Cor Veleno

History of the group

The group that would become Cor Veleno first came together in 1993, when Primo Brown and Grandi Numeri played at the Zulu Party, a Roman hip hop event hosted at the Palladium festival. Five years later, in 1998, Primo Brown, Grandi Numeri, and Detor—who handled DJ duties and composed the group’s early beats before Squarta took over—put out their debut single, 21 Tyson, on the mixtape La banda der trucido. The track earned a strong underground following and was later featured on other compilations. Their follow-up, Incompatibile, was a collaboration with Piotta, created in memory of his friend MC Giaime. After these singles drew solid critical praise, the group opened for American acts like De La Soul and Wu-Tang Clan. Their first album, Rock 'n' Roll, arrived in 2001, with some of its tracks appearing on the soundtrack for Ivano De Matteo’s film Ultimo Stadio. In 2004 they released Heavy metal, a natural follow-up to their debut, featuring guest Tormento, formerly of Sottotono. That same year, they won the MC Giaime award in two categories: best text for Un mestiere qualunque and best song for Le guardie, I pompieri and L'ambulanza. Also in 2004, the project Bomboclat came out under the name Primo & Squarta, with contributions from Grandi Numeri, Amir, Danno of Colle der Fomento, Club Dogo, Turi, and Tormento. In 2005, Cor Veleno became the only Italian rap group invited to Germany’s Splash! Festival, sharing the stage with Saïan Supa Crew, Dilated Peoples, Smif-n-Wessun, and Nas. After a studio jam session, singer-songwriter Jovanotti asked them to be his supporting act for his tour, giving them the first half hour of his show. That session also produced the track Cose pericolose, which appeared on the special edition of Jovanotti’s album Buon Sangue. Also in 2005, they opened for American rapper 50 Cent during his Italian dates, as well as for nu metal band Linea 77, Gogol Bordello, and Manu Chao. At the start of 2006, they signed with Sony Music and released their third official album, Nuovo nuovo, on February 16, 2007, through Sony/BMG Ricordi, with guests including Roy Paci, Tormento, and Kitsch. Between 2007 and 2008, they joined Roy Paci’s live shows and co-wrote the song Tango Mambo Jambo, which appears on Roy Paci & Aretuska’s album SuoNoGlobal.