Proibidão, which literally translates to "strongly prohibited" or "heavily forbidden", is a subgenre of funk carioca music originating from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro where it began in the early 1990s as a parallel phenomenon to the growth of drug gangs in the many slums of the city.
Proibidão is characterized as a raw mix of live funk vocals and Miami bass structures.
The highly territorial nature of the gangs has made proibidão an extremely localized form of funk in Rio de Janeiro.
For the gangs and drug lords, it represents a form of musical expression that corresponds to territorial dominance.
[5] Thus, when myriad bailes do subsist each week, despite the efforts of state programs like D.R.E (Divisão de Repressão à Entorpecentes or Division of the Repression Against Drugs)[6] to stop them, it is a palpable win for the gangs.