It's time for Arturo

Now everyone knows it, Side is no longer a member of Dark Polo Gang and he has to start all over again, writing a new chapter of his life. After Crack Music, after Sick Side, Arturo reversed and returned to the starting point. Now, with his problems, his personality, and his music, together with his close friend and producer Sick Luke, he has to take over the situation. It's time to be Arturo.
 

The Dark Side of Arturo

But let's take a step back. What made Side the person he is now? His past. For Arturo, Dark Polo Gang has been crucial both to grow professionally and artistically. Tony, Wayne, and Pyrex were not only his musical buddies but also his longtime brothers. In this trap boyband project created by DPG in Rome, Side has always played the role of a complicated, sensitive and moody boy, the first one in the Gang to cover his face with tattoos.

His public image particularly clashed with his personal situation: Side is the son of the well-known Roman director Francesco Bruni and he grew up in wealthy Rome, despite having always hung out in the San Paolo neighborhood, between Garbatella and Eur. For this reason, he has pointed out several times in his lyrics that he is exactly the opposite of what one would expect from a rich boy. All the criticism has done nothing but makes him stronger, he returned it all to the senders taking the band next level reaching the fame they were all craving.

In 2017, the band reached mainstream popularity, and this is precisely the moment when the situation began to slip out of Arturo’s hands. The problem was obviously his drug addiction, mentioned several times by Side in his lyrics and in his Instagram stories. A year and two records later, one of which seems to be a goodbye note, Side is out of Dark Polo Gang and finds himself forced to press the reset button, but this time with more experience. Heartened by the fact of having by his side Sick Luke and all his loyal fans, Arturo is ready to start over.

The Emo Side of Arturo

These last few months have been very difficult for the rapper, a hostage of his addictions and forced to fight them to become stronger, forced to win them. Finally, this longing period seems to be gone forever: in an interview with Noisey, Arturo said he had detoxified, reborn, with a new skin and a new head, probably with a path to follow: Emo Trap. Very emotional, personal and “deep” lyrics, in which a rapper talks, empties himself, frees himself from the burdens that oppress him and leaves everything to his fans, who listen to him using rap as a personal diary. In short, less money, more confessions. The major exponents of this genre are obviously Americans, among those whom we remember Lil Yachty, Lil Tracy, Lil Xan, XXXTENTACION and, even Yung Lean (who is Swedish), besides, clearly, the unforgettable Lil Peep.

The new path kicked off with the release of ‘Medicine’ on SoundCloud on June 6th, less than a month after his farewell to DPG. In Medicine, Arturo recounts what he has experienced in recent times: the suffering, the loneliness, the suicidal thoughts (“I do not contemplate suicide but I often think about it / I admit it, lately I was there"), all in one atmosphere sad and full of anguish, signs of change, signs of restart.

Arturo appears unable to feel better ("I took my medication but I do not feel the effect"), although he is no longer involved in situations that only hurt him and made him feel worse. He talks about how depression is just a state of mind, how it has become worse, how paranoia affected him and last but not least, he complains about the fact that he would die without love.

Lil Peep died of an overdose after spending his brief career fighting his demons; now Side wants to do the same, but differentiating himself from the late American rapper for having managed to keep the monsters at bay, those who have already hurt him and brought him to where he is now. He wants to do it almost in intimacy with his fans, human as never before, and precisely for this reason he chose to call himself Arturo because it is with the first name that he wants to be remembered and not with his artist name, his second skin which is now rotten. He wants to be a real person, with feelings, emotions and a beating heart, rather than a money machine aimed only to entertain. This is why he made Medicine available to everyone, free on SoundCloud as if it were a gift, an open letter to his beloved fans.