Pufuleti

Born in Naro, Sicily, Giuseppe Licata later grew up in the Saarland region of Germany — a move that runs through Pufuleti’s trajectory. He began releasing music in the mid-2010s under the name Joe Space, rapping in German over predominantly lo-fi productions, with the albums Nudus Cactus (2014), made with Drumtomski, Nollywood (2015) with Scarf Face, and nachtalb (2016) alongside beatmaker Lord Folter. After a pause, Pufuleti returned singing in Italian and shifted his writing toward a more jarring, fragmented and often surreal rap, where associations of ideas matter as much as narrative. This turning point took shape with Tumbulata (2019), then Catarsi Aiwa Maxibon (2020) on La Tempesta Dischi, with artistic direction by Lapo Sorride. Pufuleti has since pursued work closely tied to transnational collaborations between Italy and Germany, notably with the collective C.O.T.A., Wun Two, Terfak, Zutera and Fed Nance, as shown by RAMMBOCK (2021), Perle Ai Porci (2023) and Gotico Romanzo (2024). Between experimental rap, dusty hip‑hop and linguistic deconstruction, Pufuleti develops an intentionally unsteady, mobile form at the crossroads of several scenes.