Antônio Luiz Júnior was born on November 7, 1971, in the
bairro of
Heliópolis,
São Paulo. Diagnosed with
vitiligo early in his childhood, he began writing his first songs when he was circa 14 years old, also taking
trumpet and
cornet lessons. His career as a rapper officially began in 1989, after he won a
rap battle, subsequently taking the stage name "Rappin' Hood" as a
pun on legendary English outlaw
Robin Hood. In 1992 he formed the group Posse Mente Zulu, or PMZ, recording with them one of the greatest hits of the early Brazilian
hip hop scene, "Sou Negrão"; he left PMZ in 2001 to start a solo career with the release of
Sujeito Homem through independent label Trama, which was lauded by critics owing to its inventive mix of hip hop and
samba. A sequel,
Sujeito Homem 2, came out in 2005 and counted with guest appearances of famous musicians such as
Caetano Veloso,
Jair Rodrigues,
Arlindo Cruz,
Zélia Duncan,
Gilberto Gil and
Dudu Nobre. A third installment came out in 2015. Also in 2001 he was a guest musician on
Sabotage's debut (and ultimately only release),
Rap É Compromisso!. In 2004 he recorded the songs "É Tudo no Meu Nome" and "Se Essa Rua" (the latter featuring
Luciana Mello) for the soundtrack of the film
Meu Tio Matou um Cara. In 2005 he was a guest musician on band
Charlie Brown Jr.'s album
Imunidade Musical, on the track "Cada Cabeça Falante Tem sua Tromba de Elefante". The same year, the music video for his song "Us Guerreiro" was nominated for the
MTV Video Music Brazil award in the "Best Rap Video" category. From 2008 to 2009 he hosted the hip hop culture-oriented
variety show Manos e Minas on
TV Cultura. In 2016 he made his first performance at the
sixth edition of
Rock in Rio. In 2019 he partnered with Japanese singer MIC on her single "Try", released on April 4. The same year he announced he would be returning to college, to finish a
Management course he began two decades prior, also stating he began work on a new album entitled
Os Dez Mandamentos, described as a concept album inspired by the
Ten Commandments. In June 2022 he was diagnosed with
COVID-19. ==References==