General D is a rapper,

Hip hop tuga Portuguese hip hop (''Hip hop português''), more commonly called hip hop tuga ("tuga" here being a slang for "Portuguese"), is the Portugal, Portuguese variety of hip hop music. It differs from mainstream hip hop because it has strong influenc ...

and

World music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

artist. Being the first rapper in Portugal to sign a major record deal, he is considered the ''Godfather Of Portuguese Hip Hop''. Although largely influenced by big name U.S. rap acts such as

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...

and

Ice-T Tracy Lauren Marrow (born February 16, 1958), known professionally as Ice-T (or Ice T), is an American rapper and actor. He is active in both hip hop music, hip hop and heavy metal music, heavy metal. Ice-T began his career as an underground r ...

, his music carried a distinct African flavor incorporating many live tribal percussion instruments. He recorded two solo albums for

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

Valentim de Carvalho Valentim de Carvalho () is a Portuguese record label founded in 1914. History The company started selling phonograph, musical instruments and music since its 1914 foundation at the Rua da Assunção, Lisbon. It distributes EMI in Portugal ...

and has also appeared as a guest on other artists' releases including; Ithaka,

Cool Hipnoise Cool Hipnoise is a Portuguese musical group. The band was formed in Lisbon in 1994 by Tiago Santos (guitar), João Gomes ( keyboards), Paulo Muiños (saxophones), Nuno Reis (trumpet), Francisco Rebelo (bass) and Melo D (voice). Initially an acid j ...

, Água d'Amanhã and Pop Dell'Arte.

Early life

General D (Sergio Matsinhe) was born in

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

(then Lourenço Marques) the capital city of the

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

, (a former Portuguese colony), his family immigrated to Barreiro on the southern shore of the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

river near

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

when he was two years old. As a youth he competed in Track and field events and set regional records for both the

100-meter dash The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

and the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

Early career

In 1990, at the age of nineteen, General D was one of organizers of the very first rap festival in Portugal. The event was held at the Sociedade Filarmónica Incrível Almadense, in

Almada Almada () is a city and a municipality in Portugal, located on the southern margin of the Tagus River, on the opposite side of the river from Lisbon. The two cities are connected by the 25 de Abril Bridge. The population of the municipality in 20 ...

. There he presented the rap group Black Company (of which he was one of the founding members) and also the project, Africa Power. He also performed with his first band along with co-members, singer Maimuna Jalles and the rapper, Lince. In 1991 he made his first studio recording as a guest vocalists and lyricist on the track "MC Holy" by the Portuguese new-wave band, Pop dell'Arte for their album, Ready-Made. It was through the TV program, ''Lentes de Contacto'' (produced by Latina Europa), where General D met composer/producer Tiago Lopes who in 1993 invited him to record the track "Norte Sul" for the film, ''Até amanhã, Mário'' (See You Tomorrow Mario). This gained the attention of several Portuguese record labels and General D eventually signed a multiple-album deal with

, a local sub-division of

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

. In 1994 he released the controversial EP "PortuKKKal É Um Erro" (Portugal is Error), lyrically shedding light on Portugal's previously hidden racism. The attention derived from this record frequently got General D invited to primetime television talk shows, to discuss the problems of African immigrants to Portugal, from the former Portuguese colonies In 1995, he released his first full-length album "Pé na Tchôn, Karapinha Na Céu", recorded with a group live African musicians, known as Os Karapinhas. The first single was "Black Magic Woman" (featuring Sam). The song's well-produced video was a favorite on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

Portugal at the time, leading to many opportunities for live performances. In 1997, General D released his second album "Kanimambo". It was produced by Joe Fossard and recorded at Regiestúdio in Lisbon and featured several guest performers including the legendary

António Chainho António Chainho (born 1938) is a Portuguese fado guitarist. He has worked with many of the great names in fado music, like Hermínia Silva, Carlos do Carmo and José Afonso, and world music, like Paco de Lucía. He has also recorded and to ...

Portuguese Guitar The Portuguese guitar (, ) is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses of two strings. It is one of the few musical instruments that still uses watch-key or Preston tuners. It is iconically associated with t ...

for the song, "Hora Di Bai". Nuno Guerreiro contributed vocals on a politically oriented track entitled, "

Xanana Gusmão José Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão (; born 20 June 1946) is an East Timorese politician. He has served as the 6th prime minister of East Timor since 2023, previously serving in that position from 2007 to 2015. A former rebel, he also served as E ...

". The percussionist, Netos Do N'Gumbé performed on the song, "Respeito". Lyrics for the song, "Rappi Ta Doddo" were written by Brazilian superstar

Gabriel O Pensador Gabriel Contino (born March 4, 1974), better known as Gabriel o Pensador ( Portuguese for "Gabriel the Thinker") is a Brazilian rapper, writer, and composer known for his conscious lyrics which speak of activism, and issues of race, politics, soci ...

. And singer

Marta Dias Marta Dias is a São Toméan Portuguese singer of jazz, world music and fado who has recorded several solo albums and has additionally recorded and toured extensively with guitarist António Chainho. She has also appeared on several hip hop rele ...

and Californian rapper/lyricist Ithaka appeared on the song, "Ekos do Passado". General D toured extensively with this album nationally and also performed in Spain and France.

Disappearance From Portugal

A few years later, General D then spent several months in Jamaica preparing his third album with legendary reggae duo

Sly and Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separat ...

(as producers), but the disc was never released by

and until this day has never been heard by the public. In the years that followed, General D went missing. Rumors circulated on the rapper's whereabout, but were never confirmed until 2014.

Reappearance And Career Comeback

After eventually being tracked down by acclaimed writer and culture journalist, Vitor Belanciano in London, General D gave an exclusive interview to Belanciano for an issue of Ipsilon Magazine, a supplement of the Portuguese newspaper, Público. General D confessed that he had seen hard times abroad mostly living in London, and at one point was even cleaning the streets in New York City. He appeared on the cover of that issue of the magazine, an exposure that brought about many reunions in the music industry. In 2015, a double-disc release featuring both of his studio albums, ''Pé na Tchôn, Karapinha Na Céu'' and ''Kanimambo'' were released by his original label

. And General D finally returned to the stages that had defined his early career. On 8 March 2019 a large concert took place called "A História Do Hip-Hop Tuga" (The History of Portuguese Hip Hop) at the

Altice Arena MEO Arena (formerly Altice Arena; also referred to by its former name, Pavilhão Atlântico) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Lisbon, Portugal. The arena is among the largest indoor arenas in Europe and the largest in Portugal with a capacity ...

, part of the

Parque das Nações The Parque das Nações (; ''Park of the Nations''), colloquially known as Expo (as the site of the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition), is a (civil parish) and typical Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter of Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal. Loca ...

complex, just outside of Lisbon (he site of the former

Expo'98 Expo '98 (1998 Lisbon Specialised Expo) was an official specialised World's Fair held in Lisbon, Portugal from Friday, 22 May to Wednesday, 30 September 1998. The theme of the fair was "The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future", chosen in part to c ...

). The show, produced by Música no Coração, featured many of the founding fathers of hip hop in Portugal, many with their roots directly from Africa. Performers included; General D,

Boss AC Ângelo César do Rosário Firmino, better known by the stage name Boss AC (born January 20, 1975) is a Portuguese rapper originally from Cape Verde. The letters A and C, in Boss AC, come from the initials of his two names, Ângelo and César, re ...

, Black Company, Chullage, NBC e Sir Scratch.

Album Cover Art

The photographs on the covers, back covers and cd booklets of all General D's releases (and even the image for his 2014 cover issue of Ipsilon Magazine) were made by his personal friend, the recording artist, sculptor and hip hop photographer Ithaka Darin Pappas, a Californian who had lived in Lisbon during the formation period of

. Before moving to Portugal in 1992, Ithaka had previously been working in Los Angeles with artists such as Eazy E,

N.W.A. N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip-hop group formed in Compton, California in 1987. Among the earliest and most significant figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, the group is widely considered one of the great ...

and

for

Priority Records Priority Records is an American distribution company and record label known for artists including N.W.A, Ice Cube, MC Ren, Eazy-E, Master P, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Silkk the Shocker, Jay-Z, Paris, Mack 10, 504 Boyz, Brotha Lynch Hung, ...

Albums

*1995 General D & Os Karapinhas – "Pé Na Tchôn, Karapinha Na Céu" – Label:

*1997 General D "Kanimambo" – Label:

*2015 e-ReleaseKanimambo and Pé Na Tchôn, Karapinha Na Céu" (Double-Album Special Edition)

Singles

*1994 General D "PortukKKKal" – Label:

*1996 General D (feat. Sam) "Black Magik Woman" – Label:

*1997 General D "Rappi Ta Doddo" – Label:

*1997 General D "Estado De Sítio (O Ke É Ke Se Passa)" Label:

Guest appearances On Other Artists' Songs

*1992 "MC Holy" Pop Dell'Arte feat. General D – Album: Ready-Made /Label: Variodisc *1995 "Soldadinho" Cool Hipnoise feat. General D – Album: Nascer Do Soul / Label: Nortesul *1995 "Erase the Slate Of Hate" Ithaka feat. General D – Album: Flowers And The Color Of Paint – Label: Fábrica De Sons *1998 "Regadinho" Água d'Amanhã feat. General D

External links

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:General D Living people 21st-century Portuguese male singers Singers from Lisbon Portuguese hip-hop musicians 1971 births 20th-century Portuguese male singers Portuguese male rappers