“From Lecce and for Lecce”. The rapper originally from San Pietro in Lama, well known in the underground scene, spoke about life, society, the street and roots, inserting football starting from Pantaleo Corvino’s quotes in his rhymes. GentleTa rapper who carries the flag of Lecce and Lecce high on the national scene and, in the album made with Mr Squito, who took care of the beats, we have a different vision of a generation that grew up in Lecce and remained irremediably linked to Lecce.
With great pleasure, we had the opportunity to have a chat with GentleT to raise awareness of underground rap and obviously talk about football and Lecce, described in his album and linked for those who want to listen to them on Youtube.
First of all, how did you start rapping and what were your first projects?
“Before leaving I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the space you are giving me, it is truly a pleasure for me to answer your questions. I approached rap very early, as a very passionate listener in the early 2000s. As for my rap, I started doing freestyle in 2009, participating in the first freestyle contests and recording the first songs. My first official record came out in 2016, and I’ve been releasing music regularly from then on. During all this time I have always carried out projects in parallel together with my historic crew, Illegal Meeting, who know well in Lecce and more recently everything has resulted in Kiazza Mob, a collective of rappers and producers from Salento of which I am part. In 2020 I had my first contacts with MxRxGxA (Make Rap Great Again, ed.) and since then the attention on my music has increased significantly. I will carry all these things with me forever.”
You are part of Make Rap Great Again, a collective founded in 2018 by Gionni Gioielli with the aim of restoring dignity to the most underground part of Italian rap through the creation of a record label with its well-defined imagery and quality products. Then, in Bar Sport a niche is legitimized with other realities. After explaining the project in a few words to non-experts, do you think that moving in a group can give strength to this genre?
“From when I started rapping to today there has always been a group of people around me pushing the project. Here in Lecce we really did a lot of jams with Illegal Meeting, we moved a lot of things, now I’m also part of the Kiazza Mob collective. Same goes for MxRxGxA, perhaps on a slightly larger scale. The underlying point, however, is that sharing and aggregation can only bring benefits. The reason why my “Bar Sport” project went so well even as an independent is precisely linked to the connections and network created up to that point. Those who approached me thanks to Gran Turismo remained “faithful” also to Bar Sport, those who met me with Bar Sport are now pumped up. Pantaleo’s Vision is so on…”
Obviously, we move to the heart of this interview. The art of speaking begins with an audio of Corvino and the difference between seeing and glimpsing. How would you explain “glimpsing” the correlation between Corvino’s work, the Lecce of these years and rap music, especially nowadays when this scene risks becoming plastic?
“The message of the entire album is contained in Pantaleo Corvino’s opening speech. In those words the director explains very simply that to do things properly it is not enough to look at what is under your nose, you must be able to look beyond, be farsighted. While many teams think about making a market coup by spending significant sums and putting the sustainability of some businesses at risk, there are those who carry forward a philosophy based on healthy investment, which certainly has less effect from a “media” point of view but which turns out to be more profitable in the long run and which sometimes turns into a real miracle (there is no need to mention all the times that it happened in our Lecce). My vision in music is exactly this. I have never aimed for ‘coinage’, perhaps spending money on features that could have given much more visibility to my records, yet over time people have noticed it anyway, time is proving me right and I think it is thanks to the dedication, perseverance and passion I put into it, just like Pantaleo. Let me also point out the mistake at the beginning of the speech (‘I’m not someone who really likes the art of speaking’). In this sentence I see my not being careful about using particular marketing ‘strategies’ to push my projects. In my Instagram stories you can find my music and what I normally do in the evening at the bar with my friends, without gimmicks designed to create hype. In short, I prefer music to everything behind it, facts to words.”
“A blue Ferrari in Lecce”. A title, a manifesto. Like the phrase “these people aren’t in the profession, but they do it in football like in Saudi Arabia”. How can you tell us about this piece, also in light of the tail of the first question?
“In ‘A Blue Ferrari in Lecce’ (which I hope one day will be mine) I continue the discussion we were talking about before. Just as I wouldn’t define football as the rubbish they’re feeding us from Saudi Arabia, in the same way I wouldn’t define every young person (or not) who gets up one morning and spouts a couple of rubbish things in front of a microphone as a rapper. I’m very open to all new things and I follow many companies that do things different from mine, but if I don’t see a meaning, even the most frivolous one, behind a single, a record or a project in general, then I’m not interested.”
The refrain of “La vision di Pantaleo” comes to mind between the sound and storytelling that many of us who grew up on those steps have in common.
“Yes, the title track is the one that sticks in my head the most and this too came out very spontaneously. Zeboh has been with me on the journey practically since the beginning, he is a brother and there was no need to even give him a guideline for the chorus. After a couple of hours from when I asked him if he could write a chorus he had already sent it to me recorded in the studio. On the other hand, I met Lil Pin more recently (I mean in person because I already heard her stuff many years ago) and he turned out to be a fantastic person. We all have a common passion for his team, he is a big Cagliari fan. This year we celebrated salvation together. The piece doesn’t need descriptions I think, it simply takes you into an atmosphere that makes you feel like you’re in the stadium enjoying the match between chants, beers and everything else.”
T For the People and Dialetto seem to be fundamental interludes for your album. Obviously we’re talking about football here and in the first piece you remember an refereeing that was certainly not favorable to Lecce, by Dondarini in Lecce-Sampdoria 1-3 in 2009. The question seems obvious, but rap is now literature. What are Lecce and Lecce for you and how much of this do you bring into your music?
“I have to be honest, I don’t go to the stadium very often. The first memories I have of it are precisely those choirs when my father took me there as a child. Despite this, however, I think I have missed very few matches since I can remember, especially in the years I lived in Germany where I was sometimes unable to due to work or the stories about television rights. In my music I have always brought references to football and everything that revolves around it simply because I am a great fan and I consider myself lucky to be from Lecce and support Lecce, because this team always gives great emotions. However, I remember the chants against Dondarini very well, I was at the stadium and I think everyone was singing, it couldn’t have been a nice afternoon for him!”
In Family Affairs you seem to have a somewhat conflicted relationship with your homeland. There are our fellow citizens who cut their roots while others carry their pride high. How would you describe this feeling of yours even if personally the bar of “Dialetto”, “I still speak dialect/in the farmhouse waiting for meat from the fireplace/I travel the world and return to Lecce with the most beautiful dress…
“Yes, those who have been following me for some time know that I have often spoken about this topic. I am one of those who has always wanted to try to leave here, at various times in my life. In fact I did, I’ve been out for several years. What I realized, however, is that I always miss my home, this place, with all the defects it may have when I’m away. I hope to be able to travel more, perhaps also thanks to music, and to travel the world, but I think I would hardly choose to leave forever.”
Hjulmand, Tonetto for Lecce, then Grealish, Ronaldo. Which footballer inspires your creativity? And, more simply, which is your favorite? And when did you experience the strongest emotions for Lecce?
“Are you asking me my favorite footballer? It would be impossible to say just one. Absolutely I would say Roberto Baggio. Then I’m a fan of all those who took set pieces in the 90s/2000s: Nakamura, Van Hoojdonk, Juninho Pernambucano, Okocha. Football, at certain levels, is art and art can only be an inspiration to create more. The strongest emotion for Lecce… there were many. The most recent is last year’s salvation. I was with Gegè in the car returning from the live show with MXRXGXA in Rome and we followed the match against Monza on the radio, on the motorway. When Colombo scored from the penalty spot we had just entered Puglia, it was also drizzling and we seriously risked rolling over!
“Prima alba a Sud-Est” closes with a bang, both with bases and rhymes of a very profound piece. Thus, the album “The vision of Pantaleo” ends with Corvino telling the passage of Lecce and Salento into another dimension thanks to a Notte della Taranta. How did this romantically successful idea come to you?
“The last track, as usual in my records, is the one in which I let the pen go towards something more felt on a personal level. I focus on what my dream would be, to see all my friends who perhaps left to find fortune elsewhere return “in a big car”, that is, fulfilled, so that we can all feel good together and enjoy our wonderful Salento without having to worry about how to pay bills. Corvino’s speech at the end made me truly emotional when I heard it, and it made me think about what it meant to him to see all his work and the sacrifices of everyone who worked alongside him finally repaid with an international superstar who wears the Lecce shirt during his concert. This stuff is more than football, it’s more than a sport or a job, it’s magic!”
We greet you with a somewhat technical question. You have a different flow from rap today for the use and consumption of the masses. References seem to be fewer? Who inspires you?
“First of all, I thank you because I take this as a great compliment. For me, playing “unique” is synonymous with having a personality. I listen to a lot of music and, I have to tell you the truth, during my journey almost all my “legends” in Italian rap have disappointed me, or in any case made me lose the desire to follow it obsessively like I once did. Having said that, I still have my fixed points in the Italian scene, but I listen almost exclusively to American rap. I try to diversify my listening to capture the beauty of each release and try to get inspired to do my own stuff. Rather, I am very pleased with the fact that lately so many kids have recognized me as an inspiration to them, which I can only be honored by.”
