By Andrew Hulktrans

Brazilian samba singer Seu Jorge went from homelessness in the favela slums outside Rio, where every night he feared being burned alive by gangs, to the music/performance troupe Farofa Carioca, and on to roles in City of God (as gang leader Knockout Ned) and Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. where he provided the acoustic mistranslations of David Bowie that were, arguably, the best thing about the movie.

The title of Cru (Wrasse Records), Seu's second solo album, means “raw”. Musically, this translates as minimal instrumentation: acoustic guitar, the ukulele-like cavaquinho, Brazilian percussion, and the insistent squeak of the cuica, an instrument that sounds like a hiccuping whippoorwill. There are cooked ingredients as well: Cru was produced by Gringo da Parada, resident deejay at Favela Chic in Paris, who adds synth touches and looped beats.

On Cru's cover, Seu glares from a pointillist portrait, resembling a cross between the young Gilberto Gil and LA.rapper Coolio. The parallels are more than skin-deep. With his favela background and endearingly ragged voice, it's almost easier to imagine Seu covering "Gangsta's Paradise" in the samba style of Gil's first album than his takes on seventies Bowie. On his own "Eu Sou Favela" ("I Am the Favela"), Seu explores his roots, calling the favelas "a social problem" in a non-finger-pointing way that recalls War's "The World Is a Ghetto." Seu - reluctant to be typecast - insists that he's not protest singer, just an observer: "I compose songs not to preach but to show the reality of what is going on in our society. I am just telling you how it is.”