Home > Law, Criminal Justice > Vol 11 No 1 June 2023 Abstract 5
“I'm gonna tight, but ain’t gonna fire it”: The Drug War On Bezerra Da Silva's Music
Sebástian Borges de Albuquerque Mello, Yuri Brito Santos

Abstract
The debate about the war on drugs is quite frequent in academic circles, especially in sociology, law and particularly criminology. However, the popular perception, from those who’re directly involved in this analyzed phenomenon, is commonly ignored in those studies. Popular culture, in this sense, plays an important role enhancing and emphasizing this discussion. An emblematic case, which portraits such capacity, is the musical piece of Bezerra da Silva, a black slum dweller of Rio de Janeiro who migrated from the northeast of Brazil. The sambista's songs make it possible to combine reflections from the most diverse areas to identify aspects and establish facts about the context of institutional violence, social and racial discrimination, and inequalities that mark the part of society directly involved in the conflict. This article, therefore, aims to combine the social sciences theoretical contributions with the popular artistic manifestation, and reflect on this theme, highlighting possible causes and solutions to the latent problems surrounding the fight against drug trafficking.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jlcj.v11n1a5