For many people, music is art. For 43-year-old Ivo da Silva, a.k.a “MC Ivolution,” it has been used to spread the gospel, overcome his stutter and prove to the world that he wasn’t just a dumb kid who didn’t know how to express himself. Music was his form of expression.
Growing up in Brazil, da Silva says, life was different than in the U.S.
“We actually had a childhood, always outside playing soccer, robbing fruits, bike rides and exploring different neighborhoods,” he said. “Over here in the U.S., everybody’s always inside.“
He first attended a private school in Brazil but later switched to the public system because of financial restraints.
He and his family moved to the U.S. when he was only 14 years old. He attended multiple middle schools in Florida and then Boca Raton High School, where he played soccer and was the only freshman on the varsity team.
It was difficult to succeed in school, he says. Part of this was the language barrier.
“It’s tough for an immigrant to come in and be an A+ student,” he said. “Coming to a new world, it’s quite challenging.“
The language barrier also led to jokes about his improper English. He would stutter a lot. This is when he got into music.
“When it came to music, when I liked a song or something, I always memorized the lyrics,” he said. This helped him remember a lot of words and how to pronounce them.
After going on tour with DJ Alpiste, a pioneer of Gospel rap, da Silva was inspired to rap about everything important to him: music, family and God.
These three things relate to many of his tattoos. He has the Star of David on his chest and Jesus’s last supper on his right forearm.
Jonathan Costa, da Silva’s friend, describes how his and da Silva’s love for music led to their meeting for the first time in Rio De Janeiro.
“I was going to record a video, and we just happened to meet at the dopest Hip Hop store Rio had at that moment, where superstars used to just go to that store,” he said.
Ever since that day, He and da Silva have been friends. Da Silva thinks highly of Costa’s rap game. “Jonathan was a lot better at it than I was,” he said.
Da Silva is single and has never been married. He prefers to focus on his career. He hopes one day to have a daughter and name her Ivana.
He had given up rapping for about 10 years due to three accidents that almost took his life, one of which left him without a thumb. He still lives in South Florida and is now an aircraft technician.
Da Silva plans to make a comeback soon with a song titled “I Need to Find Myself,” as he feels rapping is his calling.
“I want to find myself,” he said. “I need to get back to myself.”
Click here to watch Da Silva’s “Wait a Minute” music video.