Cor Veleno: “For us rap is like literature”

Thirteen tracks, many of which enriched by featuring, to celebrate fifty years of hip hop and the evolution of the Italian scene, in the sign of continuous renewal and a meeting between masters and new talents. “Fuoco sacro”, the eighth album by Cor Poisonis a journey through rap that from the nineties it reaches up to today, between fresh boombap and jazz and hardcore experiments, with touches of drill and Colombian cumbia, without forgetting clear references to the singer-songwriter tradition Italian. The historic group, active since the 1990s, is today made up of pioneers Big Numbers and DJ Squartaas well as from Gabbochurned out one of the best albums of his career.

Guests

“At the beginning the album had no release date, we thought it would see the light between 2023 and 2024 – recalls Grandi Numeri – then we realized that something was being born that, at least in Italy, had not yet been released, that is a tribute to hip hop, born fifty years ago, and to the Italian rap scene which has produced talent and has been able to change over time, evolving and, today, offering an extremely high range of styles”. This is why on the album Cor Veleno dialogues with many different generations: from pillars of rap like Inoki, Colle Der Fomento and Fabri Fibrato some of the new protagonists of the scene such as Nayt, Franco 126, Willie Peyote and Mostro up to emerging talents like Ele A, Ugo Crepa and Klaus Noir. And there's a special guest: Marlon PerozaColombian singer, nominated for the 2020 Latin Grammy, and friend of the crew since 2010.

The singer-songwriter

“We are often labeled as those who are always faithful to a certain tighter rap, but this is not the case – continues Grandi Numeri – we have always given musical and textual pushes, while maintaining a style of our own. I think it shows in this album. With Fibra we said to ourselves: we've known each other since the dawn of time, why haven't we made a song together yet? With Franco, for example, we have wanted to collaborate for a long time, he is a special artist, as well as a person. And it allowed us to broaden the scope as we did in the past in other pieces such as 'Hello brother'or giving vent to a more songwriting streak. Artists like Califano, Pino Daniele and Vasco Rossi are an Italian heritage that we, who rap, also grew up with. And it is right not to deny these roots, but rather to show them off in some way.”

The sacred fire

In the piece “Outsider”, electric rhymes and whippings, Cor Veleno explain what rap is for them today. “Today music in general, not just rap, feeds on endorphins generated by views and streams, or rather by consequences of making music rather than by the music itself – underlines the artist – I see rap not only as a genre, but as a form of personal expression, of intimate journey and growth. For us rap is like literature. A varied literature, capable of having many facets. When we started, in the '90s, for many rap seemed just an exercise in style, but over time it has been able to demonstrate that it can tell people's lives in a unique way.” What is the “sacred fire” that still makes the group burn today? “Remaining yourself, not necessarily following a trend or a formula, but being faithful to what represents us. In Italy we are certainly not the only ones, the artists we wanted with us on the album follow this philosophy. And there are others like it too Gemitaiz, Psalm and Half-Blood that we would have wanted with us, people with whom we have a great relationship, who had to shovel a lot of shit in order not to give up in the dark moments. And all this unites us”, highlights Grandi Numeri.

First Brown

It is impossible, when talking about Cor Veleno, not to mention Primo Brown, who passed away in 2016. “He is always with us with his bars and his music, even on this album – concludes Grandi Numeri – 'The spirit that sounds' of 2018 was to all intents and purposes a posthumous album started when he was still alivethis album is different, but still contains his voice and some of his samples. This is because for us it is a lighthouse, it is a component that has never gone away. We also recently made a documentary (read more here) that told the story of him, a world, a generation. AND a work driven by lovelike everything we try to do.”