Tutti Fenomeni: if Franco Battiato were a trap boy

In 1981 Franco Battiato sang “the direful spring of the Afghan refugees that moved from the border to Iran” and he gave to what became one of his greatest hits the poetics of a pop commentary, recording the grammar of light music. In 2018, Tutti Fenomeni brings that same chronicle in front of the cameras of his own newscast, in the video of the song Troppa Vendetta produced by Close Listen and uploaded three months ago on Youtube.

The artist steps into the shoes of a misfit journalist full of tics and addictions who walks around Rome playing football and interviewing from his studio whoever is in front of him, from Ornella Muti to Franco Battiato himself. In a historical period in which rappers and trappers compete for those who first post the picture of the umpteenth view, gold record or sold-out gig, Tutti Fenomeni breaks the mood, striking for his contemptuous poetic vein but at the same time for his romantic character and his irreverent viral meme irony. Tutti Fenomeni is able to emerge from the chaos of new promises, despite a non-existent Facebook page and a low social profile, teaching us that the social marketing strategies are not the only thing you need in music. If something works, it works.

Little is known about the roman artist. Contrary to what one might think after hearing his name, Tutti Fenomeni is only one: Giorgio Quarzo Guarascio, who lives in Rome, class ’96. He starts with a project known as Skamarcho (in the video of the song uploaded on Youtube, Saranno Madri, Tea Falco also appears) and some collaborations with Tauro Boys - a roman rap collective which is getting noticed. Now all we can see about Tutti

Fenomeni is on YouTube: several songs with original, strange videos that remain etched in one’s mind like a heavy joke that you only understand few minutes later. He begins to receive attention already after the single Bondage by Tauro Boys in which he participates with some rhymes completely pursuing himself. It's only 15 seconds, but it’s enough: just the time of an Instagram story to unleash the curiosity of the virtual audience and turn the spotlight on him.

Later, the collaboration with the young roman collective continues, making the artist a bridge between the trap scene, represented by artists such as the Dark Polo Gang, Sfera Ebbasta and the Tauro Boys, and the independent one like Tutti Fenomeni himself; and we bet on it, you will soon find this boy associated on Spotify with 'similar artists' like Carl Brave, Cosmo or Coma Cose.

With Tauro Boys he gives life to 2004/2005, a trap ballad with a vintage flavor: another cameo for the young artist who chases his own rhymes – already used in previous songs - scrambling and turning them into ways to say, moving skillfully within a fun self-citation.

If Franco Battiato wanted to see you dance without inhibitions and preconceptions, Tutti Fenomeni wants to see you aim: what? A gun against the institutions, against a confused politics, against “a left that has become too much right”, against common sense and, it would seem, even against himself. A position that’ll cross your eyes (and ears) in front of this new (trapper?) roman artist who, in a suit and tie, black curls, not visible tattoos and with that bohemian style, thinks more about Palazzo Chigi than to Gucci bags. An argument, the political one, that’s never touched by the new wave artists, who often hide behind a "I don’t follow it a lot, so to avoid saying crap I do not talk about politics". Not that everyone should be politicized, this is clear, but come on, we are in 2018: are you sure that we’re all going on for a long time with moaning, pizza and cigarettes on the couch?

The words and phrases of Tutti Fenomeni nail the present to the wall and are mixed as in a crazy crossword puzzle in which the solution is sometimes clear, sometimes enigmatic. A refined imaginary that contradicts itself and sometimes is obscene. It takes its cue from the everyday life to make an illogical and overwhelming analysis: through its absolutely new and out of the ordinary stylistic and lexical choices, Tutti Fenomeni enters rightfully among the group of brilliant emerging artists to look out for this year.