AmarElo by Emicida

• With its title inspired by a Paulo Leminski poem: Amar é um elo / entre o azul / e o amarelo (Loving is a link / between blue / and yellow), AmarElo is Emicida's most ambitious project to date.

• In today's polarised world and as one of Brazil's most successful rappers whose very stage name is a combination of the words for 'MC' and 'killer', Emicida has deliberately chosen to focus on a positive message of Love, in all its forms, as our common bond.

• Born 1985 in a poor area of São Paulo, multi-award winning Emicida a.k.a Leandro Roque de Oliveira, along with his brother Evandro Fióti, now own and run their own recording and production company, Laboratório Fantasma, including a merchandising division that challenges several stereotypes.

• AmarElo includes contributions from a wide range of Brazilian musicians, not least Dona Onete and Zeca Pagodinho, or more contemporary artists such as Drik Barbosa and Pabllo Vittar. International contributors include the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra and the Afro-French Cuban sisters, Ibeyi.

• Simultaneously with its European digital release in 2020 AmarElo will receive its first international release on compact disc and as a limited edition, double LP vinyl album, both formats including a full English translation of all lyrics.

Born Leandro Roque de Oliveira (Emicida is a play on ‘MC’ and ‘homicide’), 31 years ago in a northern suburb of São Paulo, Emicida began, by imitating every MC he heard and rapping in his own version of English. He soon shifted to Portuguese and via circulated recordings of his appearances at freestyle rapping battles and, later, mixtapes from his own makeshift studio, his fame spread.