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Siempre Enmicasa! | Latin Hip-Hop desde Italia
Where is Enmicasa from and what is the meaning of the name?
Enmicasa come from Rho, Milano, Italy and its members are Gep, Tave, Zago
and Zed. The name Enmicasa derives from the Spanish roots of Zago, and at
the beginning the group used to produce, record and write songs at his
house, en su casa.
You have two songs on the album, "Live by the Code" and "Leave Me Alone"
featuring B-Real and Eric Bobo of Cypress Hill.
It's an amazing experience that we will never forget. We're in Italy and
we're independent: having two hip-hop legends in our album as guests shows
that if you can do whatever you want if u really want it. Enmicasa did it
and we're proud of it. We had the pleasure to meet the Cypress Crew back in
2004 in Arezzo, Italy, and we can only say thanks one million time again.
What would you guys say is the biggest influences on the groups's musical direction?
Our main musical influences are Cypress Hill, Beastie Boys, Psycho Realm,
Funkdoobiest and House of Pain. When we first met we were skating and
listening to groups like the Misfits.
What is one of the biggest obstacles for independent artists today and how did you guys land a deal with Universal Music?
The biggest obstacle is that nowadays people spend less in buying records
than before.
The album distribution by Universal Music was a great deal because they took
care of everything allowing us to reach every single part of Italy, so we
could focus on our music.
We got the deal after years of sending demos to Major Labels, we think we
reached the musical maturity needed to get one. Our album is a good work, no
doubt.
Being an independent artist you must learn how to be a great manager of
yourself first!
How did you guys form Enmicasa and what were the first steps in creating what Enmicasa is now?
The members of two groups formed Enmicasa in 1997, in the skating
environment. Rapping was the most direct way to communicate and express our
ideas and feelings, and became our lifestyle.
What are some of the cities you guys have performed in, and are there any plans for a tour?
We mostly performed in Northen Italy, but hit Switzerland a couple of times.
The Italian promoters are not well qualified to provided the minimal
technical and economical requests, so is better to play less but better.
Enmicasa is an underground hip-hop group, yet on the album we found a few Reggaeton tracks.
Do you believe that making a Reggaeton record affects your creditability as a hip-hop artist?
We never had boundaries in music, we listen to lots of various music. In our
album you can find different sounds, from overdriven guitars to reggaeton
drums, from acid synths to smooth pianos: this shows how we are and how we
live our music. We gained respect and credibility being ourselves. I think
you are referring to the reggaeton song "Ferro e Fuoco", literally
translated with "iron and fire". This song doesn't talk about spanking some
girl's ass but its about our social and political scene in Italy.
"Rivoluzione nella tua plaza!"
Where can you find good underground music in Italy and what are some of the most
important artists being heard in Milano?
In Italy, Milano is one of the most important cities for Hip Hop music and
more. We can say that groups like Club Dogo and the solo artist Vacca are
some of the best ones and you should check them out on the Net.
There are many types of hip-hop - concious, mainstream, underground... Who would you classify Enmicasa's Style?
Il nostro è semplicemente uno stile Enmicasa, we have our own identity,
which is fundamental for a group for being different from the rest.
Is there going to be another Enmicasa, and who will be involved with it?
There will be other projects for sure, the first people involved will be
ourselves. Ya'll be notified when the bomb is going to explode again.
You recently did shows opening up for the Game, what other artist are seen
doing shows in Italy from the States and how well are U.S. artists welcomed in
Italy?
Well, we had the pleasure to welcome Cypress Hill, Snoop, Jay-Z, 50 Cent,
Ice Cube, Busta Rhymes, Beastie Boys...etc... But Italy never saw Eminem.
We're pretty sure that we see less American artists than other European
countries, our situation is really different than the rest of Europe.
We always remember when Cypress Hill and Psycho Realm performed here in 2004.
They really rocked the place.
For anyone looking to find out more about Italian Hip-Hop, whatare some names that you would recommend or some names of respected mc's in Italy right now?
There are so many artists in the Italian scene, we recommend you Club Dogo,
Vacca, Marracash and Vincenzo da Via Anfossi.
How can someone in the U.S. get your album or music?
At the moment our album and singles, such as "Live by the Code" featuring B-Real and
Zed (album version and remix), are available on iTunes worldwide. You can
always get the physical cd album at cdnow.com or amazon.com (searching En Mi
Casa or Senza Respiro). For any further information email us at
ordini@areadicontagio.com and we will be glad to satisfy our overseas fans
with special prices.
Any last words you guys would like to add?
Well it's a great honor for us to appear on your website, we check it out
very often to see what's up on the West Coast and find out more information
about new Latin hip-hop artists.
We would like to thank all the fans that hit us up on myspace.com/enmicasa,
where you can find promo's, remixes, watch new videos and always get updates
from the group and our label Produzioni Oblio.
Siempre Enmicasa!
Interview by Danny / La Union
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