Djonga

Gustavo Pereira Marques (born 4 June 1994), better known by his artistic name Djonga, is a Brazilian rapper, singer, and composer.

Considered one of the most influential names currently on the Brazilian rap scene, the artist has attracted attention for his direct and strongly worded lyrics with strong social criticisms.

He frequently collaborates with producer Coyote Beatz.

Born in the favela of Favela do Índio, in the city of Belo Horizonte, Djonga was raised in the São Lucas and Santa Efigênia neighborhoods in the eastern region of the city.

He is the son of Ronaldo Marques and Rosângela Pereira Marques.

His grandmother Maria Eni Viana has been a great source of inspiration throughout his life.

With a great deal of inspiration coming from his family, Djonga had taken a likening to music since his youth, having been raised on diverse musical genres and artists, from Milton Nascimento to Racionais MCs, and from Cartola to Mariah Carey.

Djonga has asserted that he is strongly influenced by funk and samba.

He has recalled that "Black culture is strong in my family, and so samba was always present at parties...When I became more conscious of what I really liked in relation to music, what I most identified with because of my generation was Brazilian funk. Funk always spoke my experiences to me."

With time, he was taking to his musical inclinations, mainly for funk and rap.

He only became more exposed to rap after his ex-girlfriend introduced him to the genre more.

He was at the same time also being inspired by the works of Cazuza, Janis Joplin, Elis Regina, Elza Soares, Jimi Hendrix, MC Smith, Marcelo D2 and, above all, Mano Brown.

He studied history at the Federal University of Ouro Preto, but he decided to leave the university before graduation as his rap career began to take off.

In the beginning, as he was graduating from secondary school in 2012, he frequented collectives to listen to poetry.

He began to be interested in writing poetry as a result.

Following such, the rapper Hot Apocalypse invited him to join a group.

He also began to visit the studio of Chuck, also known as Oculto Beats, who produced a beat that Djonga made music to with a poem that he had written previously.

This eventually became his first single, "Corpo Fechado".

After collaborating with Coyote Beatz for a time, they produced the EP “Fechando o Corpo” with 7 tracks.

Coyote Beatz would later become a frequent collaborator with Djonga.

He began to become more well known after the release of the EP, with him receiving a proposal from DJ Hum to record.

Together they made the track "Um Bom Maluco".

With the release of the track, Djonga quickly began to make strides in the new rap scene.

In 2016, Djonga and Hot created DV tribo and gathered other artists from Minas Gerais such as FBC, Clara Lima, Oreia and Coyote Beatz to participate.

The group gained notoriety after making a chord with the underground rap label Pirâmide Perdida.

That same year, Bahian rapper Baco Exu do Blues invited Djonga to participate in the track “Sujismundo”.

Later, the single "Redenção", released with the rapper Primata, he began to make new partnerships, such as with his participation in the song “Santana 89” by the stoner rock band Arqueologia Siderúrgica.

At the end of 2016, he participated in Poetas no Topo 1 by Pineapple Storm TV, that reunited prominent MCs such as BK, Makalister, Menestrel and Sant.

On 13 March 2017, Djonga launched his debut album "Heresia" to critical and public acclaim.

In the album he makes strong criticisms against society at large and sends messages emphasizing Black empowerment.

The album was considered best of the year by Rolling Stone Brasil.

The highlighted track, “O mundo é nosso”, made with the participation of Rio de Janeiro rapper BK, ran to win the Red Bull prize for best track of 2017, reaching 7th place.

For his notable work, Djonga was also nominated for the APCA (Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte) prize.

On the same day, on 13 March 2018, Djonga released his second album, titled O Menino queria ser Deus, that contains sharp lyrical questions around his personal life, career, and social and racial issues.

The album contains 10 tracks with appearances by rappers such as Sant, Karol Conká and Hot, with executive producers from Ceia Ent., production by Coyote Beatz and mixing and mastersounding by Arthur Luna.

The album was primarily recording at Nebula Records studios. The album was dubbed the 6th best Brazilian album in 2018 by Rolling Stone Brasil and one of the 25 best Brazilian albums in the first half of 2018 by APCA.

Djonga has participated in protests against racist violence towards Black people, participating in protests in Belo Horizonte after the killing of João Alberto Freitas at a Carrefour store in Porto Alegre in 2020.

During the protests, he helped to occupy a local Carrefour store.

During the 2022 presidential elections, he voiced his support for and posed for photos with former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who ran and won against incumbent president Jair Bolsonaro.

He began his career in a poetry collective called Sarau Vira-Lata.