MV Bill

Rio de Janeiro-native born on the west side of town, Bill first appeared in 1993, with a track in the compilation "Tiro Inicial" – which exposed new rap talents like Gabriel o Pensador. Before tuning in with rap, MV Bill wrote a samba for a samba school. Later, he adopted the name MV (Mensageiro da Verdade, or Truth Messenger), which helps him hide his real identity. With lyrics heavily structured upon social calls, he put out the CD "CDD Mandando Fechado" on the label Zâmbia in 1998 (produced by Mano Brown and Ice Blue of Racionais MCs). That album was then distributed through Natascha Records/BMG and dubbed "Traficando Informação". In 1999, he played the Free Jazz Festival, an event that had no previous traditions on rap. During that concert, Bill managed to scandalize the audience by displaying a gun, coming right out of his waist line – he later claimed that it had been a toy weapon. His manners are regarded as extravagant: he will only give interviews in Cidade de Deus (CDD), the favela where he was born. Sometimes, he uses the pseudonym Alex Pereira Barbosa as an alternative name. In 2000 MV Bill starred an institutional campaign against the trashing of public phones.