From his first steps in the world of hip hop in the Monte Rosello neighborhood of Sassari to his staggering Spotify numbers, 27-year-old Mario Serra, aka Low-Red, is among the artists selected by Night Skinny as part of Players Club, a collective that brings together some of the rap scene's most exciting revelations. He presents his new album, MARIO III, a project that marks the next stage in his artistic journey. Available today on all digital platforms.

He was just a child, he recalls, when he was breakdancing in a gym in Sassari. And a teenager when he started writing his first rhymes, fascinated by an episode of MTV Spit, the show hosted by Marracash, which focused on freestyle battles. "I was still young and even outside of a genre that was inherently niche, but I already felt that this language was my chance for social retaliation, a way to prove my worth," he says. Then came the mixtapes on YouTube, "Flexin" in 2017, the first song he uploaded to Facebook when he was in his final year of school . At 18, he decided to leave for London, not turning down any job: "Dishwasher, waiter, any opportunity was a good one to make some money." But he also didn't forget about music: "I recorded in my bedroom."

After the first wave of Covid in London, he decided to return to Sardinia, a decision he doesn't regret : "In London I was a ghost, here I networked with other Sardinian rappers." And indeed, inspiration has not been lacking: from "No Gang" with Sgribaz and Praci to MARIO II, an album written and recorded between Sassari and London, via "4 The Island," a collective work by Sardinian rappers.

The turning point, indeed, came when Night Skinny selected him among the best emerging talents. In 2023, the single "È LOGICO" was followed by a series of releases such as "BISEX" feat. Yung Snapp, "BIBLIOTECA" feat. Nerissima Serpe, and "MUSCHIO," which preceded the album "THE BIGGEST SBLAO," enriched by collaborations with some of the biggest names in the Italian urban scene, including Papa V, Astro, and Enny P. In 2025, he collaborated with Don Joe and RRARI DAL TACCO on "TAXI," "BLA O CAP" for DrefGold, and "HARDER," in collaboration with MamboLosco. Rounding out the year were the singles "7 NANI" and "SBLAO WEEK," and a tour that lasted throughout 2025, with live performances and hundreds of dates throughout Italy.

Between peaks with each new release and average listenership, it never drops below half a million monthly listeners, in a context where "rap music is certainly more popular than it was ten years ago, it dominates the charts. But be careful, here it arrived late compared to France or England, for example, which have been much more in step with the United States.   We lack major awards, and the biggest music festival is Sanremo, but even though I know there are a lot of rappers again this year, I don't think it's the right stage for the right freedom of expression. I'm talking about rap as I understand it ."

And back to MARIO III: "An album like the others but different from the others. It's the snapshot of a moment in my life, with plenty of room for emotion, starting with the end of a very important relationship for me." One element that dominates the visual imagery is the cover, symbolizing a phase of control, awareness, and detachment. It's not emotional coldness, but clarity: the ice is solid, limpid, capable of revealing without breaking. And it's precisely this tension that drives the entire project: fifteen songs tell a story of change, personal before it is artistic, born from a breakup and transformed into a journey.

“First there’s always Mario, then there’s Low-Red”: the phrase, uttered by the mother and shared on social media via a voice message, opens the album and immediately clarifies its deeper meaning: identity comes before character development.

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