Created on September 8, 2022, Batalha da Arte has completed three years with the aim of strengthening MC battles in the state.
The movement began with a Christmas edition: “Batalha da Arte started with one edition, the Christmas edition, which had no name, nothing, no reference at all. And the battle grew from that edition, where we built a battle with prizes, which led the work to be built in the best possible way,” recalls Psy, one of the battle’s founders.
The battle’s purpose is directly linked to occupying public spaces and reaching out to peripheral territories. “The main goal of Batalha da Arte, with the rhyme battles, is to reach the audience in the outskirts. We usually hold the battles in squares close to the outskirts,” he says.
Moving through different spaces also widens the audience Batalha da Arte reaches. For the founder, taking the activity to central areas and to events like Quebramar makes it possible to meet people from different social realities.
“We reach other social classes when we go downtown, when we hold a battle at a festival like Quebramar,” he states.
From the outskirts to the Quebramar 2026 stage
It was in this context that Batalha da Arte arrived at the festival’s opening. For the founder, being part of the Quebramar programme is also an opportunity to present hip hop to audiences that still hold stigmas about MC battles.
“Batalha da Arte opening the festival today is so important for us to show how an MC battle works and to break all the stigmas around it. MC battles are seen in marginalised ways, as if it’s only Black people, only drugs, and we are not just that. The battle is a culture, part of the elements of hip hop culture, with colour, with race and with a huge social class that comes from the outskirts, and people need to understand that. And opening the festival today is so important for us to show our talents, our rhymes and the artists we have in our state and in Brazil when it comes to MC battles,” Psy concludes.
The collective
The battle is built collectively, by people who play different roles within the organisation and help strengthen the movement. One of the founders of Batalha da Arte, Luidy Emici, highlights the team’s work.
“We are here with our team of judges, DJs, camera operators — people who are part of the group and have specific roles that, at every moment, help our collective grow and become stronger in a very beautiful way.”
For Luidy, the experience also reveals the political dimension of culture as a tool for social transformation.
“We hold on tightly to the idea and the ideal that the world has to be a better place and that people need to be more united. There is nothing better than a festival like this to prove that people are altruistic, humble, united and good-hearted, living from art and coming to see the art of others, and to show that art, like other social and cultural means, is the best way we have to change the world.”
From the battle to the state qualifier
As well as being part of Festival Quebramar’s opening programme, Batalha da Arte also hosts a qualifying round for the state competition. The edition held this Saturday (26th), at CUFA, was Amapá’s 13th qualifier and brought together MCs competing for a place in the next phase of the competition.
According to the organisers, the qualifier’s participants are aiming to advance to the state final, scheduled for November, with no date set yet. The state stage will decide Amapá’s representative in the following round, which may result in a new name being chosen or in a second title for a competitor who has represented the state before.
At this Saturday’s qualifier, the winner of the night was Bruno Braga, known as Smile MC. For the artists who take part, the competition is also an opportunity for growth and exposure within the scene. Smile spoke about the importance of hip hop as a space for expression and about the experience of performing at Festival Quebramar.
“For me, hip hop is a movement through which I can express myself. The movement that lets me put out everything I hold as true, everything I believe in. Hip hop is the tool that lets me express everything I hold as true, you know? It’s where I can express myself,” he says.
About taking part in the festival, the MC said: “It’s a great experience. I believe it’s fundamental for my artistic growth. It was incredible.”
