Cosmopolitan Boys Sunday Snippets #17

Sep 30, 2024

For

I needed a few weeks to plan the last 3 months of the year and work more; the furniture for my new home won't buy itself. But now we are back. Writing weekly helps me get a better sense of time, understand that a week has passed, and we are heading into another. Without this, everything seems like one continuous thing, and suddenly a month has gone by.

I was going to write yesterday, but I needed a day to process the weekend. Mikey, a friend from London, came to spend two days in São Paulo for the first time so I could show him a bit of the city and the creative scene. There were so many productive conversations that it almost felt unreal what was happening. I've mentioned him in another edition of the Newsletter, but in summary, he is the creative director of Loyle Carner and has a creative agency called open!, as well as one of the purest hearts I've ever met.

Among the many lessons he gave me, one phrase stood out. We were having dinner at Domo and having deep conversations about professional aspects, Brazil's potential, etc., and he started talking about the importance of authenticity and genuine people. "I have been in Brazil for a week and have not posted anything because, for me, that doesn’t matter; what’s cooler is what we are doing here now. Even if there was no internet or no one looking, I would be doing the same things: playing with kids in the Rocinha, visiting bookstores and buying books on Brazilian architecture, having dinner with my friends and having good conversations. And that’s how you attract more and more things/people/opportunities that align with your lifestyle." Those might not have been his exact words, but that was the message.

Anyway, these are the recommendations of the week:

WHAT I'M READING

Roots of Brazil
Sérgio Buarque de Holanda was a historian, sociologist, and author, as well as the father of Chico Buarque.
This book is from 1936 and analyzes the formation of the 'Brazilian cultural identity.'
Making Room exhibition turns London shop into experimental maker space
Going back to talking about Mikey, the week before coming to Brazil, he was involved in a project that happened during London Design Week. Basically, it was a week-long residency that hosted several activities, mainly about furniture.

"We thought about how we could give people the tools and autonomy to create physical objects, but also create moments where people can talk about how they navigate the creative industry."
This is the kind of thing I would love to do through the Cosmopolitan Boys.

WHAT I'M LISTENING TO

Maria Esmeralda
A collaboration between MCs and producers resulted in one of this year's most interesting national albums. Unlike anything else you will hear.
Chaos
I really liked and listened a lot to “Days Before the Chaos,” so I already knew it would be hard for this second project to surpass it... and it really was. But it has several good songs and very interesting elements of voice and beat changes that only Alee does. The productions from Neckklace are the best; I miss more people making sample-based trap beats in Brazil.
333
Obviously, I don’t even need to recommend that you know about this album's existence, but I wanted to give my little thoughts. I really admire what Matuê did here, even though I don't love all the tracks. The production, the timbres, textures, and synthesizers were what caught my attention the most, and I had the opportunity to talk to him about it personally. He said that the process of making the album was also his process of learning to produce, and there I understood everything. That 'naivety' of someone learning something new is very valuable because it allows for much more experimentation and being more inventive. The track 333 is one of the best I’ve heard in Brazilian rap.

THINGS I'M WATCHING