“Supa Squad,” made up of Isaac “Zacky Man” Rosário and Marley “Mr Marley” Rosário, is a musical duo combining dancehall, reggae, and rap elements that have taken the Cape Verde music scene by storm. The duo started producing music in 2011, based in Coimbra, Portugal, and have gained significant attention for their unique hybrid of musical genres and contagious energy on stage.

As the son of musicians, Zacky learned to play the drums at age five, learning from some of the best percussionists in Cape Verde. Zacky later picked up bass, guitar, and keyboards thanks to his versatility and talent. Marley was also involved in music from an early age, having played percussion in a reggae band with his father in Cape Verde at age 5.

Supa Squad has gained a huge following thanks to hits like “Whine” (2015), “Aleluia” (2019), and “Ave Maria” (2019). The hits have treaded the line between Brazilian funk, reggae, dancehall, and rap. However, their most recent hit “Minha Terra,” translating from Portuguese to “My Land” topped the charts for months in Portugal, Cape Verde, and other Lusophone African countries.

The song smoothly threads a Portuguese Fado singer sample with upbeat electronic and drum and bass transitions alongside four verses and a catchy chorus. Fado, a mournful Portuguese musical genre consisting of melancholic singing and a wide-bodied guitar, often provokes a sense of longing, missing, or nostalgia towards something. The song name and Supa Squad’s lyrics reflect this feeling, including phrases like “Oh, people from my land, it is only now that I have realized, this sadness and longing I possess comes from missing you.”

It is no coincidence that the song has especially blown up in Portugal. Due to the large population of Cape Verdeans living in the country, alongside other immigrants from Lusophone African countries, these lyrics and melodies often resonate very strongly due to their striking sense of “sodade,” which is a word meaning “nostalgia” in Portuguese. Supa Squad’s “Minha Terra” uncovers a common overarching sentiment that is felt by a large part of the Cape Verdean diaspora. In fact, in the United States alone, there is a larger population of Cape Verdeans than there is in the actual country of Cape Verde.

Supa Squad has artistically mastered their use of “sodade” in their music, and it is something that millions of Cape Verdeans around the world are thankful for. These tunes instill within them a strong feeling of longing, one that plays strongly into a bigger picture of the enduring connection that one holds onto with their native land no matter where one ends up in the world.

Lucas Souza