Dubbed “the JAY Z of Brazil” by Vice, São Paulo MC Emicida is famous for his freestyling, but his range is just as impressive. Depending on the mood of any given track, he can slip from warm and loose to taut and biting but for the most part he's both pop and party-friendly, with tracks steeped in Brazil's rich musical traditions as much as American hip-hop. You needn't be fluent in Portuguese to enjoy Emicida's snaking, hypnotic flow. And make no mistake: this lanky, baby-faced rapper utterly destroys his competition in rap battles.