Sandro Orrù (born January 8, 1968), known as DJ Gruff, Gruffetti or Lowdy N.C.N., is a pioneer of the Italian Hip Hop scene. Known for his original take on rapping and scratching techniques since 1982, DJ Gruff has been active on the Hip Hop scene in Italy as a turntablist, DJ, beatmaker, rapper and producer. Biography DJ Gruff has been a member of a number of groups/collectives/crews such as The place to be (Next One, Carrie D, Igor, Nando- Boogie and Mr Hyde), Casino Royale (Alioscia Bisceglia, Giuliano Palma, Michele Pauli, Ferdinando Masi etc), Radical Stuff (DJ Skizo, Soul Boy, Sean, Top Cat and Kaos One), Isola Posse All Stars, and was among the founders of Sangue Misto (DJ Gruff, Neffa and Deda) recording with them the album SxM, universally acknowledged as a milestone of Italian Hip Hop. DJ Gruff’s musical production is vast, including collaborations with musicians, MCs, breakers, and street artists from all over the world. Since 1996 he has been collaborating with Alien Army, the collective representing the greatest turntable talents in Italy. Career DJ Gruff was born in Rome on 8/1/1968 to Sardinian parents and started spinning vinyl in 1982. A great fan of mixing on more than two turntables he immediately started scratching. One year later he discovered Hip Hop and breaking became his obsession. In 1984 his improvised, irreverent rap exclusively in Italian and Italian dialects, started to become popular, thanks to the breakers he was meeting. During a few nights in local venues in Torino he developed a new approach to playing music: an endless series of mixtapes with extreme scratching sessions conducted on a mixer built for other purposes. Customized switches - half melted on a flame -, extremely long slides and unsuitable needles could not stop his desire to develop the kind of instrument that in time would become the most popular in the world. In 1986 he become part of the Hip Hop scene in Milan and very quickly his particular touch on vinyl became well known, and he started working with Casino Royale (with Alioscia Bisceglia, Giuliano Palma, Michele Pauli, Ferdinando Masi etc) and Radical Stuff (with DJ Skizo, Soul Boy, Sean, Top Cat and Kaos One). During those years he featured in a huge number of jam sessions. One night DJ Ringo, well-known performer in one of Milan’s top clubs, asked him to play music at a party