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Taxi Driver (Rkomi album)

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For the Dynamic Duo album, see Taxi Driver (Dynamic Duo album).
Taxi Driver
Studio album by
Rkomi
ReleasedApril 30, 2021 (2021-04-30)
Genre
Length41:03
Label
Producer
  • Dardust
  • Daves The Kid
  • Federico Nardelli
  • Francesco "Katoo" Catitti
  • Junior K
  • Luca Faraone
  • Mace
  • Marquis
  • Rkomi
  • Shablo
  • Swan
  • The Night Skinny
  • Simon Says
Rkomi chronology
Dove gli occhi non arrivano
(2019) 		Taxi Driver
(2021) 		No stress
(2023)
Singles from Taxi driver
  1. "Ho spento il cielo"
    Released: 14 April 2021
  2. "Partire da te"
    Released: 11 June 2021
  3. "Luna piena"
    Released: 27 August 2021
  4. "La coda del diavolo"
    Released: 3 December 2021
  5. "Insuperabile"
    Released: 2 February 2022
  6. "Ossa rotte"
    Released: 17 June 2022

Taxi Driver is the third studio album by Italian rapper Rkomi, released by Island Records on 30 April 2021.[2][3]

The album peaked at number one on the Italian Albums Chart, becoming the best-selling album of 2021 in Italy. and the second one in 2022.[4] It was certified eight platinum by FIMI.[5] In 2022, a remastering of the album Taxi Driver + was published, which featured the song "Insuperabile" which competed at the 72nd Sanremo Music Festival, and Italian Singles Chart topper collaboration "La coda del diavolo" with Elodie.[6]

Concept and compostition

[edit]

The album was written and produced by the artist himself, with severals collaborations, including Dardust, Mahmood,Tommaso Paradiso, Gazzelle, Ariete, Irama, Sfera Ebbasta, Roshelle, Ernia and Gaia.[7][8] Taxi Driver continued Rkomi's departure from rap to pop music, also showing rock influences. Its tracks are built with a cantautore approach, and create a heterogeneous mix of influences.[9][10] In an interview with Rolling Stone Italia, Rkomi explained the inspiration behind the collaborations and the blending of different musical genres:[11]

"With the collaborations with musicians like Jovanotti and Elisa: [...] for me it was enlightening, because I realized that until then I had missed a lot of things. I knew hip hop well, but I didn't know anything about everything else and I had no idea that you could work in another way as well. [...] I didn't feel the adrenaline, the thrill of risk anymore. Then came the idea for Taxi Driver, an album of atypical collaborations, able to cross many different territories, from indie to trap to pop to rock to singer-songwriter, "bringing" guests into their homes. Even at the risk of ending up in places where I don't find myself. [...] I don't think there is this big difference between a singer-songwriter and a rapper, except in the deeper, simple but not trivial approach. I would like my audience, sooner or later, to shine the way mine shine when I listen to a piece by Lucio Dalla or Lucio Battisti."

The album was titled after Martin Scorsese's 1976 film, which is also cited in its artwork, showing Rkomi leaning on a yellow cab.[12] The title of the album also refers to the film,[13] used as an expedient by the artist to narrate the concept behind the album as told in an interview with Vanity Fair Italia:[14]

"I have seen it at least six times. It's a disruptive film, I like to see all the personalities of Travis Bickle, I love Robert De Niro. I liked the image of the cab because of the concept of the album, which is full of passengers, my guests, who I take around the city into unfamiliar territories. Then there is also the idea of De Niro's Vietnam, which in my case is my past, with due proportion."

Critic reception

[edit]

Claudio Cabona of Rockol described the artist as "capable of spanning genres" yet not finding him completely in focus. Cabona appreciated the lyrics, in which he finds a "singer-songwriter approach," through which he "describe simple moments with great evocative power," through metaphors and similes, which gain strength with the artists involved for "the willingness to make real duets and not dull, packaged collaborations." However, the journalist stressed that "too much heterogeneity runs the risk of resulting in a lack of precise identity" finding it at times a "playlist album" presenting "sounds that have already been dissected" and finding "little care in diversifying the storytelling around the guests."[15]

Antonio Silvestri of Ondarock dwelled on the singer's flow, remarking that "the suppleness has remained" but he tends toward the pop sung by Carl Brave x Franco126. The journalist stated that the singer "now inhabits a borderline territory, happily exploring its possibilities and declining his idea of hybrid in different ways," finding as his best moments "the Latin sophistication" of "Mare che non sei" with Gaia, the "very free reinterpretation of Lucio Battisti's classic" in "10 ragazze" with Ernia and "the balance between r'n'b, pop and rap" in Cancelli di mezzanotte.[16]

Track listing

[edit]
Taxi Driver track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)ProducersLength
1."Intro"Mirko Martorana
1:24
2."Partire da te"
Francesco “Katoo” Catitti3:41
3."Ho spento il cielo" (featuring Tommaso Paradiso)
Dardust3:52
4."Me o le mie canzoni?" (featuring Gazzelle and Night Skinny)
  • Night Skinny
  • Nardelli
2:47
5."Diecimila voci" (featuring Ariete)
Shablo2:50
6."Luna piena" (featuring Irama and Shablo)
Shablo2:46
7."Nuovo range" (featuring Sfera Ebbasta and Junior K)
Junior K2:56
8."Paradiso vs. inferno (Interlude)" (featuring Roshelle)
  • Martorana
  • Nicolò Scalabrin
  • Pablo Miguel Lombroni Capalbo
  • Diego Frabetti
  • Rossella Discolo
Shablo3:12
9."Sopra le canzoni" (featuring Dardust)
Dardust3:14
10."10 ragazze" (featuring Ernia and Mace)
  • Mace
  • Swan
2:54
11."Mare che non sei" (featuring Gaia)
  • Martorana
  • Faraone
  • Lombroni Capalbo
  • Simone Privitera
  • Gaia Gozzi
  • Simon Says!
  • Shablo
2:40
12."Solo con me" (featuring Tommy Dali)
  • Martorana
  • Gioele Accongiagioco
  • Fabrizio Martini
  • David Orobosa Omoregie
  • Tommaso Daliana
  • Marquis
  • Daves
2:26
13."Cancelli di mezzanotte" (featuring Chiello_fsk)
  • Martorana
  • Faraone
  • Lombroni Capalbo
  • David Orobosa Omoregie
  • Rocco Modello
Shablo3:33
14."Taxi Driver"
  • Martorana
  • Faraone
  • Lombroni Capalbo
  • Shablo
  • Faraone
2:48
Total length:41:03
Taxi Driver + track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)ProducersLength
1."Intro (ultima curva)"Martorana
  • Rkomi
  • Pietro Spinelli
1:08
2."Insuperabile"
  • Martorana
  • Alessandro La Cava
  • Catitti
“Katoo”2:52
3."La coda del diavolo" (featuring Elodie)
  • Marz
  • Zef
3:08
4."Maleducata" (featuring Dargen D'Amico)
  • Katoo
  • Drillionaire
2:45
5."Ho paura di te" (featuring Karakaz)
  • Martorana
  • Cattiti
  • Michele Corvino
  • Katoo
  • Karakaz
3:32
6."Fegato, fegato spappolato" (featuring Calibro 35)
3:13
7."Autobus di notte"
  • Martorana
  • Odoguardi
Junior K2:40
8."Amico dove sei?"
  • Martorana
  • Odoguardi
Junior K2:13
9."Ossa rotte"
  • Petrella
  • Michele Zocca
Michelangelo3:25
Total length:41:03

Charts

[edit]

Certifications

[edit]
Certifications for Taxi Driver
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Italy (FIMI)[22] 8× Platinum 400,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Claudio Cabona (30 April 2021). "Ehi Rkomi, con chi stai parlando? Dici a noi?" (in Italian). Rockol.it. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Rkomi, il nuovo album è Taxi Driver: info e data di uscita". Sky TG24 (in Italian). Sky Italia. 2 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Rkomi: la tracklist del nuovo album Taxi Driver" (in Italian). MTV Italia. 15 April 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Hit parade, en plein di Rkomi" (in Italian). Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  5. ^ "FIMI, classifiche 2021: Taxi Driver di Rkomi è l'album più venduto dell'anno". Billboard (in Italian). 7 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  6. ^ "Rkomi: in attesa di Sanremo arrivano nuovi pezzi e nuove collaborazioni ad arricchire "Taxi driver", il disco più venduto del 2021". All Music Italia (in Italian). 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  7. ^ Di Grazia, Ida (29 April 2021). "Taxi Driver, il nuovo album di Rkomi: «Sogno uno show acustico con il piano, sto studiando tanto»". Leggo (in Italian). Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  8. ^ Assante, Ernesto (30 April 2021). "Rkomi: "Un mondo di musica a bordo del mio taxi"". La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  9. ^ "La grande forza evocativa di Rkomi". Rockol (in Italian). 19 April 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  10. ^ Federico Sardo (9 May 2021). "Rkomi: Siamo tutto quello che ci circonda". Esquire (in Italian). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  11. ^ Blumi Tripodi, Maria (6 April 2021). "Rkomi – In viaggio oltre il rap". Rolling Stone Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  12. ^ Alicandri, Alessandro (25 June 2021). "Rkomi: «Non sono mai stanco di cambiare strada»". TV Sorrisi e Canzoni (in Italian). Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  13. ^ Danielli, Silvia (17 September 2021). "Rkomi: dubbi, paure, desideri dell'instancabile taxi driver. L'intervista". Billboard Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  14. ^ Colosimo, Valentina (13 May 2021). "Rkomi: «Grazie alla mia cazzimma»". Vanity Fair Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  15. ^ Cabona, Claudio (30 April 2021). "Ehi Rkomi, con chi stai parlando? Dici a noi?". Rockol (in Italian). Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  16. ^ Silvestri, Antonio (30 May 2021). "Rkomi - Taxi Driver: Le Recensioni". OndaRock (in Italian). Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  17. ^ "Italiancharts.com – Rkomi – Taxi Driver". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  18. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Rkomi – Taxi Driver". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  19. ^ "Classifica annuale 2021 (dal 01.01.2021 al 30.12.2021)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  20. ^ "Top of the Music 2022: Un anno di musica italiana". Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
  21. ^ "Classifica annuale 2023 (dal 30.12.2022 al 28.12.2023)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 27 January 2023.
  22. ^ "Italian album certifications – Rkomi – Taxi Driver" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
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