Last month, during an European tour, rapper Ajuliacosta became the first Brazilian artist to be featured in one of London’s DJ AG live street sets, where rap legends like Skepta, JME, and Burna Boy have played before. Sporting a Brazil soccer jersey, shaking her braids, and surrounded by women passionately singing her lyrics, the rapper spat “Liberdade,” a cut from her latest album that speaks to Black women’s search for freedom. The one-minute video, which took over Brazilian rap social media when it came out, perfectly synthesizes Ajuliacosta’s ethos as a rapper: always carrying the importance of Brazilian rap history, but presenting new ideas and concepts, with women—especially Black women—at its center.
Not surprisingly, the artist, who in June this year became the first female Brazilian rapper to win the BET Award for Best New International Act, named her latest album, released in September, Novo Testamento (or “The New Testament”).
Aside from the biblical association, “novo testamento” is also used in Brazilian internet slang to describe a new version of a person, radically different from who they were before. This was also one of the reasons why the album got its title. “The record was part of a new moment in my life, a transformation process. So I joked that that was the Old Testament, and now is the New Testament. The Julia of the New Testament,” she tells Remezcla during a video interview.
The Julia of the Old Testament grew up in Mogi das Cruzes, a city in São Paulo’s metropolitan area. A hip-hop fan since childhood, she became known for participating in rap battles in her hometown and started releasing her first tracks during the pandemic. She scored a hit in 2022 with “Homens Como Você,” an Afrobeats-infused tune about not giving the time of day to unreliable men.
AJC, as her fans also call her, is part of a new wave of rappers who began renovating Brazil’s hip-hop scene post-pandemic, right when trap was at its peak. Braggadocio and sexually explicit lyrics were the rule, and that certainly plays into Julia’s themes. But she also goes further, urging women to “put a condom on that guy you met” (“Você Parece com Vergonha”) and speaking against colonization and wondering why the “police always ruins the party” in the favelas (“Pq a Polícia Smp Acaba com a Festa?”).
In Novo Testamento, her new ideas are central. When Julia went into the studio in late 2024, she planned to record and release a mixtape, but soon realized she had album-worthy material. “I noticed I needed something more complete in my discography,” she says. “I wanted to get closer to what I love, to who I am… It was like I was learning how to rap all over again.”
Ajulia’s references are a bit more old-school than those of the average young Brazilian rapper. In the album, she quotes the seminal hip-hop group Racionais MC’s, and her flow is flexible and laid-back rather than fast-paced and aggressive over boom-bap beats. Her list of collaborators includes legendary DJ KL Jay, part of the Racionais MC’s, and producer Nave Beatz, who has worked with a great deal of important names in Brazilian rap, like Marcelo D2, Emicida, and BK’. Through the album’s sonic and lyrical references, it’s easy to see that hip-hop is not just an aesthetic for Julia—it’s an identity and an intellectual point of view. “I feel like every rap fan is a bit of a rap nerd,” she laughs. “That culture formed who I am, my identity; it’s something that’s been part of me ever since I was a little kid.”
“I feel like every rap fan is a bit of a rap nerd. That culture formed who I am, my identity; it’s something that’s been part of me ever since I was a little kid.”
But don’t be fooled by Ajuliacosta’s deep appreciation for the past, because Novo Testamento has its feet set in the present. The track “Quero Saber” interpolates vocals from Liniker’s 2024 hit “Caju,” and her main collaborator on the album was producer Maffalda, who has worked with Pabllo Vittar, Anitta, Empress Of, and Amaarae. Mu540 and Greezy, also big names in the hip-hop, baile funk, and electronic scenes, contributed production to the album as well.
Besides engaging with new and exciting hip-hop producers, Julia also opens up space for her fellow female rappers to expand their audience by releasing posse-cut tracks she dubs “Set Ajc.” The first one from 2021 featured MCs Alt Niss, Mac Júlia, MC Luanna, N.I.N.A., and Nanda Tsunami. The second, from 2024, became a huge hit. Assembling female rappers who have been making waves in Brazilian hip-hop has been an exciting juncture for Julia, but she hopes it’s not just a moment. “I want this to change the industry’s path. I want women to have the financial independence that men easily achieve. I want them to build an empire and make money. That’s what’s fair,” she says.
In this vein, Julia’s music is not only a reflection of her personal story but also the path she’s building in the Brazilian hip-hop industry. Critiques of social media, clout chasing, and the pressure for success go hand-in-hand with the personal themes of Novo Testamento, which closes with “Fiel a Mim,” a track in which Julia, over a smooth Mu540 beat, promises to be faithful to herself against all odds. “During the process of making this album, I discovered myself as a woman,” she concludes. “I’m no longer a girl. I’m a woman now. I’m going to own it.”
