Music, like poetry, has often been considered the language of the soul and an outlet for feelings. But music can also be visionary in its search for untraveled “outlets” such as the Brazilian Tropicalist wave of the mid-1960s spearheaded by Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, Gil is credited with approximately five hundred musical pieces, an amount that underscores the productive energy of “Baba Alapala,” as he is often called. If there is anything simultaneously distinguishing and complementary about Gil and Caetano, it is the individual and collective rebelliousness inherent in their involvement with the short-lived but influential pop-cultural movement otherwise known as Tropicalismo or Tropicália. In spite of their shared innovative styles and philosophies, especially against the military dictatorship that ultimately drove them into exile in the late sixties, they do differ in their sociopolitical commitment and engagement. While Gil is more politically conscious, vocal, and critical, Caetano is more reserved, subtle, and delicate. And therein lies a fundamental contrast that partly explains Caetano's popularity and Gil's lack of recognition in the Tropicalist discourse, given Brazilians' complacency in the arena of political and social change.