Banned Summer Track Celebrates Anniversary

The summer comes to an end and so the memory of the season’s biggest track will fade. Do you remember last year’s summer hits? Exactly a year ago, the Brazilian rap duo Cidinho & Doco topped the Swedish singles tally.

A dance floor filler, few understood the lyrics of the infectious hit. The first version of the track surfaced in 1992 when the siblings MC Junior e Leonardo wrote the track. In 1994, the track was performed for the first time. The refrain of the song was based on The Outfield’s “Your Love,” replacing the lyrics with the sound of a machine gun – hence the “pa ra pa pa…”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_PgK3fvtqs]

Cidinho & Doco joined MC Junior e Leonardo when performing the track and issued a version of their own. The interest for “Rap das armas” re-surged in 2007 when the song was used in José Padilha’s movie The Elite Squad, the highest-grossing film of in Brazil that year. The song was slightly modified compared to its ‘90s original.

The track was even deleted from the The Elite Squad, two weeks after its initial release and “Rap das armas” was also banned on Brazilian radio, due to the controversial lyrics. It praises drug consumption, defends drug dealers thus supporting the wrong side of Rio de Janeiro’s war on crime.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb-rUfBTQ1g]

The track broke in Europe, due to renewed interest from Portugese and Dutch DJs. A remix version by DJ Quintino of Holland stayed atop the charts for two weeks in February 2009.

Sweden was the country, embracing this hit most as Cidinho & Doco topped the singles tally for four weeks. The track was succeeded by Madonna’s “Celebration” in August 2009.

• Listen to Cidinho & Doco’s “Rap das armas” here.
• Listen to The Outfield’s “Your Love” here.