EN?GMA: «I’ve found my hunger and self-discipline again»

Let’s start from the origins. What was it like growing up in Sardinia in the years when Hip-Hop was beginning to permeate even Italy’s peripheral realities: what was your first contact with this culture? How did you come to embrace this genre, on an island that is geographically distant from the major centers of the scene? What were your biggest influences and musical inspirations at the beginning? How much did Sardinian productions from the ’90s and 2000s count in your formation? Were there names or island crews that you followed with particular attention? We’re thinking of names like Sa Razza and Maku Go up to Mentispesse… Did they influence your artistic path in some way? Or were they distant from your tastes and influences?

The first album I dealt with is “Sotto Effetto Stono” by Sottotono from ’96. Curiously, Maku Go was featured there. That can be defined as my first contact, but honestly the most decisive influences for me weren’t Sardinian. I loved Tormento, Primo, Raige, albums like “Bomboclat” and “Tora-Ki”. These are the things that triggered something in me. That’s where the search began.

Take us back to the beginning: when you started rapping, memories related to your first recordings, first live shows, first crew. What was the scene like in Sardinia in those years? What were the difficulties and what were the opportunities you managed to seize?

Initially I had no contact with those who did rap in Olbia. I grew up in a solitary way, cultivating my own taste and my own way of doing things, mainly listening to a lot of Italian rap, because certain lyrics represented my states of mind well and it was there that I understood I wanted to do the same thing. Later I began to bond with those who would then become my traveling companions in Machete, but I emphasize that perhaps in that period Olbia in my opinion was a bit snubbed by the rest of the Sardinian rap scene. Curiously though, the facts tell us that it was precisely Olbia that put Sardinia on the map of the national rap scen

In 2010 you founded Machete together with Salmo, Raton and DJ Slait. In a few years it became a model of success in the Italian independent scene, then came your separation in 2016. With hindsight: what wouldn’t you do again going back? And above all, what advice would you give today to a group of young artists who dream of building a reality like that of Machete in 2010?

In my opinion, advice cannot be given, because our modus operandi was good for that historical period, now there’s a different context.

Machete remains something unrepeatable and unique, which set standards and indicated a path, probably spurring and leading to improvement of the entire scene as well. In some ways it’s obvious that it was a shame to separate, but it was probably what needed to be done in those moments and which among other things led all the actors in question to make their own path, forge themselves and grow.

With hindsight, how do you see the revolutionary rise of your movement at the time today? How do you achieve success while keeping relationships and common vision intact and what are the traps to avoid that led to your divorce?

In that historical moment we brought freshness, hunger, cohesion, desire and a lot of quality in many areas. We were many different heads, with different characters and a dissimilar personal “history”. This gave us variety. Let’s not forget about age either: I was turning 22 at the founding of Machete and I hadn’t yet turned 28 when my first album came out after the split. Certainly a bit more experience could have been useful, but experience comes precisely with lived experience and no one gives you that.

After the Machete experience you took the path of total independence, until entering Asian Fake. What convinced you about the project? How did you get in contact with this label and who or what pushed you to enter their roster?

I released an EP produced by Salmo in January 2025 called KLOAKA. From there I got my name circulating again, once again demonstrating my abilities. In Asian there are people I already knew and with whom I got back in contact, who believed in my project, convinced by the tracks I had on hand. I’m finding the right dimension that I needed. It’s the evolutionary step that was needed for my path.

At the beginning of the year you had already published the EP “Kloaka”, a title that is already evocative in itself and that you yourself described as representing a difficult period, of “shitty situations” you wanted to get out of. Can you tell us more about that moment evoked in that project? What was happening in your life and how did you manage to get out of it?

I had probably lost a bit of the things I previously mentioned: self-discipline, desire, hunger. Or rather, in my personal life I also had it, but I didn’t see objectives to pursue in front of me as far as the musical discourse was concerned. A bit of discouragement and distress did the rest. I was quite disoriented. Salmo’s instrumentals charged me up and gave new lifeblood, also because I cared about honoring them in the best way.

The cover of your EP “Kloaka” with Salmo was drawn by another longtime friend: Frenk. What is your relationship with visual arts? And what about graffiti? In the past did you also practice the discipline of writing?

Unfortunately, I have very poor manual skills in general so I never tried.

According to your experience, why is the path of the totally independent artist in the Italian rap scene so complicated today?

Paradoxically, I obtained greater personal results as an independent than in the previous period (from 2016 to 2021 especially), but it was still a different period. You need to have ideas, self-discipline and you have to put yourself very much on the line, sacrificing yourself. Not everyone is cut out to do it or in any case is willing to make the sacrifice.

Under Asian Fake you published the new single “Old Trafford” on Friday, October 17th. Why this title specifically? What does it represent for you and what can you tell us in advance about the new project coming?

In 2022, during the Red Valley in Sardinia organized by Salmo, you publicly reconciled. It was an important moment for both of you. Will we also hear Salmo on the new album? Is there space for a collaboration that definitively closes that chapter?

I don’t think there’s a chapter to close, on the contrary it has reopened between us. Since 2022 we found each other again humanly and everything was further sealed with “Kloaka“. Mauri (Salmo ed’s note) won’t be on the album, but we will certainly have a way to rap together again. Moreover, in the future I would like to do a “Kloaka 2” to continue giving space among other things to his beatmaker soul, which in my view is too often almost underestimated.

How are the Italian Hip-Hop scene and more particularly the Sardinian one doing today? What has changed compared to your beginnings and what are the names to watch? How much has the movement grown and what potential do you see for the future of island rap?

The offering in Italy is very vast and as long as there is “demand” everything will be fine. After that, those with more substance, more character and more authentic soul will remain. I have a suspicion that within two years something will change again and in a decisive way.

As for Sardinia, as I said previously, I wouldn’t really know what advice to give, because the temporal context is different from what I experienced and this shuffles the cards a lot. I want to point out two names from Olbia though: Macaboro is a very talented guy who raps and produces with a personal taste. Another promising guy who deals with production is “Latte & Cereali“.