Assistant Professor, Musicology
About
Gustavo Souza Marques, also known by his stage name Gusmão is an ethnomusicologist, drummer, and beatmaker. Marques’ main research interests are postcolonialism, critical race theory, media studies, performance and popular music (mainly hip-hop) in the Americas.
Marques most recently served as a postdoctoral fellow with the ERC CIPHER Hip Hop Interpellation project at University College Cork, National University of Ireland, where he was the Latin American and circum-Caribbean specialist for the global hip hop knowledge mapping project. His book, Beyond Gangsta: Tyler’s Reimagining of Hip Hop, examines the musical work of Tyler, the Creator through the lenses of critical race theory, postcolonialism, media studies, and performance studies. It is under contract with Bloomsbury as part of the series New Approaches to Sound, Music, and Media.
In his masters, Dr. Marques developed a pioneering ethnomusicological study on the Duelo de MCs (MCs Duel); the biggest street hip-hop battle to happen in Brazil which is held in his hometown Belo Horizonte city. At that time, Gusmão was the drummer for live hip-hop band Julgamento but also joining Duelo as a freestyling rapper, enriching his research on rap music and hip-hop culture as a scholar. Now Dr. Marques is focused on teaching, expanding his views on hip-hop in the Americas and continuing his career as a beatmaker which he started in 2018 with his debut beat tape “A Cor da Casca” (The Color of the Shell).
On the arts practice side, Gusmão produced the legendary Mexico City rapper MC Luka’s album Japomex (2024) which features other renowned Mexican rappers such as Sociedad Cafe. Gusmão also produced singles for MC Luka including “Lupita Taco Shop, Vol. 2.” (2024). His next scholarly project lies at the intersections between magical realism, ecomusicology, and transmodernism in hip-hop across the Americas.
Gusmão is also producing his new beat tape Urso Futurismo. The album combines Brazilian music genres such as samba and bossa nova with Caribbean styles such as raggamuffin and experimental American hip-hop. The album will be released between late 2024 and early 2025 on his YouTube channel Manuvah Records.
Selected Publications
Marques, Gustavo Souza. “Full of Rage and References: Understanding Coronel’s Frenesi (Frenzy) in the Brazilian Rap Scene.” Global Hip-Hop Studies, volume 3, issue 1-2, 2023.
Marques, Gustavo Souza. “Fighting for Attention Through Rap Music: Shock-Value, Racial Play and Web Culture in the Musical Work of Tyler, The Creator.” INSAM Journal of Contemporary Music, Art and Technology, issue 8, 2022.
Marques, Gustavo Souza. “Virilidade, machismo e violência: o ethos guerreiro no hip-hop.” Revista Brasileira de Música. v. 27, n. 2 (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 2014): 281-299.
Selected Discography
Gusmão - The Dorothy Ashby Beat Tape (2024)
MF DOOM x Black Sabbath (mashup album) (2021)
Gusashi - South Samurai (2021)
Gusmão - MNDCHNG (2019)
