It all starts with freestyle, street music. He comes from there. Images, memories and a nickname that defines his conception of rap: “Hyena”. A rap that is truth and not vanity. In love with tattoos: “’O tir’ a gir’” by Insigne, one of the most famous on the web. Friday 28 June, on the water front of Bisceglie, here is Clementino. The highly anticipated event of the rapper from Avellino who will perform in a concert-show with his new band arrives in Puglia. This live show, which highlights his musical eclecticism, is also the first event of the Rush Summer Fest, a series of six events that will liven up the summer between Bisceglie and Trani, organized by Gs23Eventi and Rush Eventi.
Clementino live with a band. How would you define your show?
«Definitely very colourful. I think it can satisfy everyone’s tastes, reaching out to a varied audience. We start from a super rap base and then get to freestyle, improvisation. Then comes a theatrical moment, from “Don Raffaè” by De Andrè to my pieces such as “Partenope”, “Cos cos cos” or ” Quando sono far”. Then there is also a moment where we cover iconic pieces of international music, from Pink Floyd to Carlos Santana up to Pino Daniele and Nirvana. We also featured dancers to “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees. And I would like to underline that I have the pleasure of working with a great singer, Greg Rega, but together with us there will be high-level musicians, all conservatory graduates. There will be many of us on stage, there will be a lot of chaos.”
With the band you did a job of revisiting your songs…
«A long operation that began last year. I made thirteen records, I had to make a difficult selection of songs otherwise the live show would have lasted nine hours. We shortened the performance with medleys, a necessary reduction to result in a great show.”
How have you evolved artistically in recent years?
«TV gave me a big hand. I tried to carry on not only rap but also my personal training. In recent years I have traveled a lot, I have been from Costa Rica to India, from Norway to Kenya. I have done many trips alone: I discovered meditation, I read a lot, I tried to follow a drive for evolution because when you do this job for many years you have to try to keep up with the times. I’m changing, before I always went to sleep at 6 in the morning now at 10.30pm I collapse. I’m growing up. Now I’m 42, I can’t throw myself into nightclubs with the kids anymore, I have to find my own path.”
What is your source of inspiration when you write?
«Travels and stories of my country. I lived in Milan and Rome, but I always return to Naples because I feel good there. I’m going to Milan to do “The Voice” but after fifty concerts it’s not the best thing to unpack your bags in a city that isn’t yours. It is priceless to return home, with your people, in your bar, in your restaurant, with the people who saw you grow, in fact I bought a house in Nola. The artist moves to make himself known, but once he has done that promotional work, why stay in a city that is not his? With all due respect, I prefer to return to my beautiful Naples.”
Naples is experiencing an artistically flourishing period. As a Campanian, how does this make you feel?
For me it’s all deserved, if there are emerging Neapolitan artists it means that we are doing well, that in the past we “older” ones have done well. We come from a period in which Naples was the maximum expression in every field, from cuisine to cinema and art, from football to music: that’s fine. It means that we have sown well.
