Kaos
Fastidio

"it will be necessary to kill" "I will kill!" "good" (what you hear in the intro)
In 1996, the first solo album in Italian by Kaos, a Milanese b-boy actively involved since '84 in the 4 disciplines (1st single with Radical Stuff in '89), was released.
We are talking about Hip-Hop, a genre not widely appreciated here on DeBaser, but if one day rock fans want to approach this genre, this is the album I recommend.
Even though the flow does not facilitate the understanding of the lyrics (available on www.raptxt.it), it perfectly conveys the idea of hate, pessimism, and the annoyance (precisely) that Kaos feels, highlighting all the social ills of our time. A reference point for every proud b-boy, always aimed at praising the 4 disciplines and those who renew them and at hitting without too many problems those who base their life on appearance and trends and do not respect ancient values, like friendship.

"Centopercento" is the manifesto track of that purely niche hardcore HH and furthermore unknown to most, even to kids who claim to listen to hip-hop and then you find out they only have CDs of Flaminio Maphia: "I don't use fabric softener my rhymes are rough, absent any commercial semblance, I only sound mono but the radios shun me like a demo my business is alien to them".

"Solo per un giorno" is a point of assessment with the hope of turning things around: "I return to the scene more than Freddy Krueger, I had a dream like Martin Luther in the whole world there were no more suckers only hip-hop broadcasts on the radio, rap programs on video, zero annoyance".
If you pay attention, you hear the superbly sampled voice of Ornella Vanoni towards the end "Tomorrow is another day and we will see..."

"Meglio Che Scendi" is an insult to those who feel they are on a pedestal and avoid confrontation. Neffa's (here nicknamed Piscopo) rhymes are very fitting, proposed without Kaos's anger, but with detachment, calm, and superiority: "Crick! I feel the cartilage giving way... to your image I do like Rome with Carthage"

"Il codice" talks about one of the 4 disciplines: writing. It explains exactly what it means to be a writer, the reasons that lead you to become one in the gray city, the emotions that derive from it, the risks. It smoothly slides into the mind of every b-boy and stays there. The rhymes are engaging from the start: "It's a nocturnal attitude, its subjects are constantly growing, fundamentally recidivists to everything you actually don't hear or see them and you don't detect their schemes, the concept escapes you, you only see names, for you, it's a simple thing two silver tanks and pressure thanks to the index finger, don't call frescos what you see on buildings, the correct terminology is pieces..."

"Black Hole" with Dj Gruff and Sean Martin appears a bit too self-congratulatory but consistent with everything that happens in a worthy battle, where the offense to the MC in front must be without pity. "I stay on illuminating the night like a lighthouse, a proud b-boy who expresses when expressing the true in a serious way, I assure you it's very rare, it's priceless like gold if you want to buy it empty your fat pockets, it's the beginning of the end for the posses...". Sean and Gruff had already worked with Kaos in previous productions. Sean and Kaos met in Milan in 1984, when Sean was one of the strongest breakers in Europe. His rhymes in English make the album more heterogeneous but feel familiar: "I'm proud to be the black mutha fucker with the dope style some say that I'm insane".

"Domani sarà peggio" is one of my favorites. Sadness prevails throughout the track and pessimism is felt in every verse: "stressed like never before, alone at the station because the train has already left, in this condition I am in total void and once again taken badly by the annoyance nothing remains but the studio but it's just a placebo I see no way out, staying out is impossible...". Also here there's the fear of compromising with the media "I raise my eyes to the sky and see the darkness, my path is now a crossroads, on one side serious Hip-Hop, on the other side there's money, I follow my path, even if it doesn't lead high, maybe you've already understood which path I've chosen: I choose asphalt..."

"Ora Non Ridi Più" with Deda, continues to describe the situation in which Kaos finds himself. Remaining detached from the masses and the way of making commercial music he applies himself to suggesting to us sharp rhymes: "Being zero commercial in my doing I'm the enemy of all if you want to attack me get in line because there are too many of you there's no way to convince me: selling myself? It's out of the question so leave me alone I don't do R&B, not even metal, zero TripHop, you will never hear me say FlipFlop, I only do HipHop, if you are listening taken badly you can change channel, at least you have a choice: the shit you do has to be listened to because it's everywhere, because anyway, there are people who push it as if it were grunge you have to do like Kurt Cobain if you want to turn things around"

"Per la vita" talks about those who have known how to give and receive in the artist's life. Sad and melancholic, it's one of my favorites: "Only hostile looks around, always on alert now I'm alone because my brothers are elsewhere, face the darkness, there's no one here to help you, only indifference from people you have known for a lifetime and there's no way to turn back, back you can't go but friendship for my brothers is eternal, the image remains still on memories, now more than before when it seems too late". The beautiful memories multiply and get further away, with the passing of time. The artist now appears wrapped in monotony and solitude. Pessimism for the future has disappeared. The gaze is only towards the past. Towards "the good moments".

"L'antidoto" is a track aimed at those who sully the HH scene talking about clichés with easy rhymes and in a commercial guise. One among all, Jovanotti: "It rains, hear how it rains, shit rains on the radios with the rap cutting-edge program as they tell you buy this and that, don't buy the other, with a filter inside the nose I don't sniff your shit..." or "You're a lucky guy, with the dream they also gave you the bike between you and Don Vito I wouldn't know who's more senile take your thirty pieces of silver and whatdabloodklat! Go back to your habitat the bill remains open, I don't get on your train because it's on a dead line...". The hate and malice become livelier, also thanks to the chorus as vulgar as necessary. I feel compelled to write that we have before us a case of scream-worthy metrics and steel flow: "Patience, I go under while you stay on the surface, I don't care if you also sell a million copies, you're still inept face to face you act friendly, I don't give you credit, not even if you give me a billion settles the debt, like a magician you do your tricks, enchant everyone, I don't make deals with you, Think! You believe it's the method because it's convenient, but I have the personal antidote... and I'm immune to your shit."

"Fastidio" is the title track. The color black fully represents it. Pessimism skyrockets where there's nothing left but to await the only certainty: death. Solitude and suicide alternate leaving a state of anguish. It starts like this: "I feed on annoyance, like the "Methodo Man", bringer of pain, I carry it inside like sludge that envelops my heart I carry it around with my old thoughts, and while I feed on annoyance it eats away my life, like an overturned candle it burns twice as fast: that's why I find no peace, time passes without stopping and the hand turns without pause, there's nothing left but to lower your head, also for this reason I find no solution, except feeding on annoyance and writhing in my own scourge, cursing the bad luck that since I was born never left me for a minute...". Also here you feel the detachment between Kaos's hoarse voice full of repressed anger and Deda's resigned voice who helps in the second verse like this: "Good because I study rude in the face of so much courtesy, what I do is my thing, only my thing like this poem is mine learned on the street, a cold floor where my bare back turns".

The album concludes with "Fino alla fine": a venomous piece without a refrain. Like the lava of a volcano, it seems unstoppable, so much so that at the end the volume slowly fades while Kaos keeps delivering new rhymes. Pure hardcore. I quote a few seconds: "...because I have had enough of fake clowns, like you convinced you are powerful, I drink you like Chianti, now you hear how arrogant I sound, for me you're the sugar in the sauce, it's useless you even try to do the zone like Arrigo, now it's late, the championship you lose, it's your destiny, you can get comfortable on the sofa and calmly watch, you can cheer like in the stands, but if you want to take the trip watch you're on reserve, I warn you, I'm a real expert of arrogant metrics, but you don't know what it means..."
There's a bit of Sangue Misto: the beats are mostly by Neffa, and the rhymes by Dj Gruff, Deda, and Neffa himself significantly enrich the album.

Kaos explores the concept of annoyance making the swing between self-glorification and self-pity, revealing our reality without imitating American models.