We've covered the reggae hotbed found in Brazil's far northeast, but São Paulo-based producer Victor Rice has been cooking up his own fusion of Brazilian and Jamaican styles down in the big city. It's Afropop's honor to premiere Rice's new single, “Simão,” a slinky guitar-centered jam from his upcoming album.
Rice has worked with OG legends like the Skatalites, American ska revivalists like the Toasters and Brazilian instrumentalists Bixiga 70, and even garnered two Latin Grammys, like in 2016 for his work mixing Elza Soares's A Mulher do Fim do Mundo. Out May 10, Drink is his third solo album, following 2017's Smoke as part two of a trilogy Rice envisions of “samba rocksteady,” a genre still being forged.
“What makes this release special for me is the number of Brazilians participating on the record,” Rice stated in a press release. “It has taken me a long time to assimilate down here in São Paulo, but the city and culture has breathed into my music and that’s what makes Drink stand out from my previous records.”
Drink is out May 15 on Easy Star Records and can be preordered here.
