Raffaele Capuano aka South RC is an Elite model turned rapper, who hails from Naples, Italy. Growing up, many of his fondest memories involved music. As a young boy, he remembered his mother playing music in the car, where he danced and sang along to hip hop songs. At just 13 years old, Raffaele began his music career and credits his sound to his favorite music artist LilWayne. Raffaele was also releasing several different hip hop hits such as “Business” and “Fresh Zone”.
Released early 2021, his single “Business” reflected on his life as a music artist and model and how he balanced the business side of both career paths. “Fresh Zone” has an unique UK beat and focuses its rap lyrics on police brutality. Many of his songs touches on his life experience, discrimination he faced, and world issues like racism and police brutality.
Tell us about the genesis of your project. How did you get to where you are now?
Well, my project formed itself in a very natural way. Having been a big fan of music all my life, I’ve always thought it would be cool to make my own music. Being able to express my own concepts and thoughts through music is what really drew me to creating. So, as my modeling career started getting more and more intense the thoughts and things I had to say got more defined. In 2015, I started producing music until it got to a place where I was really proud of it.
How would you describe the highs and lows of being an artist?
I think you should go through the highs in life in the same way you go through the lows. Of course there are moments where you shine and there are moments where you’re forgotten. That’s a natural process you have to go through but you should never lose sight of your vision.
What’s a musical guilty pleasure of yours?
Listening to some neomelodic neapolitan music is definitely a guilty pleasure of mine, even if I do consider it a huge form of art!
What are some sources of inspiration for you?
Lil Wayne and Drake are huge inspirations of mine. I listened to them a lot growing up and they were always in the back of my mind when I started making music.
Who is an artist that you look up to more than others today?
I think I’m always looking up to artists like Drake and Lil Wayne, but I really like to discover different artists everyday. Today I’m listening a lot to Hotboii!
Favorite activity to blow off some steam?
Definitely going out to sea with a bunch of friends and enjoying the sun, sea breeze, and good vibes.
Tell us about your latest release and how it came about
My latest release was Camera 301. I wrote it during the end of lockdown in Italy while I was isolated and feeling lonely. I was just sitting there and all these different melodies and vibes came into my head and the song just kind of came from that. Plus, it’s produced by Italian producer Yung Snapp who is one of my favorites so that was super exciting.
What are some things you do to deal with anxiety and creative blocks?
When that happens, I often try to forget what I’m stressing about and try to get out of my head. A lot of times I like to do things that I find carefree and mindless, things that will relax my mind and help me find a solution to those blocks.
What’s the future looking like for you?
I’m really hoping the future holds a ton of growth for me! I’m taking a big change focusing on both my modeling career and my music career so I hope that I’ll be able to get to a place where they’re both thriving!
What inspires your visuals, videos, looks etc?
Well it all starts with the song of course, once you really look at the song and the vibes that play into it, it becomes really fun to find visuals to match. I do a lot of research so I can constantly keep coming up with new and original ideas.
What is the most embarrassing memory and most proud moment of your career so far ?
I don’t really remember any embarrassing moments that have happened during my career. But, walking at D-Squared’s 20th anniversary show and opening with Mary J. Blige was for sure the proudest moment of my career thus far!
What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten?
I once heard a saying that goes “If you do something yourself and really put your all into it, it’ll never fail.” That’s something I try to live by everyday.
Where do you think the music and entertainment industry is headed after this past year?
I really hope that it will slowly but surely get back to the place where it was. Hopefully we’ll continue to see more concerts and live performances by all of our favorite artists. Music is one of the industries that got hit really hard by the pandemic because fans were missing out on live shows and concerts. I think once we can get back to that safely, it’ll be something that people are really excited for.