DJ Gruff's second studio album, released three years after his cult debut "Rapadopa". Gruff takes care of most of the production of the album, Deda makes five beats and other beats are performed by Neffa, Esa, DJ Skizo, The NextOne and Dada. The production is accompanied by some instrumental sections provided by J. Rodriguez on flute and sax, Alessiomanna on bass and Gabriele on trumpet. DJ Aui is credited for the scratches on "Aui" and DJ Double S scratches for the remix of "Stammi lontano", all other scratches are the author's work. Guests are Gopher D, Deda, Neffa, Kaos, T.C., Storyteller, Sean, Soul Boy and Camelz Finezza Click.
The first four tracks on the album are produced by three different artists and no one credits DJ Gruff. "Bella Sbrasbez" is one of the most beautiful intros in the history of Italian hip-hop, wanting to exaggerate, I can safely say that it could easily be one of the most beautiful intros of all of 1996 in the global hip-hop scene. The rhythm created by Deda is excellent, sublime, ecstatic, born from some intimidated and cautious winds, the "you can go... go", the clash of the orchestral cymbals, then a driving bass line emerges from the underground wrapped in a simply perfect drum, fresh scratches, a resounding cold piano loop and echoing samples that fade out after about a minute.
A track follows with rapper Gopher D reciting bars in Salento on a discreet beat provided by Neffa, who finds a dry and perfect midtempo drum, places a light sample from Michael Franks and an obsessive loop on the hook. Deda returns behind the keyboards for the third choice, also flanking Gruff at the mic. The boys deliver bars with their typical relaxed style on a good boom bap from which a correct and clean drum stands out. Esa gives Gruff a gift with "L'Agiluomo", taking a delicious sample from "Ain't No Time Fa Nothing" by Futures and creating a very fresh boom bap ideal for Neffa's awkward style, which he delivers relaxed as always together with Gruffetti.
After an excellent initial quarter of an hour, the central part of the CD is interspersed with continuous instrumental tracks and the project loses a bit of momentum. Deda creates a discreet laid-back rhythm for "Versi di passione", however the sexual text is heavy, scandalous and embarrassing. "Zero Stress pt. 1" is the first non-instrumental track produced by Gruff, in addition to him there are also Kaos, Neffa, T.C. and Storyteller. The beat is rough, raw, dark, inspired by a famous piece by Bob James, everyone is pretty good, no one kills the cut. The next rap track ("Ti scrivo") maintains dark and gloomy vibes and Gruff's usual slow rap over accessible production. "Sucker Jump" is the second posse in three tracks and the guys present are all devoid of personality over yet another dark beat of the edition.
Deda produces "Bom cilomo", the drum is tired and Gruff sounds similar too. The NextOne and DJ Double S work on "Stammi Lontano '96", where the mix favors the dirty drum chosen by the guys rather than Gruff's rap and the track sounds just like a tribute to Mobb Deep when you get to the hook to hear an obsessive sample of Prodigy from "Shook Ones Pt. II". The end of the record is as good as the beginning. "Mefangoscià" is hard to describe. "Poesia" is the closest word I can think of to describe what was done here. Gruff takes Deda and Abiatik's vocal samples from Sangue Misto's "Piglia male" ("SxM", 1994), scratches them and mixes them together. That's it. It's a couple of snippets, six words. The beat is triumphant and dark, lush and decadent, beautiful, driven by a booming bass with scattered trumpet flashes. Dada and DJ Skizo produce "Lucida follia": their beat is perfect, boom bap with dry and hard midtempo drum, a bit harsh, fantastic melodic loop, dark disturbing second loop, wonderful trumpet solo in the finale. On this musical landscape, Gruff delivers relaxed almost whispering and creates a classic piece. At the end there is also a sequel to "Zero Stress" in which Gruff invites Camelz Finezza Click to drop a couple of verses on a tough loop. The record closes with Gruff in beatbox accompanied by J. Rodriguez's sax.
For his second solo effort, Gruff leaves Century Vox and releases his record independently through his own Zero Stress label: twenty-two tracks (many skits and instrumentals), just under an hour of listening time, this is one of the best albums in DJ Gruff's vast catalog, a must-have for fans and full of gems. 7.5/10.
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