8 black brazilian youtubers to watch in 2017

2016 was the year when the black Brazilian millennials dived into YouTube. Not satisfied with just watching content created by white people, they decided to create their own channels and content and express themselves about their interests and lifestyle. Also, awesome projects were created, like the group Negros Digitais, getting together almost 300 black content creators and digital influencers to develop a lot of different cool projects.

By Robin Batista*, AFROPUNK contributor

Barraco da Rosa

This girl is amazing! Rosa Luz started her channel to talk about her empowerment process as a black, poor, trans girl, but she goes beyond the usually expected from a trans woman who starts a vlog about her life. The Barraco da Rosa channel approaches from tv series to politics, to hip hop culture. What’s cool is that she doesn’t only present the life of a person who transits between genders, but she also breaks lots of gender norms. After all, girls can rap too!

Ph Côrtes

This dude is awesome! He’s the youngest on the list, being only 14 years-old, but has already got a lot of attention from black and non-black online communities in Brazil. In 2015, he decided to present the life of historical black Brazilian people that most of us don’t know much about. It was one of the greatest examples of how online platforms can be an educational tool in a country that ignores the true history of the African Brazilian people. By the way, we already featured him on AFROPUNK here.

DePretas por Gabi Oliveira

The 25 years-old youtuber Gabi Oliveira started her channel after graduating in Public Relations and finishing her final papers on “the role of social media in the appreciation of the black aesthetics”. Having to research a lot on the issue inspired her to use herself social media platforms to talk about things that she considers very important for the black community. The DePretas channel is nice because it talks serious issues, but in a very fun way. Check it out.

Pretinho Mais Que Básico

This channel is one of the most interesting surprises of 2016. Mixing good video production with a very talented dude can only result in a dope content! Led by Marco Antônio Fera, this channel has the quality of a lot of mainstream TV productions, but focusing on the black community and debating art, culture, society, beauty and behavior, through nice interviews with great people. You must watch it!

Afros e Afins

Last year we featured this channel here on AFROPUNK and it has grown a lot since then. Nataly Neri feeds the conversation about self-esteem, black identity and black feminism while gives tips on hair style and beauty. Missing faces on social and mainstream media that looks like her, she decided to make it herself and since then became one of the greatest Brazilian digital influencers, grabbing attention of large audiences and big brands.

Alpiste de Gente

Alpiste de Gente is the channel that makes me cry every time I play any of its videos (haha). It may sound weird until you watch it, if you speak portuguese, of course. Jairo Pereira is a poet, actor, singer, founder of the band Aláfia, plus being the great mind behind Alpiste de Gente. The channel, created to share his poems, touches us in a very beautiful way. A poetic video channel is interesting because the visuals as a whole adds a different life to the words. Just watch and feel it.

Ana Paula Xongani

Owner of the largest afro fashion studio in Brazil, Ana Paula Xongani also creates content for one of the tightest channels on the Brazilian YouTube. Entrepreneur, mother and fashion stylist, she came to the platform for the same reason that many of us did: we don’t see faces like ours on the mainstream media and we want to tell our stories. In a very creative way, Xongani will make you think about racism and fashion at the same time (haha). Curious? Check it out now!

Energia Positiva

This is one of the most amusing channels I found when I was preparing this list. Valtinho Rege has a very unique way to show his content. In addition to being personally very funny, the scenario he chose is the favela where he lives, which is cool because we rarely see a favela being the scenario for good, positive stuff in the mainstream media. Valtinho will invite you to talk about race, culture and life, always with the positive energy that comes in the channel’s name.

Do you follow other black Brazilian youtubers? Which ones? Leave it in the comments!

*Robin Batista is a São Paulo-based designer and AFROPUNK’s contributor. Facebook: fb.com/whatsuprobin Instagram: @robinbatista_