s smiles / you gave both and I’m doubly grateful“, Rikas concludes, while holding out his hat.
Arriving at the stop, Giannis again “cuts” the pass in the machine and, waiting for the next subway, the two friends share the money they have saved.
A job
Flizzi is Rika meet it Collective “by chance”, when they saw Giannis rapping on one of the subway rides. The few minutes of the ride was enough to make them want to participate. already liked it rap music is Flizzi he even participated in impromptu battles. In addition, as he had recently become unemployed, he saw here “a good opportunity to earn money”, explains Mr knocker aged 22 years.
Giannis does not hide that acting in the subway paid off. “With the tips I can pay rent and pension [de alimentos] of my children,” adds the musician, who has also been hired to liven up the parties, a job seen as preparation for the shows he dreams of one day giving the world.
Teresa Pacheco Miranda
Pedro RikitoThe 20-year-old, who lived in Espinho, realized that with rhymes he could earn the national minimum wage, currently 760 euros, and decided to say goodbye to the agricultural parts factory where he worked. In the end he won the same. “I was doing well at work, but the environment of the factory, among the workers, was a bit toxic. The older ones were not very nice to the younger ones. I liked being a machine operator, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he says.
Despite the metro rhyme “it’s an uncertain job that depends on the goodwill of the people”, he believes he made the right decision. However, he adds, working longer hours is one of the downsides, and losing the security of a steady paycheck is also one of the downsides. “There are days when I can stay four hours and make the 30 euros a day a minimum wage person makes and others when I spend 12 hours on the subway and not. [o] with you.”
For the group, Coletivo’s goal is to be a starting point for a solo career and support for rapper who want to start in this art. Tupac and Eminem, as well as Sam the Kid, T-Rex, Slow J and Nerve are some of the references of these artists, who dream of filling the festival grounds and, above all, Hard Cub.
But when that day comes, they guarantee, we’ll continue to see them on the Porto metro. “For me, the subway show shows that I haven’t forgotten where I came from,” concludes John Carlos.
