* En anglais uniquement
A hard-edged rapper and producer with major commercial appeal in his native Italy,
Gemitaiz got his start in the 2000s and broke through the following decade with the Top Ten album
L'unico compromesso (2013). He has since strung together four number one albums: the solo efforts Nonostante tutto and
Davide, and two projects with
MadMan, namely
Kepler and
Scatola nera. Part of the rapper's success can be attributed to his high volume of mixtape output and a broader range of collaborative work, which involves appearances on tracks by
Don Joe &
Shablo,
Jake La Furia, and MACE.
Gemitaiz, born
Davide De Luca in Rome, established his career as a teenager in the early 2000s, and in 2006 issued his first mixtape. Signed to
Honiro Label in 2009 -- by which point he joined the collective Xtreme Team -- he continued to advance with the first volumes in his long-running Quello che vi consiglio series. After he joined the roster of
Gué Pequeno and
DJ Harsh's Tanta Roba label, he hit number three on the official Italian album chart with
L'unico compromesso (2013). This primed the MC for an exceptional hot streak.
Kepler (with
MadMan, 2014), Nonostante tutto (2016),
Davide (2018), and
Scatola nera (also with
MadMan, 2019), accounting for his full-length projects through the end of the 2010s, all topped Italy's official FIMI chart. A slew of tracks from these recordings hit the Top Ten of the Italian singles chart.
Gemitaiz entered the next decade with
QVC9 (2020), volume nine of the Quello che vi consiglio series. The tape featured "Mama," the rapper's sixth Top Ten hit as a headliner. ~ Andy Kellman