Marcelo D2 Releases Anti-Violence Album and Short Film

Marcelo D2 is speaking out about the violence in Rio de Janeiro through new music…

The 50-year-old Brazilian rapper has released a new album accompanied by a short film. Amar é para os Fortes premiered Friday exclusively on Apple Music.

Marcelo D2

The album was produced by Mario Caldaro Jr. of Beastie Boys fame, while the film was produced, written and directed by Marcelo D2.

The project is described as “a musical chronicle of Rio de Janeiro’s reality: violence, drugs, friends and enemies, family, art, hope, love.”

The nearly-wordless half-hour movie features eight of the record’s ten tracks. Stephan Peixoto, Marcelo D2’s son, plays Sinistro, who discovers a world away from the gangs and guns in the favela when he finds work in an art gallery and is embraced by artists and musicians.

Described by the artist as “an album to watch,” the story, based on his own, is a stylish street opera that illustrates arts role in social change.

The film includes the information that there were 300,000 violent deaths in Brazil in the last ten years, and 71 percent of the victims were young and black.

Gilberto Gil and Seu Jorge are among the real-life Brazilian artists who make cameos in the film, which counted on Nike, Pernod Ricard and Casio as sponsors.

Click here for the video on Apple Music.