Both solo and as a member of the Club Dogo and Dogo Gang collectives, rapper Gué Pequeno has been an instrumental figure in Italian hip-hop culture. Over the span of a career that began when he was still in his teens, Pequeno's skills and personality grew more sophisticated, moving from the lively group hip-hop energy of Club Dogo's early-2000s releases to solo albums like 2020's Mr. Fini that incorporated nods to various genres and styles into Pequeno's smooth rap songs.

Gué Pequeno was born Cosimo Fini in 1980. He started rapping in 1997 with short-lived crew Le Sacre Scuole before joining two of its members, Jake La Furia and Joe Dan, to form Club Dogo, and later the 17-member-strong outfit Dogo Gang. With eight official releases in five years between them, the two acts became the dominant force on Italy's rap scene. Like most of his bandmates, Pequeno still found time to pursue other projects. He teamed up with producer Deleterio for the Hashishinz Sound, Vol. 1 compilation, and DJ Harsh for two Fastlife Mixtapes, wrote a book with La Furia entitled La Legge del Cane, and co-hosted the Un Giorno Da Cani show on Radio Deejay before unleashing his Top Five debut solo album, Il Ragazzo D'oro, in 2011.

Two years later, his second album, Bravo Ragazzo, did even better on the Italian charts, eventually reaching platinum status thanks in part to three Top Ten singles: "Business," "Rose Nere," and the title track. (And despite the success, he continued to keep his schedule very busy, performing with Club Dogo on two best-selling albums, Noi Siamo il Club in 2012 and Non Siamo Più Quelli Di Mi Fist in 2014.) Pequeno promptly signed to Def Jam, one of the most prestigious labels in rap music, for 2015's Vero, and watched the album hit the top of the Italian charts. One year later, Santeria, a collaboration with Marracash, spent three weeks at number one in Italy, led by the Top 20 single "Nulla Accade." The pair also released an accompanying mixtape, Double Dragon. In 2017, his fourth solo album Gentleman was released, eventually passing the double-platinum sales mark. Over the next few years, Pequeno's acclaim continued to grow as he steadily released projects like 2018's Sinatra, 2020's Mr. Fini, and the DJ Harsh-hosted 2021 mixtape Fastlife 4. ~ Jon O'Brien, Rovi