mixmag netherlands
RBX
The Rise, Reinvention, and Raw Energy of Italy’s Hardest Sound
Rome is loud even when it sleeps. Its outskirts carry a different kind of weight, a pressure made of concrete, noise, and emotion that never fully settles. RBX grew inside that atmosphere; he absorbed intensity before he ever organized it into sound. What defines him today is not just hardness, but instinct sharpened by a landscape where feeling runs deeper than structure and where every dream has to be fought for.
Growing up on the fringes of the city, he gravitated toward the sounds that existed in the shadows. Hardstyle, hardcore, progressive, gabber, the remnants of Rome’s old Virus scene. These weren’t references; they were lifelines.
He found them while the mainstream clung to vocal hits and polished aesthetics. His world was smaller, more secret, more combustible, and it demanded curiosity. Before adoles- cence, he was already a spectator of nightlife, learning through observation how music manipulated bodies and space.
“Growing up in a small town on the outskirts of Rome, I was first drawn to niche genres like hardstyle, hardcore, and progressive. Even though in Italy these movements were tiny compared to the mainstream, I felt compelled to explore them. By the age of 11, I had al- ready started hanging around nightlife, watching DJs, learning how everything worked.”
Italy wasn’t an obvious launchpad. He knew it early, and he knew it painfu- lly. Yet that specific constraint forged the aggression in his ambition. It gave him urgency. He understood that to be seen, he had to push harder, louder, deeper. His roots didn’t limit him; they primed him.
The Moment Pressure Became Power
Every artist carries a moment when belief finally overtakes fantasy. For RBX, it happened in 2014, the night he stepped onto a club stage for the first time. Something irreversible sparked. It wasn’t confidence yet. It was recognition.
“The first real turning point came in 2014, the very first time I played in a club. That night, I knew I would never stop chasing this dream.”
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AUTHOR SERGIO NIÑO PHOTOGRAPHY: ARTIST COURTESY
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