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"Uranami - HipHop - The italian way"

Gangsta rap never really took off in Europe, we consume, but have hesitated at productive involvement. Since adopting the hip-hop culture, European artists generally remain true to the original intent, avoiding ‘wanna-big-me-self-up’ rhymes rambling on about fast cars, bling, niggas,bitches and gardening tools, sorry hoes!

The current Hip Hop age has MTV programming featuring spotty pre-pubescents sporting gang’esq attire and ‘Argos’ bling, arthritically flipping wrists and walking like constipated chickens proclaiming to be gangsta’s. Moral responsibility for the glorification of the thug, sex,money and killing people may be placed at the door of any number of those at the helm of the mainstream media vehicle. Bandwagon jumpers, pushdi malakers, guilty of pillaging a cradle of reflective urban poetry which Hip Hop strove/strives to promote. Has gansta rap damaged Hip Hop Culture? “yes and no” say URANAMI.

Luxembourg based Italian Hip Hop act URANAMI feel quite reflective on the whole gansta rap culture. Stating that in one sense you have to consider the climate in America so musically,no, but at the same time it does not reflect the true essence of Hip Hop culture.

“Rap is something you do, Hip-Hop is something you live.” KRS-One

Hip Hop was a born in the New York, Bronx district in the early 1970s. Encompassing rapping (and now singing), dj’ing, break-dancing, and urban art (graffiti). Commercially it became apparent in 1979 with the Sugarhill gangs hugely successful ‘Rappers Delight.

’For URANAMI (Japanese for ‘wave on the shore’), they seek to symbolise the fusion of numerous musical currents, Jazz, Blues, Rock n’Roll, Funk, Reggae, Electro and Rap, into the single concept that is URANAMI.

"We never talk about politics,football or women,we always try to talk about what we feel in our lives"

Remaining true to poetic rhyming and metaphorical story telling URANAMI draw inspiration from all sources “You have to listen to every type of music, we just look to find a good way to combine our influences, show the people our way to listen to music”.To date a successful concoction, URANAMI’s first single ‘Basta’, meaning ‘Enough’ went in the Luxembourgish charts and remained there for 7 months, and in the top ten for over 2.“We’re very happy for this, we were the first Italian musicians to achieve top ten success here”.

URANAMI was born in 2005, the result of a music project by Edoardo “CICO” Inzolia and Giorgio “PECCA” Valentini, they have been working together since 1998 under the label 6-Mic Productions.After their participation in numerous events including Jam organised by the emerging Luxembourg chapter of Zulu Nation, the pair took off in different directions. Cico to Strasbourg and Pecca to Brussels for study. A number of instructive but static collaborations occurred in their respective locations but none matched the energy acquired from the pair’s unplanned recordings, it was at this point they decided to concentrate on working together. In 2006, Belgian Thibault ‘T-Bo’ Hanon, talented bass player from a Jazz background, agreed to join the band completing the line up.

So what does the future hold? Will they be taking Italian Hip Hop to the world stage… It is by no means a small task with the global dominance of English language entertainment. For URANAMI the starting point will be at this years Zulu Nation Festival in New York. Zulu Nation was formed and headed by Hip Hop music pioneer Afrika Bambaataa.The oldest and largest organisation promoting Hip Hop culture, this year is the 32nd Anniversary (33rd anniversary of Zulu Nation).They will be sharing a stage with the likes of Jeru the Damaja (of among other things, Gang Starr fame), Black Sheep (who were one of the first groups to parody gangsta rap), Beatnuts and Red Clay to name but a few. Representing Italian music under a Luxembourgish banner they are very excited about the prospect and feel very honoured.When asked if they think this will be a turning point in their career, URANAMI remain optimistic ‘we hope so, but we don’t know”

Remaining true to Hip Hop culture, no bling, no bitches, URANAMI have a positive future ahead of them, pas Basta, one might say!

‘Flogisticamente Mistico’, the current album, is a must buy. - UPFRONT magazine (NOV06)


Discography

Flogisticamente Mistico (2006)

Have streaming:
"Basta","La Boliviana","Non Ho Tempo".

Have radio airplay:
"Basta","Flogistico","Non Ho Tempo","La Boliviana","Dal Tramonto all'Alba","Giorno Notte".

Photos

Bio

Cico (a.k.a. “Mistik Cico”), a trained musician has played the piano since he was 6 years old
and for several years guitar at the Jazz section of the Academy of Music, Luxembourg. In
1997 he created the label “6-Mic Produxion” to vent to his musical creativity. A passion for
“Break Dance” and “Emceeing”, and having followed Hip-Hop philosophy since 1990, his
first productions were Break-Beat and Rap instrumentals. (Zulu Nation’s member since 1998)
Pecca (a.k.a. “Flogistico Pecca”) discovered Hip-Hop culture in 1993 through “Writing”.
Originally a drummer of a Rock band, he never found comfort in the genre and sought solace
in the urban movement of Hip-Hop culture, its 4 elements, in particular, “Writing” and
“Emceeing”. In 1998 he joined Cico at 6-Mic Produxion. (Zulu Nation’s member since 2004)

Between 1999 and 2003 6-Mic Produxion worked on multiple concerts, recordings and
international collaborations, including Eskisse, 2000 (Trip-Hop composition), Esplanade,
2002 Rock/Jazz), Respira, 2003 (Rock) and the soundtrack to two Contemporary Dance and
Break Dance performances (PASSION D’EXILS, 2000-2001 and EFFET, 2002). This work
allowed for an investigative approach into different sounds and was the source of much
inspiration in the development of URANAMI.

During 2004 after completing a new song, Cico and Pecca agreed that something was
missing. The result had been “ok” in consideration to the lyrics and the delivery, but was
incomplete as a song. Analysing this situation, they worked again on the music moving it
forward with the addition of instruments and more melodies.
Forgetting the classic 4 measures (4/4) in a loop with minimal changes, a style normally
associated with Rap, they worked on the music as musicians, applying what they consider to
be their identity in the merging of musical styles. This became the URANAMI concept of
today.

URANAMI, comes from the Japanese word meaning “The Wave On The River” and
symbolises the fusion of different musical currents, Jazz, Blues, Rock, Funk, Reggae, Electro
and Rap towards a unique style that is the URANAMI concept.

The final concept “URANAMI” was born beginning of 2005 the result of a new musical
identity, a vision to push beyond the usual musical structure of a sample complimented by 4
measures in a loop. The first album “Flogisticamente Mistico” (2005) is a testament to this.