Thirty years have passed since G-Max and Rude (who later became Flaminio Maphia) met in Piazzale Flaminio with a large group of children who came to the center from the outskirts of Rome to rap, dance, graffiti and “building”. Thirty years of “live” life, which now ends in a new album entitled “Live”, and in a celebratory concert (May 3 at Club Wishlist in via dei Volsci in the area of San Lorenzo ). From the late eighties to the present day G-Max has lived his life in the spotlight, moving from music to TV and cinema, as an actor and author, before returning to his first love (unforgettable it forever), music. Times change and the name changes too: from Flaminio Maphia to Flaminio and that’s it.
G-Max, what happened in the meantime?
“To understand it we have to go back to the beginning. We were the first to bring hip hop to Italy from America. The first to make verse in Italian. Local rap was born right in Piazzale Flaminio. We put Maphia, with the p, in an ironic way. Because, at the time, our country, abroad, ended up in the “pizza, mafia and mandolin” stereotypes. Thus was born the name Flaminio Maphia. Today, the world has changed a lot. We are no longer known as “mafia and mandolin”, so we just start from Flaminio.”
In that multicultural and diverse square, everything began. What was your world like then?
“In Piazzale Flaminio, where there was a metro and train stop, children easily arrived from the suburbs: from Prenestina to Casilina, from Prima Porta to Città deiRagazzi. Rude came from Bravetta, I from Donna Olimpia. They were mostly foreigners: Nigerians, Eritreans, Somalis. But then the children of the ambassadors from Chateaubriand (a French private school, right) also came and happened to invite us to their parties. Then when we destroyed their house they didn’t invite us anymore… (laughs). From there the song “Spaccamo tutto” was born. We were kind of a baby group back then.”
How did your music come about?
“We told about our evenings on the street, the parties, our stories. We wrote verses in the afternoon, then in the evening at the disco we went on stage and sang them to impress the girls. They usually asked us to sing on those nights.”
When did the real turning point come?
«I went to visit a Nigerian friend in Turin and I forgot a cassette where we had recorded our free styles, verses made on the plane. One day I got a phone call, it was a record producer who had heard our music by chance and he asked me: “Do you feel like doing it again in the studio?” “. I didn’t have to be told twice, we were already in Turin.”
The stroke of luck came later, however…
“In 2001 we were giving up because we couldn’t show up anyway. But then “Resurrezione” came out in collaboration with Riccardo Sinigallia (who works with Max Gazzé, Niccolò Fabi and Tiromancino), and we signed with Virgin. But whatever, we didn’t take off. In 2003, we worked in radio, at RTL. I asked Claudio Cecchetto for help. Contractually we had to release another single, after “Bada”. I said to Claudio: “Listen to the album, and tell me which piece we can choose”. He killed the whole album for me and told me that only “Ragazze sour” was saved. It was our real luck.”
Then, there was a participation in Sanremo with Califano in 2005. How do you remember that experience?
“Califano had the same approach to music as us, he went from ironic pieces to much deeper pieces. Perhaps he saw in us an evolution of his music. We sang together “I don’t exclude the return”. I still have a wonderful memory of Franco, with whom we continued to live together for another 4-5 years, participating in his concerts as well. He was a borderline character but one of the most beautiful and profound people I have ever met. He had a wonderful gentleness and a great inner solitude.”
What has changed in music in the last thirty years?
“There’s no more rap (but the sours are still there). Sometimes I think it has become anachronistic at fifty to continue recommending pieces from our store. But they still call us for concerts and people have fun.”
Will he stop rapping then?
«Nothing can replace the adrenaline of the stage and the relationship with the audience. I haven’t written music for ten years but I’ll still be on stage. In the meantime I’m thinking about other projects. I am writing a book that will tell my life from the age of 5 until my success with Flaminio Maphia and I hope it will be a theater show, a “One man” show. But my biggest dream is to turn Flaminio’s story into a musical. From now on a new page opens where everything is possible. And, as Califano said, I don’t rule out coming back. “
2024-04-27 09:02:00
#Music #return #Flaminio #Maphia #Today #rap #girls #bitter
