Steve 'Flash' JuonManuel Franco Rocati did me the pleasure of being an interesting person to research. I even looked up “what pronouns does Rosa Chemical use” as a courtesy. I didn’t want to misgender them in the review. Right or wrong the answer I got back was “masculine pronouns” so I’ll go with that. He uses his mother’s first name as his rap nom de plume and dresses in an androgynous manner that fans of Prince or Marilyn Manson would recognize, so I had to consider that “they/them” was an option here. If I got this wrong then I invite Rocati to send me a correction and I’ll update the review accordingly.
So here’s the thing — I already said Rocati goes by Rosa Chemical in rap, but I don’t think that’s what Rocati is best known for. Rosa Chemical is a whole lot of things other than just being a rapper. A short list includes fashion modeling, graffiti art, songwriting, and reality TV star. Rosa might just be a household name in Italy thanks to stints on their versions of Starstruck and Dancing With the Stars. Only someone Italian could tell me for sure. If I extrapolate a little more I think Rosa could be known interchangeably for both music and reality TV, much like people could recognize Nikki Bella as either a pro wrestler or a celebreality from Total Bellas or Dancing With the Stars (US version).
I get a very Gerardo feel from Rosa Chemical. The songs on “Okay Okay !!” are completely interchangeable with each other musically — and perhaps lyrically too. Every one is an instrumental stripped down to its bare essential drums and bass, giving Rosa a somewhat charming 1980’s Schoolly D vibe, but the breathless delivery is closer to LL’s “I Need Love” than D’s “P.S.K.” Rosa is no gangster, but you already guessed that fact based on his resume, so there’s a fundamental truth to what’s going on here that’s apparent in only one listen.
Even though tracks like “Exodia/1tot” have an impressive amount of bass, enough to test your car’s sound system with, there’s almost nothing to Rosa Chemical as a rapper here. I translated this song and came up with the following bars: “I have a shoe that costs more than a worker’s salary/I spend it because it doesn’t affect me.” And there you have it. Rosa is a star in so many other endeavors that rapping is essentially a vanity project, with unenthusiastic lyrics delivered in the way a rap braggart would about how “Money Ain’t a Thing.” With neither the swagger of Jermaine Dupri or the flow of Jay-Z, Rosa Chemical is simply cashing on their fame with “Okay Okay !!” because trying to be a good rapper isn’t the point. Keeping his name in the public eye in Italy is the ONLY point.