Emis Killa returns to the origins: “Now rap is no longer nerdy”

The (albeit missed) participation in the last Sanremo Festival seemed to indicate a move towards pop, the mainstream, or at least a move away from the purest rap. With “Sad music” Emis Killa dissolves all reservations and doubts: “I want to do what I like best”.

Despite a title that might sound misleading, in fact, the cover of the new album – populated by masked female faces giving the middle finger and miming guns – immediately makes the intentions clear: “I don’t want people to mistakenly idealize the album. From the moment you announce the title, you get an idea, then when it comes out you feel your expectations betrayed, because the music isn’t what you expected. I didn’t want to create the idea of whiny music. Jake La taught me that. Fury: rap is entertainmentto the detriment of those who say that rap is only protest. Rap was born in block partyand when it has the presumption of being only conceptual… it’s not for me.”

Inspiration comes from shaking the feeds of Instagram: “I was struck by the caption of a post by one of my favorite composers, Eric Christian. He had written: I’m not sad, my music is. I thought about it, and I realized that a lot of my music is too, even a lot of hits. There is also hope, of course: from a difficult context you can rise up and become successful people, in the end this is the message of my career, but my lyrics and tones are often sad.”

Inspired by an Instagram post, but also by the present: “I like that Sad music is a reflection of our time. A period in which music lost its valuebecause progress has distracted us and attention has fallen on many things – including music. Before, you listened carefully because you also invested money in music; today everything is liquidated much more quickly, and it’s sad, because in music there is people’s soul. I’ve made peace with this for a while.”

A disillusionment that brings with it a bitter awareness: “I don’t believe that music changes the world, unfortunately. If a song were enough, we wouldn’t talk about our failures, but we would only talk about peace and positive emotions. Music is influenced by reality, not the other way around.” So, if times change, music changes too: “Now rap is no longer as nerdy as it used to be. I regret those times a bitbecause if people approached this genre it was out of passion; today you buy a necklace just because Lazza has it. It’s an entirely superficial, frivolous world, I can’t see myself in it. The boom on the market has brought benefits to everyone, including myself, but I miss the freedom that once existed.”

Today, however, there is more freedom to change – which Emis Killa doesn’t mind at all. “I’m envious of artists like Jovanotti, who at their age have managed to reinvent themselves. I hope this happens to me too, but without forcing my hand. The choice to go to Sanremo was also born from this. I said to myself: maybe it’s time to do something differentto question myself, even with the risk that someone might not understand my character. But I was ready, life is full of challenges. Then I got there with a solid path, I knew I wouldn’t lose my fans.”

This year, however, no Festival: “Conti con me was a gentleman, very correct. He always had good words for me and it is absolutely not true that he or Rai invited me not to participate after the investigation: it was my choice and he probably would have welcomed me back this year too, if I had wanted. But I am an instinctive person and I didn’t feel like it, also because then the album took a very rap turn and it wouldn’t have made sense to go there with a more singer-songwriter and melodic song. But there is a possibility that I will returnabsolutely. I don’t close any doors.”

He could make his debut on the Ariston stage in the future with a love song, because “women were the protagonists throughout most of my career. I liked to pay tribute to them with this cover, where I’m happy not to appear and not to be the protagonist: it seemed like an original choice, but above all a mature one.” A maturity that also translates into coherence: “You have to maintain the inspiration that brought you to where you are. I me I always feel like I’m twenty when I rapeven though on the outside I’m very different than I was as a twenty-year-old. I’ve always tried to maintain the style, because that’s what made my first fans fond of me. But as you get older you have to know how to find a balance: you have to be credible.”