By ERNESTO LECHNER

Seu Jorge
“Cru”
(Wrasse Records)

“I am favela,” sings Seu Jorge with his gravelly voice, and the man certainly knows what he’s talking about. A survivor of the hardcore Rio de Janeiro favelas (shanty towns), this post-modern sambista has street cred to spare, and he uses it to good effect on “Mania De Peitao,” a sarcastic rant about women obsessed with breast implants. Seu Jorge covers Serge Gainsbourg and Elvis Presley and shines whenever the soft sound of a cavaquinho plays out against his monotone delivery. One gets the definite impression that beneath the sparse sonics, there’s a bright new talent worth keeping an eye out for.