Bassi Maestro
Foto Di Gruppo

25 YEARS IMMERSED IN MUSIC...

Bassi Maestro, in addition to being one of the most "veteran" rappers, is also, in my opinion, one of the best artists that the Italian hip-hop scene has ever given us... mc, dj, producer, beatmaker, manager, Bassi is all of this, a real person, one who knows his worth and doesn't waste a moment to show it, someone who made himself (yes, more or less like Silvio), someone who knew who to count on and who to do without (the ungrateful Fabri Fibra and Mondo Marcio, moreover launched by him, are an example), someone who was able to create an empire, the SanoBusinnes, made up of excellent soldiers who owe their artistic redemption to him (Rido, Supa, Club Dogo, Posi Argento, and many others).

Bassi Maestro is tireless; every year, he emerges with a new and always excellent album, becoming one of the most prolific Italian rappers: since 1992, he has produced 10 albums; among these, one that struck me for its genuineness, freshness and storytelling style is the timeless "Foto Di Gruppo," dated 1997.
Sixteen tracks that do everything but tell lies; you can fully taste reality. "Foto Di Gruppo" is an album with a sound all its own; it doesn't wink at anything, least of all at U.S.-made rap ("The best thing about our country's hip-hop is that it manages to stay quite detached from the fashion discourse: cars, girls, jewelry. Fortunately, we don't yet have enough money to do these things and maybe we have a bit more CULTURE and KNOWLEDGE" Davide Bassi, La Repubblica XL n°2, 2006).

Bassi dispenses and intertwines rhymes on any type of instrumental, whether it is funky, dancehall, classical or pseudopop. In this 1997 gem, the Maestro talks about himself, his friends, and how he loves to enjoy life... in the track that gives its name to the entire work, "Foto di gruppo," we find a thoughtful man, almost worried about the passing time but (like me) also joyful when he thinks back to dinners with his usual old friends and some good glasses of wine; the classic beat gently walks on a keyboard that seems extracted from a music box, the lyrics are pure poetry ("Too tired to sleep, like Pellico I start writing" or "the attempts to stay alone have failed, saved by the usual old friends, you can dine here tonight, I take eternal close-ups to not forget").
Certainly, there's no lack of self-celebration but it's always a conscious self-celebration, never too over the top, a deserved self-celebration that we can find in tracks like "Conosci il mio steelo" or "Mc generico," one of the many highlights of the album; here Bassi expresses all his resentment towards generic mc's, empty, fake ghettoized and without valid ideas, all the mc's who speak hearsay and, when they do, they never have anything to say ("the generic mc criticizes taste, fame, and caliber without a valid objective reason"); the legendary strings in the background are the mega cherry on top.

"Il tipo di persona" is a very interesting piece; Bassi completely bares himself in the professional field ("flattering people I've known for a minute is not to my taste, I decline your invitation, if you're people who organize everything immediately as if we've known each other for a century"), in the romantic field ("I don't pretend to be De Niro, only if I like you and you care we go for a ride"), in the artistic field ("I'm not the kind of mc who boasts because he made a CD, you always find me here") and in the human field ("I'm not the kind of person who has no limits, to convince you check my critical points") without painting himself as a God but rather as a person with his strengths and weaknesses. One of the most beautiful tracks is undoubtedly "Cosa resterà"; the melancholic lyrics move over a sample taken from "Cosa resterà degli anni '80" by Raf, the chorus performed by Rido delivers a nice stab to the heart and here too Bassi wisely mixes pearls of truth with ironic cynicism ("I immediately realized, acknowledging that things can change is useless and in the end it's stupid"); the track was quite successful and remained on the radio for a while.

Among the featurings that work best are "Family & businnes" (two things seemingly irreconcilable) feat. Fede & Tormento, the very humorous and boastful (but it fits) "Dal tramonto all'alba" feat. Supercush a.k.a. Supa. and "A male" feat. Davo. Even though the album is dusty, it still manages to surprise and move with author lyrics and well-packaged old school beats, the atmospheres perfectly match Bassi's "gentleman" voice, and "Foto Di Gruppo" remains on the shelf of the best Italian hip-hop albums as proof that when one cares for what they do and sweats for it, they can afford to call themselves the King, the champion, the No. 1, the rapper to whom all other rappers truly owe something.
Fabri Fibra and Mondo Marcio have forgotten who was the first to truly believe in them; they preferred easy money and appearances on TRL to a dignified career like Bassi, who, on the contrary, has always been able to perfectly balance work, money, and professionalism without ever following the trends of the moment. Maybe when Fabri Fibra and Mondo Marcio fall into the utmost darkness, they will look with more admiration at a man like the Maestro, a man with his empire, his life as an mc, as a dj, as a producer, as a manager and as a talent scout, a man who preferred an artistic career to a "little less" notoriety... and he is happy about it!

Bassi remains the THE KING... yesterday as today.... PEARLS OF WISDOM FROM BASSI MAESTRO:
"...instead of criticizing the Flaminio Maphia, make a big underground single to save Italy, if you become famous, I swear I'll quit this crap and hang up the microphone..."
"...because the mythologized rapper doesn't exist, there's the good rapper, the old rapper, and the sad one..."
"...how many mc's don't sweat their rhymes, too many tapes so empty they don't even seem recorded... "
"...it's hard work, once we thought of girls, tonight I look for some old friend..."
"...long ago, I stopped asking myself why certain things happen, some consciences can't be washed; is it a magical world? God knows if I'd like a break. I leave the car on the road and go away like Michael Douglas...."