Sangue Misto — SXM

The debut of the group has its roots in the origins of hip-hop in Italy: from the initial contribution of writers and breakers, after the mid-eighties the DJs make their way, then the first hip-hop groups are formed, including the Fresh Press Crew (later, Radical Stuff) and Isola Posse All Stars.

The latter is a collective formed in Bologna by the Isola nel Kantiere self-managed social center, which at the beginning of the nineties released a couple of pioneering singles in the circuit ("Stop al panico / Stop War" and "Passaparola"), collecting the socio-political heritage of the punk counterculture of the left-wing social centers, and shortly before disbanding, it changes its name to Sangue Misto: it's formed by Nicola "Speaker Dee Mo'" Peressoni (which suggests the new name), Claudio "DJ Fabbri" Fabbri, Antonio "Treble" Petrachi, Dario "Gopher D" Troso and Andrea "Deda" Visani, later joined by Riccardo "Papa Ricky" Povero, Giovanni "Neffa" Pellino and Sandro "DJ Gruff" Orrù (of the aforementioned Fresh Press Crew). The group has inevitable internal conflicts that lead to a split: Papa Ricky and Gopher D are closer to the raggamuffin, and with Treble they go to the Sud Sound System, while Deda and Neffa tend more towards hip-hop and keep the name Sangue Misto. The duo raised in Bologna formed by Deda, born in Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, and Neffa, born in Scafati, Campania, are preparing to work on a studio album, with the help of DJ Gruff, a fan of hip-hop since the early eighties, born in Terralba, Sardinia, and artistically raised first in Turin, then in Milan, and finally arrived in the Bologna scene.

The album is opened by the title track, an intro with a bass that offers a dark and obscure mood, drum downtempo, minimal rhythm, sax sample that looks like Miles ("Bitches Brew") and sample from the chorus of "La Rapadopa" by DJ Gruff. What is considered the first in a large series of classic cuts follows, the socio-political "Clima di tensione": snare drum + drum midtempo, tough and tight, it opens Neffa with a ridiculous rhyming pattern and questionable execution, thankfully, Deda's entry is one of the best things of the track. Hook performed by both with fresh scratches, then again Deda, the most competent rapper, closes Neffa with the fourth verse. The third choice is another certified classic, "Lo straniero", originally marked as "Hardcore Remix" as the original is featured in another group's compilation "Senza tetto non ci sto", with the title "Straniero nella mia nazione". Rhythm is one of Deda and Neffa's many masterpieces, featuring a compelling dark piano loop, tight drum and samples from Sly and the Family's "Sing a Simple Song". The two MCs build a socio-political piece supported by dark vibes and melodic and almost shrill but still accessible g-funk synths. Neffa and Deda go back n forth in the third verse. In the finale, there's a switch beat with samples from "You Didn't Like It, Because You Didn't Think of It" by Hotlegs.

The fourth track is probably one of the weakest of the edition: boom bap, good sample, tight hard midtempo drum, West Coast g-funk synths, confident braggadocio delivery of Deda and Gopher D dropping three verses each. Note the performance of the guest who raps with a tight style in Salentino (a dialect of Apulia), but practically repeats the same things for three stanzas, showing significant lyrical gaps. "Cani sciolti" is a real signature song of the group: rhythm left to breathe, dusty, dirty, tight, perfect drum, excellent boom bap. Neffa enters slow, cumbersome, decent, releases a political verse; hook with screeching, sick, excessive scratches by DJ Gruff, then comes Deda. He's clearly better than the other one, more competent, more political, heavier, here the boy writes the history of the Italian genre. His entry and his verse are blessings, if "The Source" had cast an eye on this CD, Deda would have the Hip-Hop Quotable of January 1994. Technically raw, lyrically flawless. The sixth cut is a relaxed piece, which thematically bounces between bragga and weed. Skinny drum, stanzas by Deda, DJ Gruff (the first on the record) and Neffa, with a short hook executed by all and an alto sax played by Guglielmo Pagnozzi that gives the song a smooth jazz atmosphere reminiscent of the relaxed moments of the Digable Planets.

"La porra" is another relaxed joint, hymn to weed: boom bap, drum downtempo, completely relaxed mood, slow and effortless deliveries by Deda, Neffa and Gruff, short hook, on a rhythm that combines samples from Led Zeppelin, Pierre Henry and Funkadelic. Beat left to breathe for over a minute, with an elegant slow piano in the background and some distant scratches. The eighth song features Neffa and Soulee B (British MC of Barbados origins, part of Fresh Press Crew), exchanging verses still mixing weed and bravado on a great rhythm by Deda and Neffa: boom bap with hard and tight drum and wonderful sample that gives relaxing vibes from "Three Days of the Condor", Rhythm Heritage cover of "Condor!" by Dave Grusin, which is the main theme of the 1975 thriller movie of the same name. "Manca mone" is a rare hookless track with a verse each from Gruff, Neffa and Deda on absence of money. Boom bap, lively drum, decent samples, from O'Jays' "For the Love of Money" (almost as much abused in hip-hop at the time as Syl Johnson's) and "Fall" by Miles Davis.

The almost casual slang intro of Abiatik overbeat in "Piglia male" closes with a raw imperative on which a hard dry midtempo drum lights up. Three stanzas each for Deda and Neffa, slow, dark, effortless, on a production spiced with melodic funky synths, and outro by Speaker DeeMo. "Fattanza Blu" is the last real cut before the final outro: great relaxed rhythm, perfect downtempo drum, short sample again from Miles, again from "Bitches Brew". Neffa and Deda provide a verse each: metrically, Pellino makes you cry, from a technical point of view, he spits like an amateur and doesn't take the drum even by mistake. After a while, you might think he's doing it on purpose, but I think he's high all the time — I mean throughout the album and not just this track —, so, whateva? Luckily, he knows how to pick the beats with Deda. After his effortless verse, the magic comes: elegant instrumental / interlude dope, bass and guitar riffs, with the drum still pounding, beautiful. Deda closes, metrically better, but he's totally high too, after a few moments he no longer takes the drum. Outro whose last word is cut and resumed in "Notte", where Guglielmo Pagnozzi and his alto sax get more space on an uptempo drum.

In the summer of 1991, three young weed fans release one of the most important debuts in the continental hip-hop scene, becoming one of the most revered groups in stoner history: Cypress Hill. Italy has its own version, with Sangue Misto. The duo made up of Deda and Neffa has been preparing this album since 1992, but the rhythm and lyrics construction work lasts for two years, and is only finalized following the arrival of DJ Gruff. If Cypress Hill was almost at the forefront of the US hip-hop music scene at the time of their first tape, four years later and on their third record, their style had long since been outdated. Instead, the Italian scene was in its infancy, which is why, although arriving years late, Sangue Misto's first and unique studio album sounds fresh and unattainable. It's one of the most important and influential documents in the Italian hip-hop scene, and one of the first studio albums of the genre and opens the season of the national "golden age": for these reasons, it's considered one of the best projects in the nineties of the Italian music.

If you listen to this project high, while you're smoking, it's an absolute classic, and like the best stoner-albums, it's made by stoners for stoners, at that point you might think it's one of the best things you've ever heard: there are slow dark melodic rhythms, two captivating voices, slow misty deliveries, it's perfect. It's hard to get to the end of school without meeting stoners or having junkies' friends who have never heard of SxM. If you listen to it without being on drugs, well, then appreciating this effort might be a little more complicated. The production is excellent, with few equals in this period: as I have already written above, it's not clear what the contribution of DJ Gruff is besides providing the scratches (great work), so, Deda and Neffa make some of the best rhythms of the decade in the Italian scene. The musical carpets are very slow, with excellent samples and drums at the limit of perfection, midtempo, often downtempo, hard, tight, fantastic. The production combines Cypress Hill's dark, dusty and grime mood, several West Coast melodic funky synths, with relaxed and ethereal jazzy elements, as smooth as those you can hear on Digable Planets and Native Tongues albums. It's an excellent work, unlike lyricism.

In everything related to rap and putting down the bars, Neffa and Deda struggle. DJ Gruff shows up on the mic three times ("Senti come suona", "La porra", "Manca mone") and is never memorable: his delivery is lower than the other guys and his flow style tends strongly to assonance rather than rhyme, which is why he makes seven or eight rhymes in three songs. Neffa, what to add: he should be the lider maximo of the group, the absolute rapstar, undoubtedly flawless. Not here, his flow comes out cold, dirty, effortless, technically, he's messy and clumsy, failing to actually rhyming verses and spitting out bars with a flat flow, inflated of slang for stoners, which sounds boring most of the time. Thematically, he focuses mainly on weed, on representing his own people and his city, occasionally adding some homage to the best artists of Italian music and casual political invective, going against the police, against the state and against the right-wing. Finally, Deda: flow and delivery aren't too different from Neffa's, nevertheless, he sounds more focused, more competent, less high, he has the best metrics, the best rhymes and he performs them better. Not only in the underground hit "Cani sciolti", which would have consecrated any other MC: in all 53 minutes, he sounds better than the others.

Released by Century Vox, it's the last album before the closure of the label and due to some commercial problems, the tape doesn't stand out for the number of copies sold, despite the excellent response from critics, especially in retrospect, when it's raised as undisputed classic. Overall, it's made up of excellent rhythms and decent lyrics: the production allows it to be the best Italian hip-hop album of the season but, looking straight, it's far from being the best project in the circuit or a masterpiece and any comparison that not Cypress Hill or Native Tongues, it clashes strongly.

Rating: 7.5/10.