Luchè - Luche - Rap from Naples

With Co'Sang disbanded, Luchè returns to the scene with his solo debut. In this interview, he opens up about new influences, his thoughts on the Italian scene and much more.

Luchè, you've got a history with Co'Sang behind you, and now a new life. Why break up? And how did you start over?

I often find myself having to clarify that I wasn't the reason for the split, as many believe because of my choice to rap in Italian, when everyone knows that Co'Sang's third album, which was never actually released, was in Italian too. Let's just say, without going into too much detail, that the other side of Co'Sang felt it was necessary to disband the group over some internal issues that, in my opinion, should have been handled differently. Starting over on your own isn't easy when you've already built a brand people are attached to, but I'm giving it everything I've got and working three times as hard as before.

It seems to me that overall there's a common thread linking what you were as a group and what you are now: talking about social issues. Would you agree?

In a sense, yes, although on my album I talk much more about myself than I used to. But by sharing my views on life and telling my own story in the first person, you can always sense the story of a kid who grew up in a particular social context, so indirectly I'm also talking about the places that shaped me.

Do you think your way of making music has changed? I mean in terms of the sound itself or your way of rapping.

Definitely, I think there has to be some kind of change at the root of any evolution. The beats are much more elaborate and polished, and since the rap is in Italian, the flows and rhyme schemes are different, while still keeping my own style of poetry.

Naples has always been fertile ground from a musical point of view. How do you find it now?

Much worse: there are more "artists" than listeners, and instead of focusing on making good music that adds something new to what's already been done, people just vent their frustrations online. That said, Naples will certainly keep producing new talent, as it always has.

Speaking of which. Do you feel part of an Italian scene? And if it exists, is it alive and well, or do you find it very much a slave to trends?

Yes, I feel part of the Italian scene, which is in a critical state since hip-hop has only recently reached the mainstream, and fortunately there's a young audience eager for new music. Now it's up to the artists to do their job as well as possible so that it doesn't all turn out to be just a trend, which I really don't think it is, because I see how strongly fans are attached to the artists. It's not a trend, a very Italian way of being hip-hop is developing.

Do you notice any differences in how audiences approach your music from your early days until now?

Definitely, ten years have passed, and I hope the people who listened to me ten years ago have grown along with me, even though people often ask me to make the same tracks I used to make back then, without considering that I've grown and that maybe I'm dealing with different situations now, or I see life differently. That makes me think some people haven't grown at all. That said, there are a lot of new people discovering me, and that's giving me a huge amount of satisfaction.