Debut studio album by Giovanni "Neffa" Pellino, rapper and singer from Scafati, Salerno, who grew up in Bologna from an early age. Former drummer of hardcore punk bands such as Impact and Negazione, in the nineties he devoted himself to hip-hop becoming a member of Isola Posse All Stars first and then of Sangue Misto. His first solo album comes right in the wake of the dissolution of his latest group.
The moniker is stolen from a Paraguayan footballer from Cremonese who did not escape Cristian Vitali for his encyclopedic book on the worst foreign players in the recent history of Serie A. The fact that Pellino stole the name from this guy is incredibly appropriate: the singer could seem a phenomenon in the minor circuits and stand out in championships like that of Paraguay, but as soon as you compare him in a major league like Serie A, his talent vanishes completely and he shows his true worth.
After "SxM", Neffa, Deda and DJ Gruff try to record material for a later studio album, Gruff asks for more space as a rapper, the other two are against this idea and lead to the exit of Gruffetti from Sangue Misto, few years before the effective end of the group. Neffa records his solo album in 1995 and would be ready for release that year, however, due to distribution problems, it only came out the following year and was lucky enough not to be killed by an avalanche of classic hip-hop records. Neffa takes two beats left by Deda and produces the rest of his solo record entirely, while DJ Gruff provides the scratches. The guests are Deda, DJ Gruff, Dre Love, Phase II, Kaos, Esa, DJ Lugi, Elise, Cenzou, F.C.E., Fede, Lefstside, Storyteller, Topcat, Giuliano Palma, and P.P.T.
For over an hour, the main performer is mumbling, singing and speaking in a shabby, lazy voice, cannot be received when the listener is sober. I don't know if his voice and his tracks improve with the waning of the listener's lucidity, maybe that's the way it is. It doesn't interest me. If you listen to it with clarity, it's quite evident that this is one of the worst conceived and performed records in the 1996 hip-hop season. After about fifteen minutes you may even fall asleep, and Kaos is the only thing that can bring you back. Neffa's production sounds similar in every track, the drum is too weak, the samples aren't even bad (Miles, Al Green, Eddie Kendricks, Earth, Wind & Fire, Intruders, Don Sebesky, Fatback Band, Grover Washington, Jr.), however, this guy has no idea how to make these beats decent and noteworthy.
The only hope can be found in the guests, who disappoint: Kaos enters hardcore and takes "I Messaggeri Pt. 1", the others are sleeping. There's still Kaos in "I fieri Bboyz", over a horrible and scandalous rhythm, sounds of slamming pots and lids, it seems a rhythm discarded by Dalek. Dre Love is without personality, someone spit in English without saying anything in these battle raps. "I Messaggeri Pt. 2" could be interesting: there are DJ Gruff, Cenzou aka Speaker Cenzou, F.C.E., a group from Bologna composed of Galante, Gambino and Yared, Fede of Lyricalz, Lefty aka Lefty Side, P.P.T. aka Chef Ragoo, Storyteller and Topcat. Eleven stanzas and the rhythm is the worst of the record, heavy and ridiculous in its slowness, whiny and disastrous, because Neffa has the great idea of not putting any samples in here and letting the drum beat randomly for more than seven minutes.
"Aspettando il sole" is Neffa's lead single and signature song. Pellino approaches the pop genre by singing and speaking (many, gun to the head, will swear this guy is "rapping"...) for five minutes with Giuliano Palma on one of the two rhythms provided by Deda, who links a sample of Milt Jackson to "Free at Last" by Al Green. The beat is excellent, the lyrics are bad, a shoddy track comes out that is certified platinum and paves the way for Neffa for his future career as a pop singer.
Distributed by Black Out and Mercury, the album sells 50,000 physical copies and goes gold. The disc is deeply slow, mumble rap fans might like it a lot more than the casual hip-hop listener.
Rating: 4/10.
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