This film tells the story of rap music in Almada and Miratejo, one of the first major spots of this musical genre in Portugal. Guided by the protagonists who built and lived the movement intensively, we travel through their memories, stories, and inspirations to discover the great landmarks of this culture on the south banks of the Tagus River — built in a territory of demanding and politized working classes, with great cultural diversity in the post-Carnation Revolution.
Without being a history of Portuguese hip hop, “Filhos do Meio – Hip Hop à Margem” drives us straight to its epicenter, by which we mean the south bank of the Tejo river, Almada, Miratejo and the neighborhoods where hip hop first fermented and came to fruition in Portugal. It is a movie of memories, told by those who were there in the founding years of the 1990s, a movie that, through period photos and raw, evocative archive footage, takes us into the heart of the action, rhymes breaking out in defiance in the streets, the concerts, the recordings. “Filhos do Meio – Hip Hop à Margem” is an important document: It offers us a story yet to be told, that of Portuguese hip hop, with its center in Almada, narrated through those who were there and stood out, such as Black Company, Líderes da Nova Mensagem or Chullage, but also by fundamental names that, without published music to ensure the generational passage, could fall into oblivion – it is important, then, to know about a group like Nexo. “Filhos do Meio – Hip Hop à Margem” doesn’t stop there, though. This is a documentary about hip hop, but it’s also about the land and the cultural context that led to its emergence. It’s the past rediscovered, but it doesn’t stop at nostalgia, it moves forward till the present. (Mário Lopes)
