Andrea Ferrara is Sixpm, one of the leading producers of the new urban scene, capable of juggling both with Jovanotti and Elisa and with Ernia and Rose Villain, his partner in life. He chose to move to America in 2015 when the rap wave was hitting Italy – perfect timing – and there he learned a method, he acquired an insight into the world of music that allows him to survive trends, creating others with strokes beat. His latest single My Love! it's got a funky bassline, old school rapping and a rap chorus that's basically off the shelf of a second-hand vinyl store. One of those where Sixpm studied, at the street university of New York, to graduate in “theory and practice of a hit”, from Like thunder until his next single…
When you left for the United States, rap in Italy hadn't yet exploded. Have you already started producing music?
In reality my first great love was the guitar, the rock one. I discovered hip hop as a teenager, with Eminem and Dr. Dre, and around 16 I understood that there was the legendary figure of the producer who gave the sound to all the songs I liked, from Kanye to Pharrell. At first I made loops on the guitar, like boom baps.
In Milan they were the years of the Dogo Gang, were you part of the group?
Yes, there was a meeting point in Milan, the Berlin, a bar where rappers like Jake La Furia, Marracash went. Me and Pietro from 2nd Roof (the duo of which Sixpm was part, ed) we linked up with Guè with whom we started collaborating for Golden boy.
So in 2015 while Milanese rap was becoming popular, you left…
It's really a side of my character to always look for something different, to launch myself into new, unexplored things. So after a few years with 2nd Roof I wanted to change my sound a bit and then I was too curious to see what was happening in the American studios, where my heroes worked, so yes, I tried to get closer to that world.
And how did you do it?
BMG, who was my publisher at the time, helped me by setting up some studio sessions for me in Los Angeles. There was a camp of the record company where authors and composers came from all over the world to write songs and try to place them on important records. The impact was strong because you see how a huge machine works that runs at full speed, you understand that every day there are 20 thousand studios that are activated, trying to make hits, like in a factory. It was a bit strange, I wasn't crazy about it honestly. In fact, then I tried to go to New York, where there is a more organic scene, perhaps more elitist because only people of a certain level go to the studio, so it's difficult to enter. Then there's the more street side, but you have to literally be in the middle of the street with them, it's a bit difficult to approach.
You continued to collaborate with Italian artists also from New York. What have you brought from this American experience into your way of making music?
When I left for New York there was an abyss with the Italian method: there I learned the importance of details, such as finding the right microphone for the artist, choosing the right pre-amplifier or compressor, something that made me so passionate. I learned to record instruments in a more analogue way, while hip hop was still a big thing in Italy in the boxdigital, inside the computer. It's essential to get out of the computer, play more, use samplers and go to vinyl stores. America is full of them, I left home in New York and I had a stand of vinyl records under my house, probably stolen: a great source of inspiration because often unknown vinyls that lead you to do different things, it's stuff that maybe in Italy you would never have found.
In America, is there still a marked difference musically between the East and West Coast?
I feel it a lot in the BPM that rappers use, in the cadences of the rhymes, but also in the general vibe.
Is there an Italian equivalent of East and West Coast, or rather two different ways of doing the same genre?
So, in Italy we have three: Milan, Rome and Naples. Naples is a little crazier, more versatile, more artistic, impossible to categorise. While Rome and Milan are precisely West and East: Milan is more innovative, influenced by pop, Rome is strictly rap.
What sound are you looking for today?
I always try to innovate, listen to new stuff, not just rap. For example My Love he brings with him many things, from James Brown to Prince, Mark Ronson and Pharrell.
My Love Is this a taste of your next album?
It's not planned yet, but I want to have fun, to do stuff that I wouldn't do in other projects or with other artists.
You have collaborated with various artists, from Jovanotti to Ernia. Is there a common thread that unites Jova to today's rappers?
I love slightly refined songwriting, done in a certain way. What binds all the artists I work with most is writing, the care for words. Jovanotti manages to tell you incredible things with three simple words, ditto Ernia. And Rose Villain and Guè are also among the strongest “lyricists” we have in Italy.
Are you able to put your finger on the lyrics of the artists you produce?
It's a delicate theme, with Rose we discuss the choruses, but on deeper lyrics it has its own world that is difficult to touch.
With Rose, in addition to the role of producer, you also covered that of artistic director. What changes between the two roles?
In the end it is a job that is done together with the artist and consists of finding a vision of the next step to take, of the sound of the record, of the direction that can be taken.
As a producer and life partner, did you expect the success of Rose this year?
I expected it sooner, I knew it would come.
You knew before the release that Like thunder would it have been one of the hits of the year?
The hits are unpredictable but the feeling that the songs that later became so successful give me in the studio is that of going all-in, that is, of saying: I'm taking a risk here, it's going really good or really bad. They are songs where you don't hold back, where you give everything. Also for Click Boom! it was like this because it is a song that seems like a ballad and then becomes a straight drum, it becomes a hammer. It was a bit crazy.
You have worked with many women, from Rose to Annalisa and Elisa. It seems to me that the urban scene is lacking female producers, isn't it?
You're right, there are very few. Rose produces things with me, and in fact on the new album there will be some of her production too.
Browsing your Instagram, I notice that your production sessions often take place in idyllic places, by the sea, in beautiful houses. Is it an artistic need or do you like to enjoy it?
When we work together Guè clearly spoils me, he enjoys travelling, taking advantage of these recording periods. And even with Rose when we have to write we go to New York. Artists who have certain rhythms associate the moment of writing with leisure, holidays. It has become like this for everyone, we use that moment of creativity to unwind.
Also on Instagram I saw a photo of you with this caption: «My wife and I splat hard»… How do you experience this situation as a couple and in life?
Our relationship was born in the studio, we first started working together and then dating, so we're used to it, it's all very natural.
Are there no professional jealousies? If you collaborate with others or she collaborates with another producer…
No, but clearly if we have an idea together and then I bring it into another project, she gets a little pissed off.
