A collective of rappers and producers based in Italy, Machete (aka Machete Crew) became well-known in Italian-speaking Europe for their popular mixtape series beginning with 2012's Machete Mixtape. Their fourth edition of the series topped the album chart in Italy upon its arrival in 2019. The first release by the group arrived in 2012 on their own Machete Empire Records, and featured contributions by founding members Enigma, El Raton, and Salmo, alongside others. They found bigger commercial success with the same year's Machete Mixtape, Vol. 2, which included the participation of established DJs like Fritz da Cat and Belzebass, as well as rappers including Bassi Maestro. In the meantime, Machete launched a second series with DJ Slait's Bloody Vinyl Mixtape, Vol. 1, also issued in 2012. In partnership with Epic, Machete Mixtape, Vol. 3 arrived in 2014. It featured the core trio plus appearances by Jake the Smoker, Nitro, and Rasty Kilo, among others. DJ Slait's Bloody Vinyl, Vol. 2 followed in 2015, as various members of the collective focused on solo releases. In 2019, the collective reconvened for Machete Mixtape 4. Released by Epic and Machete Empire that July, it became a Top 20 hit in Switzerland and went to number one in Italy, where it remained for eight weeks. ~ Marcy Donelson