Legendary Brazilian Artist Arthur Verocai, Sampled by MF Doom, Ludacris, Action Bronson and More, Embarks on His First-Ever U.S. Tour

variety.com:

Todd Gilchrist editor Composer, singer and producer Arthur Verocai just might be the best Brazilian artist you never heard — though if you’re a hip-hop fan, you probably already have: sampled by MF Doom, Ludacris, Common, Schoolboy Q, Your Old Droog, Little Brother, Action Bronson and many more, his self-titled 1972 album is a crate-digger’s paradise, full of irresistible and idiosyncratic melodies just waiting to be slapped beneath a blistering rap verse. “Those breaks that help to deliver a kind of emotion that you’re looking for just turn out to be the perfect find,” producer and composer Adrian Younge tells Variety. “With Verocai, based on the fact that his music is based on parts and also there’s a darkness to the music, it is ripe for hip-hop.” Younge, who cofounded the record label Jazz is Dead in 2017 with Andrew Lojero and A Tribe Called Quest member Ali Shaheed Muhammad precisely to spotlight often-sampled but underappreciated jazz and world musicians, is set to support Verocai, now 78, on his first-ever U.S.

tour, which launches August 6 and 7 at Los Angeles’ Mayan Theater. It’s a full-circle moment for the multitalented Verocai, who languished for decades in obscurity after his debut flopped, to now for its combination of samba and soul, tropicalia and funk, to not only be hailed by TV on the Radio, Cut Chemist, Madlib and BadBadNotGood as a seminal influence, but to get to play his music in a country that inspired much of it. “I am very grateful for the people who make beats because they promoted my record with their samples and made them grow in popularity and prestige,” says Verocai.