Vidigal
The view from ‘o morro’ (the hill), Rio de Janeiro
Meu Deus. Talk about the calm after the storm. This is sunrise Rio style. Thank you to my friendling Tahnee for reminding me of what I’m missing. I literally cannot wait to be back there…Really hating my life right now )): (
(Sasha)
(I) Happy (Love) 4th (Michael) July (Jackson)!
So, Happy July 4th everyone! And seeing so the US and the rest of the world has lost their favorite son, its kind of a bittersweet celebration by all accounts. 
But its fair to say that American pop culture has really taken a bashing this week with the loss of Farrah Fawcett also, so although I wouldn’t normally acknowledge American holidays, this one has a special poignance to it. And its means I can use it as an excuse to post another MJ tribute!! Speaking of which I went to the amazing Santa Marta favela - located a few hundred metres from el Christo which was the location of the shooting of the They Don’t Care About Us video. I timed the visit to coincide with the week anniverary of his passing, and left a single white rose as an vastly insubstnacial means to say thank you and I love you to my all time hero… .
So anyhoo, whilst there I drew the attention of some local kinder, and wouldntchaknow, after learning of my reason d’etre, they treated me to a little MJ dance off - t’was quite surreal! Looking out over the most beautiful view of Rio Ive ever seen, standing where MJ once stood, feeling like elation & heartbreak all at once - special memories being made right there y’all. So, as I was posting the images you see here, I was quite taken aback to see one of the kid`s is actually giving the hand salute for the Red Command (Comando Vermelho) drug gang (hence the c and V sign)!! WTF! This was happy Michaeling moments not trafficking! And I mean that literally and figuratively because Santa Marta was the first favela in Rio to be made traffick fee (and free internet as a ‘reward’) 
And for the record, its hella (sorry) nice to be able to wander around a community and not have to worry whose watching from where, being careful to not mention where you live etc. Funnily enough, when I returned home to Vidigal it seemed that things had returned to normality - normality being bandits everywhere! Like three times the normal amount like they’ve been either recruiting or cloning -one of the two - so as you can see in the pic I was feeling happiest I had in a long while! Well not plaesed that theres guns everywhere but … you know! So here’s tribute Estelle stylee to our all-time favourite American Boy, Michael Jackson, thinnly disguised as a celebration to American Independence! Nahaha!(And heads up to Kanye for, “feeling like Mike at his baddest!”)
Beijos! (Sasha)
Interview: No One Is Born a Bandit
In a realllly f**king exclusive interview coming up - we talk to a person that everyone wants but no one can touch, except CLFmag that is! Hell yeah! Kidding aside, this interview with one of the main traffickers from Amigos Dos Amigos (Friends of Friends; the drug command in charge of Vidigal) is entitled ‘No One Is Born A Bandit’, as it is a serious a look at the life of a young man who has chosen (I use the term loosely) a life which exposes him to exploitation and prejudice from nearly all factions of society partcularly the media, but we’re not here to glamourise or make judgements - we just want to tell his story. After the police invasion of Vidigal this week, the timing is right to hear just what life is like for ‘o bandido’…Beijos! (Sasha)
Dark Days On The Hill…
Not happy days on the hill unfortunately. Seems the police elite squad are gonna be doing a sustained attack here in Vidigal, which makes me feel warm and tingley for all the wrong reasons. The second BOPE (elite squad) tank rolled in today and left a few hours alter which probably means they’re figuring the best attack route. Cant imagine they came in for afternoon tea if you know what Im saying. Its weird because I’ve done a little research and I know the BOPE ( pronounced bopee) are a Government arm, are subordinate to the civil police - of whom they take no notice of anyway- and are actually a made up of officers who refused to partake in the usual ritual of killing a street kid on order to be part of the normal military. But don’t let that fool you into thinking they are somehow more compassionate. Check out their logo! I mean what kind of Government allows their military to be represented by that? And the fact is they’re going up there to try and kill teenagers and young men involved in the trafficking often out of the fact they are given little options. I interviewed a bandit from Vidigal only last week. He was smart, polite, a real gentleman and full of regret about cretain decisions he had made in his life, yet holding true to the opinion that it was either this life, or end up with nothing -
just another young black guy from a slum who never had a chance. Now, I`m not condoning violence, never have and never will but the fact that the police are came in two days ago and are coming again to tray and kill this man devastates me. I`m praying for his life. Anyway, Brazil is perhaps the one place on earth where you could actually wax lyrical about the virtues of crime, and on that note I’m posting Dead Prez because sometimes people genuinely need crime to get by… c’est la vie.
Beijos! (Sasha)
Favela daze by Fluxo
I knew today was going to be special, just by the fact of going down to the beach to be confronted by… absolutely no one. Not a soul. And how often does that happen in Rio De Janeiro, a city brissling with a beach bum population of 14 million? Nunca. Never. Doesn’t happen, but today, it did. So there we were, Tahnee, her namourado - Brazilian ‘ippy-’oppy starlet Fluxo and myself, contemplating the wonders of the world and the ‘Fishiest Looking Fish Ever TM”, (featured after the jump), when straight out of nowhere a lady stormed to the waters edge and threw a bouquet of flowers into the surf. It appeared to be symbolic gesture (we were getting pretty deep at this point, people), but it was cool in a Mills & Boon novella kind of way. 
Anyhoo, the light was really special so embarked on a mototaxi tour around Vidigal to check out what could have been our new pad. Although the view would have been one of the best available fact that the bathroom also served as a kitchen held us back from committing to the more compact shall we say, lodgings. I mean imagine having to bang on the bathroom door to ask why dinner is taking so long? Ewww! I don’t think so - or as my girl Nooshin would say; “See this here? This isn’t my life!” It was also located at the very summit of Mount Vidigal which is by virtue of its location, slap bang in the middle of bandit county - they always boggart the best views. So, took a few snaps but had to be extra careful with el camarero when one pulled out a shot gun which was nearly taller than me (Im not joking). 
Anyway, we returned chez toi, cooked food and listened to a new sound coming out of Sao Paulo via Mr Bomba called Birriri, which is pretty much Funk Carioca’s answer to Crunk - which left me thinking; as long as it knows its place - but I can take it or leave it. So then Fluxo introduced me to one of his tracks Má Fé (meaning My Faith) which I’ve posted here, which reminded me that deep down, its that nostalgic, musing, romantic kinda hip-hop that really gets me; it just seemed to summarise the vibe of the day. So whilst tomorrow might bring “Hammer Time!”, today, this is how I was feeling…Beijos! (Sasha)
