Among the young and very young Italians, a new musical genre is depopulated: trap. A style that derives directly from rap and which, just like its biggest ‘relative’, was born in the USA, in the first decade of the 2000s. The trap in Italy arrived a few years later, imported by great figures from the rap scene such as Guè Pequeno and Marracash around 2011-2012. Later, however, the genre evolved with the birth of young artists who led the trap to be loved by teenagers and children.
Then 10 emblematic artists of Italian trap.
1. Sfera Ebbasta
Sfera, pseudonym of Gionata Boschetti is an Italian rapper and is one of the most famous Italian trappers, loved by many guys from all over the peninsula. Born in Sesto San Giovanni (MI), it began to be successful around 2015. Calling himself «the king of trap», Sfera Ebbasta rose to prominence thanks to the publication of the album XDVR, recorded with the collaboration of the record producer Charlie Charles, getting a good success in Italy. This success was replicated with the releases of Sfera Ebbasta (2016) and Rockstar (2018), the latter of which allowed the artist to become the first Italian to enter the world top 100 of the Spotify streaming platform.
2. DARK POLO GANG
The Dark Polo Gang is an Italian trap music collective, more precisely Roman. Perhaps the most famous crew. It is made up of: Tony Effe, Wayne Santana, Dark Pyrex and Dark Side. Also part of the group is Sick Luke, the producer, who together with Charlie Charles is considered one of the most innovative and competent figures on the Italian trap scene. Under a veiled self-irony, the core of the lyrics sung by the group is made up of a critique of modern rap, defined now accessible to all. The Gang also deals with globalization and the need to adapt to its rules to earn and become famous, always the only goal of the Gang itself. Among the themes mainly addressed by the group there are also drugs, the underworld, the passion for fashion, money and love and in fact the success of the Roman group is determined more than by their musical skills, by their capitalist attitude and by the their attachment to material goods. The tool most used by the Dpg to reach the public are Instagram Stories: young gang members create sentences, sometimes nonsense, often launching fashions.
3. GHALI
Born in Milan to Tunisian parents, Ghali began to approach hip hop using the pseudonym name Fobia, which later became Ghali Foh. In 2011 he founded Troupe D’Elite, a group in which the rapper, singer Maite and producer Fonzie were also present. Over time, he made himself known thanks to Fedez accompanying him on his tour and opening the evenings of his concerts. Between 2014 and 2016 Ghali achieved success thanks to various singles uploaded on Youtube, in the last year he published Ninna Nanna, which records streaming records and is certified triple FIMI platinum disc. In May 2017 Ghali made his first disc appearance in the digital stores: Album, which achieved great success and reached platinum. While in 2018 the Tunisian artist sings Cara Italia, a single in favor of immigration and anti-racist.Ghali is a multifaceted and cheerful artist; its success is to be found in its departure from the themes of the original trap and in its openness to romantic and socially committed themes, more characteristic of other musical genres.
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It is no coincidence that Ghali is probably the most popular trap artist on the radio and appreciated by adults.
4. TEDUA
Tedua, pseudonym of Mario Molinari, initially known also as Incubo or Duate, is known as one of the members of the Wild Bandana collective. A young Genoese trapper, he came to success in 2016 with the album Orange County, a disc in which there are typical sounds of drill music, a subgenre of trap. Drilling music is expressed by Tedua with a free-form rapping, anticipating the beat, thus creating an effect that seems to be out of time for most people. satisfaction, sometimes disapproval of the rapper’s artistic innovation. The drill sounds, however, respond to the flow of consciousness that lies at the basis of Tedua’s music, which is always a verbal expression of thoughts and his life experiences. In 2018, the Ligurian singer releases The law of the strongest, album entirely in collaboration with his friend and producer Chris Nolan. In this latest album Tedua consecrates himself as a character outside the box of the Italian trap scene. In addition to being a trapper, Tedua parades on various occasions for the Dolce and Gabbana brand, manifesting his style in dressing and being versatile both in fashion and in the music he produces.
5. IZI
Izi, pseudonym of Diego Germini who also grew up in Genoa, at the age of 17 decided to leave school and run away from home, starting to experience a period of wandering during which he also had to face a diabetic coma. He also joins the Wild Bandana collective and adopts the definitive pseudonym Izi for the assonance with the English term “easy”. In the same period, he was chosen as the protagonist for the film Zeta, in which he plays a young rapper in search of fame. After making and publishing the film, Izi releases his first album, Fenice, a work in which he tells, among other themes, various stories related to diabetes, the disease that afflicts him. In 2017, the young trapper released Pizzicato, his second album and it is thanks to this that he obtained the gold disc, collaborating with established artists such as Fibra. Characterized by very trap sounds, full of autotune.
6. RKOMI
Rkomi, pseudonym of Mirko Manuele Martorana is an anagram of his real name, or Mirko, this way of inverting the letters of a word is called in jargon “riocontra” which is in turn an anagram of the word “opposite”. Originally from the Calvairate neighborhood in Milan and founder of the Z4G crew, he is considered a trap poet. In fact, his texts are complicated, full of assonances and rhymes formed in a particular way. Despite a start related to pure rap with current sounds, Rkomi soon proposed himself as an exponent of indie rap. In his music he proposes autobiographical ideas, exploiting the resilience as the key theme of his songs. In 2017 he enters Roccia Music, the label with which he releases his first album: Io in Terra. The disc is very personal and achieves moderate success, moving slightly away from the typical trap sounds and getting closer to Indie. As can also be seen in the most successful song on the album, Apnea, produced by the singer from Trastevere Carl Brave.
7. ACHILLE LAURO
Achille Lauro is a Roman rapper who came to success in 2014 when he arrives in Roccia Music. In 2015 and 2016 he released two records: God is there and Ragazzi Madre, which deal with very “street” themes and are quite successful. In the same year the Roman left Roccia Music and signed for Sony Music. In 2017 he took part in the reality show “Beijing Express”, in which he teamed up with Boss Doms. In addition to being his close friend, Boss Doms is also his producer, with whom he now makes a steady couple in music too. Still the two artists are seen as the most experimental and eclectic of the trap scene. This is mainly thanks to a line of songs that belong to the Samba Trap, the genre they invented and which has South American sounds merged with those typical of the trap.
8. ENZO DONG
Main figure of the Neapolitan trap, Enzo Dong (Where Everyone is Born Giudicato), achieved notoriety in 2015 with the single Secondigliano Regna. The following year, Higuain was released, a song that went viral for his words far from idyllic, addressed to the forward who went from Napoli to Juventus.
Follow singles as lucky as Italia Uno, E strad song e nostra and the recent song Ciro. Almost all of Enzo Dong’s singles are characterized by a strong aptitude for telling what the road is, but treated with cheerful tones, with repetitive and intrusive bases, typical of his eccentric style.
9. CAPO PLAZA
Capo Plaza pseudonym of Luca D’Orso is a young rapper from Salerno (born in 1998). Taken under the protective wing of Ghali and Sto Records, the record label of the Italian-Tunisian singer, Capo Plaza achieved success in 2017 with the singles “Training # 1” and “Training # 2”. At the end of the same year he released Young Fuoriclasse, a single with which he anticipates the album that will be released in 2018, again with the Sto Records label. Capo Plaza is part of the brand new Italian trap scene, although it does not differ much from the original trap rules.
10. DREFGOLD
Drefgold, pseudonym of Elia Specolizzi, is a Bolognese trapper from ’97. He too enters right into the new youth trap scene. In 2017, thanks to the singles Kanaglia and Occupato, Drefgold achieved fame and in 2018 he joined the Billion Headz Music Group, label of Sfera Ebbasta and Charlie Charles. Just with Sfera he collaborates for the single Syrup, inserted in the last album of the Milanese trapper. Drefgold has new and playful sounds, with whimsical bases, perfect for attracting the very young.