An early Season 7 rip? That can only mean one thing - its time to go to Brazil!

A very underappreciated yet always fun part of following SiIvaGunner is just how many different kinds of people are part of the team, and how many of them are able to share their unique culture to the rest of us. A lot of SiIva tends to sway toward pretty "global" experiences, like video games released worldwide or featuring celebrities and memes known all over the world. Yet there's always been exceptions to that, more niche jokes and more culture-specific rips not made to appeal to a global audience. During Season 1, for instance, we had the album Hatsilva Muku: Ripping DIVA, catering specifically to the Japan-centric Vocaloid crowd, and althroughout events such as the two King for a Day tournaments we saw South American music and memes represented through the Dancing Alien Team. Althesame, I don't think there's ever been anything quite like the Felipe Barão's Birthday takeover.

Felipe Barão and his brother form the band Os Barões da Pisadinha, which translates roughly to "The Barons of the Pisadinha". What's the Pisadinha, you ask? Put simply, its a very distinct rhythm of notes that's applied all over Brazilian Forró music, which is what the band performs. These guys, along with Forró music in general, are pretty damn popular in Brazil, a bizarre phenomenon wherin their music seems to be beloved despite being fully acknowledged just how much of it sounds the same.

Part of what made the SiIva takeover in their name so funny was just that effect - that it made EVERY rip sound the same, with the same opening progression of notes, same instrumentation, same jolly tone...yet at the same time, it was really amusing to follow! Everyone already knew each rip's joke to a tee, and the focus now became on discovering if the song ripped would sound good or not in that new instrumentation. For my money, Rainbow Baroad takes the cake as my favorite of the event. Rainbow Road Wii is already quite a nostalgic and happy-go-lucky track, and the kind of summery vibe that forró music brings just heightens those feelings more. Its hard to listen to this one without getting a big ass smile on your face! Every part of the original song is recreated perfectly in Os Barões da Pisadinha's style, with excellent layering of instruments on more impactful parts, great use of backing, and a surprisingly natural implementation of the Pisadinha rhythm.