Emiliano Rudolf Giambelli (born 14 November 1989), known professionally as Emis Killa, is an Italian rapper.

Early and personal life

Emiliano Giambelli was born in Vimercate,

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, to a Sicilian mother from

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

who worked as a

metalworker Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals in order to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term, it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on e ...

and a Lombard father who also performed as a musician. His father struggled with

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

and died due to cardiac arrest in 2010. Since late 2019, Emis Killa has been in a relationship with fashion model and designer Martina Bottiglieri. He has a daughter, Perla Blue, born on 17 August 2018 to his former partner Tiffany Fortini, and a son, Romeo, born 18 June 2024 to Bottiglieri.

Career

2007–2010: The beginnings

In 2007, at just 17 years old, Emis Killa was the winner of an Italian freestyle competition called TecnichePerfette. Emis Killa cooperated with the independent company Blocco Recordz with which he published a mixtape, ''Keta Music'' (2009), followed by the album ''Champagne e Spine'' (2010).

2011–2012: ''The Flow Clocker Vol.1'' and ''L'erba cattiva''

In 2011 he published the mixtape ''The Flow Clocker vol. 1'', followed by the album '' L'erba cattiva'' (2012). The music video for his song " Parole di ghiaccio" (meaning Cold words), the third track from the album ''L'erba cattiva'', received 7.5 million views on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

in less than two weeks, reaching 20 million in three months, breaking the record for Italian music.

2013–2015: Mercurio

On 12 July 2013, Emis Killa published Vampiri, as an anticipation of the rapper's second studio album. The video clip of the song was successfully released on 17 July.

2020: ''17'' with Jake La Furia

On 18 September 2020, Emis Killa released ''17'', an album in collaboration with Jake La Furia.

2024–present

In December 2024, Emis Killa was announced as one of the participants in the Sanremo Music Festival 2025. He was due to compete with the song "Demoni". However, he ultimately withdrew from the competition in late January amid legal issues.

Awards and nominations

On 5 May 2012, Emis Killa won "Best emerging artist of 2012" at the TRL awards. On 12 December 2012, during the Hip Hop Awards in the category of Best New Artist and Best Collaboration he won along with Club Dogo,

J-Ax Alessandro Aleotti (; born 5 August 1972), known professionally as J-Ax (), is an Italian rapper and singer-songwriter, part of the rap group Articolo 31 with his DJ Vito Luca Perrini (DJ Jad). He is the brother of Grido (formerly part of Ge ...

and

Marracash Fabio Bartolo Rizzo (born 22 May 1979), known professionally as Marracash (), is an Italian rapper. Starting his career in the rap group Dogo Gang, he debuted as a solo artist rising in fame in the 2010s releasing six studio albums that reache ...

with his song "Se il mondo fosse". In January 2015, Mercurio received a nomination for

IMPALA The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'', lit. 'black-footed high-horn' in Ancient Greek) is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus '' Aepyceros'', and tribe Aepycerotini, it ...

's European Independent Album of the Year Award.

Discography

Albums

* ''Il peggiore'' (2011) * '' L'erba cattiva'' (2012) * '' Mercurio'' (2013) * ''Terza stagione'' (2016) * ''Supereroe'' (2018) * ''17'' with Jake La Furia (2020) * ''Effetto notte'' (2023)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Killa, Emis 1989 births Living people People from Vimercate Italian male rappers 21st-century male rappers People of Sicilian descent MTV Europe Music Award winners 21st-century Italian male musicians Rappers from Milan