Fabri Fibra
Mr. Simpatia

THE REVIEW

I will avoid the usual idiotic and superficial comments from those who attack Fabri Fibra on his "new style," defining him as the fool who sang "Tranne te tranne te tranne teeeee," "applausi per fibra fibra fibra," or "mi piacciono le donne le donne le donne"; because once upon a time, and I'm talking about before the release of "Tradimento" (2005), dear Fabrizio Tarducci really had something to say.

After the brief but intense experience with Uomini Di Mare, and an excellent debut album ("Turbe Giovanili"), Fibra crafted a character for himself that was completely out of the box: controversial, paranoid, pessimistic, and angry, Mr. Simpatia is the voice of everyone who has had to deal at least once in their lives with annoying bosses, traitorous friends, failed love experiences, and (why not?) identity crises. The language of Fibra in this album is hard, raw, ruthless, sharp but damnably effective and immediate to the listener's ear: the lyrics pushed beyond every limit, accompanied by the beats of his brother Nesly Rice (today known simply as Nesli), create an almost claustrophobic atmosphere of a theater of horrors, also credit to the wonderful and captivating cover, depicting Fabri Fibra dead from a shot to the head, giving life to his alter ego Mr. Simpatia.

Regarding the tracks, nothing to say; most of them are all gems, others are decent but fascinating: we have the absurd and chauvinistic Fibra ("Gonfio Così," "Solo Una Botta"), the political and social Fibra ("Rap In Vena," "Mr. Simpatia"), the angry-at-the-world Fibra ("Venerdì 17," "Palle Piene"), the in love Fibra ("Momenti No," "Voglio Farti Un Regalo") and the self-celebratory Fibra ("Faccio Sul Serio," "Non Crollo"). Needless to say which ones I think are the best, because each of them hides a particular meaning, sometimes deep ("There is no woman sadder than the woman you embrace, when after a second with two words you crush her") and other times ruthless ("I enter my house climbing from the terrace, I point a flamethrower at my family and kill them, so I want to see when I go to hell if the devil has Erica's face or her boyfriend's"). Fibra doesn't miss the chance again this time to wink at Italian crime news, as also shown in the subsequent albums, nor to diss other well-known rappers in the Italian scene (Tormento, Articolo 31, Jovanotti, 99 Posse).

Therefore, I recommend this cool album of a highly inspired Fabri Fibra not only to let off steam but also to listen to one of the best hip hop works made in Italy. I know some "know-it-all" might not agree on this, but it's just a matter of taste.