Criolo

Kleber Cavalcante Gomes, born in the city of São Paulo in 1975, is better known as the rapper Criolo Doido or simply Criolo. However, his music is not limited to the term rap. Soul, MPB, samba, hip hop and afrobeat are some of the genres that his songs travel through.

Although he started to sing rap in 1989, Criolo only started to appear on the music scene in the first decade of the 2000s. He was a salesman of stores and street, and, between 1994 and 2000, worked as an educator.

With the stage name of Criolo Doido, the rapper released his first album - 'Ainda Há Tempo' - in 2006. That same year, Criolo founded Rinha de MC's, an event promoting improvisational battles, concerts, graffiti exhibitions and photographs . It was at Rinha de MC's that the rapper recorded the DVD "Criolo Doido Live in SP", released in 2010.

In 2011, the São Paulo artist changed the stage name of Criolo Doido to Criolo and released his second album, 'Nó na Orelha', produced by Daniel Ganjaman and Marcelo Cabral. 'Nó na Orelha', which had the song "Não existe amor em SP" as the main highlight, presented more diversified sounds, mixing samba, afrobeat, funk, soul, hip hop and brega. At that year's MTV Vídeo Music Brasil (VMB) awards, Criolo won the awards for best album and best song ("Não existe amor em SP").

Critically acclaimed, 'Nó na Orelha' was also elected by Rolling Stone Magazine as the best album of 2011. In 2014, Criolo released 'Convoque seu Buda', his third studio album. The following year, he launched in partnership with Ivete Sangalo 'Viva Tim Maia !', a tribute to Tim Maia.

In 2016, he re-recorded with several producers eight tracks from his first album, 'Ainda Há Tempo', releasing a new album with the same name. 'Espiral de Ilusão', a samba album, was released in 2017.