Rancore e Dj Myke
Silenzio

"This Rap is the most wrong thing that Italian music could do, and once it got soaked, a jerk concluded a great deal".

Hard to refute such a statement. Even if it was made by someone from MTV Spit. Yes, yes, exactly the insult contest for children aged 3 and up. And they even do it in prime time. To be fair, the young man in question has been hustling for quite some time, with a solo album and two in collaboration with the other young man in charge of this work.

The formula is the classic one: a DJ/producer who chops up samples, programs drum machines, and occasionally scratches a record for the joy of turntable and mixer enthusiasts (also because, otherwise, why would he keep the DJ in his nickname?). An MC who, from the first to the last track, delights (or horrifies, depending on the case) the listener with a series of alliterations, metaphors, stories, wordplay, and everything a Rap lover holds dear. The formula, as we said, is the classic one. Of classic, this album doesn't even have the cover. Perhaps because in Dj Myke's productions, electronic sounds and acoustic guitars alternate, and between one dark sample and another, the fireman's choir from "...otherwise we'll get angry!" pops out. Perhaps because the only credited feature on the tracklist is Max Zanotti of Deasonika. A bold choice, some might say. A major blunder, others might readily disagree. But let's not digress.

Okay, on a musical level, we understand that we are fortunately far from beats made with the same sound libraries since '94. But how is Rancore's Rap? Come on, with a name like that, it can't be someone who rants about love, brotherhood, respect among brothers, and all those nostalgic crap of the Zulu Nation, right? No, in fact, he takes on everyone and everything a bit. With the sterility of the musical environment to which, theoretically, he should belong first and foremost. With the younger age group that puts away notebooks and math books because they know their generation is of artists. With an Italy stubbornly clinging to Pleistocene life patterns and rules. And while he's at it, also with himself and his inability to stay lucid in front of all this. There's no space for odes to his hometown neighborhood or tales of spicy rendezvous with the opposite sex in this guy's lyrics. Not that the stories are missing in this album, eh; but they mostly concern ordinary people with common problems, the faces you cross inattentively while traveling by bus from terminal to terminal. Or the good feelings that, if pushed to the extreme, can turn into ultimate evil. Other rappers vilify other rappers. He vilifies the food industry and Barack Obama. Alright, we understood he has things to say. But technically, how is he? I don't know how fitting the adjective is, but I would say: complete. In fact, he knows how to alternate doses of phonetic tricks in industrial quantities with texts that favor simpler metric solutions, for a clear and immediate message. Oh my, but then there is very little immediate in his lyrics. Almost all the tracks require more than one listen to be fully understood and appreciated. But in the era of "discarding fifteen minutes after downloading," I would say it is a quality that very few other rhymers can boast.

In short, is it an album to buy sight unseen, and that flows smoothly from beginning to end without needing to skip anything? Well, if we really want to be nitpickers, I think it has some flaws. Starting with the aforementioned Zanotti chorus, which I don't really like that much. And then a few phrases repeated too obsessively in a couple of tracks. Apart from this though, I would say everything is in its place. In fact: not everything is in its place (if we take 99% of Rap albums, Italian and otherwise, as a benchmark). And that's precisely why the album can be listened to over and over again with pleasure.