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“LUCE” is released on Friday 21 June, the new EP by the Friulian rapper IL GURU which will be available digitally as an independent. After the excellent performance with the album “Il Figliol Prodigo” released last year, the Italian-Colombian rapper continues his artistic journey on a path that leads the listener towards adult, intimate and reflective lyrics. With the EP “Luce” Il Guru also takes a step forward from the point of view of sound research with a work that can be defined as jazz-rap given the involvement of jazz musicians from the Italian scene that the rapper wanted to be present in an important way in the soundscape of the album.
Sax, pianos, trumpets, basses, all in perfect harmony with the warm and scratchy voice of Il Guru for a total of six songs for about twenty minutes of music that distances itself from the predominant digital sound in the charts and on social media but without falling into nostalgic: “Luce” is a fresh, new record.
“LUCE” is the natural evolution of the project started with “The Prodigal Son” – declares the artist – through the search for an original sound, working side by side with producers and session musicians: a genuine growth to bring my artistic maturity de beyond the stereotypes of rap in order to touch the sensitivity of the listener, taking him on a modern sound and lyrical journey with classic rap influences but also jazz and soul”. Il Guru’s need in this work is to complete an artistic picture using live instruments to give a warm tone to his words and his narrative made of chiaroscuro without hiding fragility and weaknesses. Inside the EP there is also a dutiful homage to the trilogy The Jazzmatazz by the rapper Guru of the Gangstarr group, an artist who has marked the history of hip hop and who, due to a series of coincidences, partly shares the name of ‘art.
The Guru (stage name of Antony Pali) was born in Udine in 1988, and began rapping at 17 in the provincial Friulian reality. Having moved to Milan he collaborates with Mr. Data of Alucina Records for the street album “Sangue Nero”, which is published by Glory Hole Records, together with his two following works: “Cemento Verde” produced by Kappah and the mixtape “Bombe a Mano 3 ”. In 2019 he released “Panini 90” in collaboration with Zizzed, the following year followed the singles “Amami”, “Udine 2.0” and “No Stress” in collaboration with the rapper from Bari Miss Fritty, all produced by Jamie Fields with whom he works also to the single “Rap Kamasutra” released in 2021 featuring Barbie G and Jangy Leeon. Back in Friuli, in May 2023 Il Guru presents itself under a new guise with a more introspective album like “Il Figliol Prodigo” completely produced by Kappah returning to a more classic sound accompanied by a wind section.
