Massimo Pericolo: five years of “Scialla semper”

“X3” produced by Fight Pausa, published digitally and in the new vinyl version of “Semper shawl”, goes like this: “I turn off and stop and I seem more tender to you, with the emptiness inside you can't feel the reverberation”. Before the eyes of Alessandro Vanetti, just at the moment in which his life collapsed around him, Massimo Pericolo was born, which more than a redemption, at first, was a pure opportunity to vent, to express, an angry scream, through clenched teeth, to try to feel alive. “Scialla Semper”, which turns five years old, artistically photographs the raw story of hitting rock bottom and when the rapper analyzes it, he already seems to overcome it, offering himself a second chance. It's no coincidence that in the cover he points a gun to his head. But there's not only this in that dazzling debut: in those first glimpses there is already the whole world of Massimo Pericolo. On the one hand, the explosive desperation of “7 billion”on the other the uncomfortable and melancholy truth of “Golden Sands” with Generic Animal or the road romance of “Amici”, songs in which the strength of the pen of the artist from Brebbia stands out, who has rightly evolved over time. And how can we forget, in the repack version, the beginning of the “Totoro” saga.

“If this album hadn't changed my life I don't know where I would be now. It's not a figure of speech, how do I know. Jokes aside, I am now where I am and I think back to all the people who helped me and made all this possible starting from Crookers and Nic Sarno who produced most of the songs and which they collected in a real project released for the label, Pluggers…I will always be one of you because beyond fame and money what I have understood is that we remain people, and going from one extreme to the other in life I saw that if you can feel bad when everything is going well then you can also feel good when everything is going wrong”, wrote Massimo Pericolo on social media remembering the album. In recent years, he has proven to be one of the best lyricists belonging to the new generation of rap he was able to gain a prominent position thanks to his ability to move from stinging realism to unbridled ironywith apparently simple lyrics, but which create a deep empathy with the listener, all traits that were already evident in the first songs.

“Scialla Semper”, the name of the anti-drug operation that led to him being jailed for four months, when it came out in 2019, was not just a record, but a real earthquake in the world of hip hop. Powerful, visceral and controversial lyrics set to disturbing music. “7 billion”, when it saw the light, came like an uppercut to the face. “As long as you play a part in a film or write a novel you don't put yourself out there as an author as happens in music. The artist, in music, is the one who makes the song, the video and gives the interview. He is not a character. Fiction isn't as scary as reality. This is all part of the specific culture of rapalso for this reason it arrived relatively late in Italy because there is an attitude behind it that is not strictly ours. Rap must be understood, it is still too young for some to succeed,” he told Rockol about some of his rougher bars. In a record market where projects appear and disappear as easily as a ray of sunshine, “Scialla Semper” has remained over time for its authenticity, for its crudeness, for its truth, because it lacks any form of strategy. It's a pure record.