A famous Brazilian funk singer was arrested on suspicion of inciting his lyrics to incite crime, and his alleged connections to a major criminal gang sparked anger among artists, intellectuals and legal experts.

MC Poze Do Rodo, 26, has 5.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify, and was arrested earlier Thursday in a luxury apartment in Rio de Janeiro.

The strong protest focused on the way artists were detained for so-called nonviolent crimes: handcuffed, shirtless and barefoot. The arrest footage was played repeatedly on TV and splashed on the front page of the Brazilian newspaper.

“It’s persecution (opposite me),” the funk singer told reporters as she moved from the police station to jail. “No evidence.”

The case is the latest example of criminalizing funk music and a crime in black culture, activists say. Researchers believe that this is a systematic feature of Brazilian society since the abolition of slavery in 1888.

Like most Brazilian trendy artists Slums.

He rose in 2019 and was given songs depicting the daily lives of these communities, including some public references to drug trafficking.

Last year, he admitted in an interview with TV Globo that he had worked in a drug deal as a teenager: “I went to gunfights, I was shot and arrested.” But he insisted that he had abandoned his life and that his goal was to convey to young people that “crime doesn’t lead to anywhere”.

Last Thursday, police claimed that he claimed in the lyrics that he “apparently in honor of drug trafficking and illegal use of firearms” was justified and that his concert was raised by Comando Vermelho (Red Command), one of Brazil’s two major criminal gangs.

Police Chief Felipe Curi even claimed that MC Poze's lyrics are "usually more destructive than rifles fired by drug traffickers."

According to Pierpaolo Cruz Bottini, a professor of criminal law at the University of São Paulo, there is no crime in MC Poze's songs. “No intention to promote or defend criminal acts – rather, the song paints a vivid picture of the reality that everyone knows.”

Botini said the way the singer was detained — not allowed to wear clothes or even shoes — was completely inappropriate.

"Even in the case of violent crime, this treatment is only reasonable when there are signs of resistance or flight risk - obviously not."

After being arrested, other funk artists visited social media to support the protests. Another high-profile singer, MC Cabelinho, points out that when actors in soap operas or movies portray characters involved in drug trafficking, it is not incitement to crime.

According to Mylene Mizrahi, an anthropologist at the University of Rio de Janeiro professor Milene Mizrahi, Funk Artists are still not considered a legitimate artist.

"They are pop artists, just like our rappers or Hollywood filmmakers. But when people like Martin Scorsese make mafia movies, they're not branded rogues."

Joel Luiz Costa, executive director of the Black Population Defense Academy Samba,,,,, Capoeira and African-Brazilian religion.

“There is a clear pattern of black culture criminalizing,” he added. “Since they can’t just outlaw what’s targeting the black community.”