Murubutu, pseudonym of Alessio Mariani, is an Italian rapper, songwriter and lecturer.
He is the founder and voice of the Reggio Emilia collective La Kattiveria. His music, defined as 'literary-inspired rap' or 'letteraturap', distinguishes Murubutu from all other Italian rappers, making him unique in his genre as he combines hip hop with literature, history and philosophy.
He approached the world of hip hop first as a breaker, skater and writer and later as an MC. The latter would prove to be his definitive artistic vocation. He began his artistic career in 1991 in Reggio Emilia when with Depy MC, Mastrosuono and Muracaman he founded the Kattiveria Posse, the first musical collective in Reggio nell'Emilia linked to the Posse phenomenon. They became known for theatrical performances based on political hip hop with the use of period costumes, as well as for their successes in various regional music competitions. At the end of 1999, a radical line-up change took place, with Dj Gamon, U.G.O. and Il Tenente joining the crew. The group's name is changed to La Kattiveria. In the nine years of activity the Posse will produce the demo Born in Kattivity (1993) and the EP Wicked in practice (1998).
With La Kattiveria, which today consists of Murubutu himself, Il Tenente, U.G.O., Yanez Muraca and DJ Caster, he produced two albums: in 2006 with Where the Vulture flies e Sillabum Delirorum in 2008. In 2009, at the same time as the La Kattiveria project, he embarked on a solo career, releasing his first album entitled The Young Mariani and Other Talesand in 2011 he presented his second album The beautiful Juliet and her poor graphomaniac father. In Murubutu's solo albums, the artist's desire to propose a rap style that conveys messages close to songwriting stands out, freeing it from the cliché that identifies it as a genre for teenagers only.
In Bologna, after one of his concerts held in early January 2014, he was accused by Forza Nuova members of glorifying the extreme left, after singing the song Martin and the cherry tree. According to the party, the 'Martino' mentioned in the piece is identified as Prospero Gallinari, a never repentant Red Brigades exponent who was one of those responsible for the Moro case. With Martin and the cherry tree Murubutu has always declared that he has never supported the armed struggle or made an apology for it. The artist declared that he was freely inspired in the composition of the song by a book written by Gallinari, but claimed to have produced a sociological and anthropological storytelling. From the stage, Murubutu himself distanced himself from it, telling the audience that 'Martino' was wrong, that his life was marked by a mistake.
In 2014, the release of the rapper's third solo album was announced, The mutineers of the Bouncin' or amazing adventures of men and seas. The album, released on 2 May and preceded by the release of the video for the track Green Island, sees the concomitant return to the scene of the historic hip hop label Mandibola Records. On 22 April, it is premiered by streaming on the la Repubblica XL website. The album has, for the first time in Murubutu's artistic career, a central theme that appears in all the songs: the sea. Murubutu explains that in this album he wants to talk about the sea as a means through which to read complex phenomena such as migratory flows, imprisonment, loneliness, abortion and disability.
In 2015, he collaborated with experimental hip hop duo Uochi Toki on the track Rest in Prose, Rest in Poetry contained in the album The Crossable Limit. The song is dedicated in Murubutu's rhymes to the figure of the novelist Giovanni Verga and in Napo of Uochi Toki's rhymes to the poet Giacomo Leopardi.
On 18 July 2016, via a Facebook post, he announced his new album, entitled The Man Who Travelled in the Wind and Other Tales of Breezes and Currents for Mandibola/Irma Records. The album is released on 14 October 2016. It consists of 15 tracks, linked by the theme of wind, tales of breezes and currents in Murubutu's own narrative style. The title of the album and the song of the same name are inspired by the figure of aviator Angelo D'Arrigo, a hang-gliding champion who died in 2006. The album boasts the collaborations of Italian hip hop exponents such as Dargen D'Amico, Rancore, Ghemon, as well as members of La Kattiveria.
In 2019, the album Darkness is the night and other tales of darkness and twilight built around the theme of night and darkness, featuring artists such as Caparezza, Mezzosangue and Willie Peyote. The following year saw the release of Infernvmmade together with Claver Gold and freely inspired by Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, with other collaborations inside. January 2022 saw the release of the album Love stories with rain and other tales of showers and thunderstormswhose recurring theme in the concept is rain.
In 2020 he collaborated on the comic novel Murubutu. Illustrated accountspublished by BeccoGiallo.
