Hailing from Senigallia, Italy, Francesco Tarducci and his sibling Fabrizio each pursued separate paths to prominence within hip-hop, establishing themselves independently on their respective thrones rather than uniting as a single act. As the younger sibling, Francesco observed Fabrizio launch his MC career at seventeen, which soon led to a debut demo captured in 1995. Within just a few years, Fabri Fibra—the stage name adopted by Fabrizio—had accumulated several respected underground projects. Francesco entered the scene in 1999 under the alias Nesly Rice by teaming with producer Lato on the demo Fitte da Latte, whose rapid-fire and intricate lyricism quickly earned acclaim. Lato then partnered with Fabri to form the influential duo Uomini di Mare, one of several respected Italian hip-hop collectives that welcomed Nesly’s contributions. Beyond that crew, Nesly lent his metrically elaborate flows and inventive wordplay to sessions with Kaso, Maxi B, Marya, Mente, Sottotono, and others, appearing on the mixtape-style collections Dinamite in 2000 and Cactus in 2001. After several well-received singles, he issued his first solo album, Ego, in 2003; without involvement from the Uomo di Mare circle, the project was helmed by Myke, who steered Nesly toward live instrumentation instead of sampled beats. While many critics applauded this approach, purists rejected it outright. His 2004 follow-up, the joint release Busdeez Presenta: The Remedy Tape, Vol. 1 with Bassi Maestro, landed at the opposite end of that spectrum. The subsequent solo effort Home enlisted assistance from brother Fabri and longtime associate Maxi B, resulting in nationwide heavy rotation and broad approval. Under the name Nesli, the 2007 album Le Verita Nascoste—issued through Universal—came to be viewed as his most mature work yet and delivered Tarducci’s initial meaningful placement on international hip-hop charts.
