Review: NITRO - "Nightmares" (Track by Track)

Nitro has no filters, no need to please. He says what he thinks, as always: direct, uncomfortable, without mediation, necessary.

“Incubi” is his most visceral album, a journey into the shadows, where introspection becomes essence and rhymes become cut. It's not a concept, it's an x-ray of the soul of those who have seen too much to still believe in the fairy tales of gaming.

“When my dreams were over, I made my nightmares come true” is the bar that opens the album and defines its trajectory. Nitro focuses on the short circuit between desire and ruin, between success and its psychic cost.

“Nightmares” is not just a title, it is a paradigm: the unconscious as a battleground, music as an exorcism, a cure and a salvific element that risks becoming polluted and losing its soothing nature.

Here rap returns to rap: dense, narrative, without artifices to cover the void.

Nitro writes with clear anger and words that burn, carrying within every bar the disillusionment of those who have seen their dream that risks becoming industrialized.

In “I hate rap” he says it clearly:

“I hate rap because now it's the new pop, And it's reduced to the background of a TikTok, Uh, I hate to let journalists hear it, Before the people who listen to me and who buy my records, is it art or merchandising? Half artists and half entrepreneurs who then both hurt, They're lying half-men, Doormats towards it.”

A manifesto of dissent, but also a declaration of love for a culture that still runs through his veins.

The collaborations: Silent Bob, Sally Cruz, 22Simba, Niky Savage, MadMan, Nero, Tormento and Salmothey are not featuring, but alliances. People who speak the same language, who are not looking for hype but mutual recognition. There is respect, there is hunger, there is that factory loyalty that distinguishes artists from brands.

The production oscillates between darkness and lucidity: granite beats, tense atmospheres, some dreamlike drifts. “Incubi” isn't looking for a hit, but a sound that breathes truth and discomfort. It's a record that doesn't console, but explains. 14And he does it with an honesty that is increasingly rare in today's Italian scene.

An entire generation should look to Nitro as a role model, a how to do to remain intact in the system without becoming part of it. He doesn't fit, he doesn't bend, and he keeps rapping like it's his last night.

A record that doesn't give discounts to anyone, not even himself.

TRACK BY TRACK

STORY OF AN ARTIST
Story of his apprenticeship, his beginnings and his personal struggle in Italian rap.

PORTICI – feat. Silent Bob
Describes the province, urban violence and family ties between affection and poison.

VIPERS
Social criticism between junk TV, influencers and cultural hypocrisies.

NIGHTMARES
Inner conflict, other people's judgments and dark dreams become personal strength.

WITHOUT YOU
Emptiness and melancholy of a lost love, alcohol and reflections on separation.

MAMMA MIA – feat. Niki Savage
Explosive energy between anger, ambition and twenty-year-old life between excesses and cash.

DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE – feat. Salmo and Sally Cruz
Love and pain are intertwined between fragile relationships and deep introspection.

I HATE RAP
Reflection on the rap industry, criticism of clichés and the commodification of art.

LIMOUSINE – feat. 22Simba
Reflection on loneliness and success as a consolation prize, hard introspection.

TRIAD – feat. MadMan
Technical and aggressive rap, brotherhood and survival in the urban environment. MadMan is the usual King!

BLUE LIGHTS
Digital alienation and search for identity between social media, algorithms and depression.

MUPPETS – feat. Nero
Uncomfortable and satirical, he denounces the falseness in rap and artistic relationships.

TIME – feat. Torment
Reflection on the passing of time, personal problems and resilience through music.

ELON MASK
Billionaires and technological power: between war, revenge and disillusionment in the modern world.

RUBBLE
Personal suffering and social criticism: between illusions, ambitions and internal rubble.

SCORE: 7.50

TO LISTEN NOW

Story of an artist – Nightmares – Limousine

TO BE SKIPPED IMMEDIATELY

Disk streaming works. 15 tracks to enjoy from start to finish.

TRACKLIST

Story of an artist
Portici feat. Silent Bob
Vipers
Nightmares
Without you
Mamma mia feat. Niki Savage
Dellamorte dell'amore feat. Salmo and Sally Cruz
I hate rap
Limousine feat. 22simba
Triad feat. Madman
Blue lights
Muppets feat. Nero
Time feat. Torment
Elon Mask
Rubble