Shiva, pseudonym of Andrea Arrigoni, is one of the most emerging artists of the trap scene in Italy in 2019/20. He was born in Legnano in 1999 but he lived for a period of his childwood in Tuscany and then moved back to Lombardia, in Milan. He left school not only to focus completely on music, but also because he was unable to approve the school system, and, at the age of fifteen, he was at the beginning of his musical career. In 2015 he releases a self-produced music video of the song “Cotard delusion” which allows him to ‘get to the eye’ of some record producers, such as those of the Honiro Label, whom in the same year will offer him a collaboration and become his first record label.

With the Honiro Label releases in 2017 his very first album called “Tempo Anima“, which will throw it on the scene. The following year he will release his second album, “Solo” which sees many other artists known on the rap-trap scene, such as Mostro, Giaime and Nerone.

2019 is Shiva’s “turning point”: he releases the songs “Bossoli” and “Mon fre” which will then receive the platinum record and will be on the FIMI chart. In this year he did many feat which will slowly bring him to everyone’s eyes. Among these we have “Mattoni” of Night Skinny and the participation in the famous Machete Mixtape Vol. 4 which sees him involved in two tracks and leads him to be the youngest artist to have ever participated in this mixtape.

At the end of 2019 releases the last track of the year: “Soldi in nero” ft. Sfera Ebbasta and produced by Charlie Charles, one of the most renowned music producers.
In January 31st, 2020 he releases “Routine” which is his first EP, and sees the collaboration of high-level artists such as Marracash, Capo Plaza and tha Supreme.

In January he announced his first “mini-tour” which would begin with three dates in Milan (which then increased to five due to too many requests) and would continue in seven other Italian cities. Every single date was sold out in less than 24 hours. (However he has never been able to perform on his own because the dates were canceled due COVID-19).

Shiva is my favorite Italian artist and I would recommend him very much. Not only because he has a beautiful and unique voice, but also because he has his own way of writing: unlike many of today’s trappers who create rhymes without a connection, he uses the “storytelling” and manages to pass messages. His latest release, Routine, is an example: there are many really deep songs, such as “Milano-Ovest” which describes the situations that characterized his growth in the suburbs and the life of the artist with whom he made the feat, Marracash.

Giulia Pellicanò

Davide Mattei whose stage name is The Supreme was born in Fiumicino in 2001. He began composing music at the age of 12. Two years later he left school to devote himself to music. Not much is known about him, the interviews he did are from when he was the producer for Salmo. Since he became a singer, not much is known about him. At 12, The Supreme began to reinterpret the songs of his favorite artists and at the age of 14, he produced his bases.

«E da qui ho capito che dovevo prendere sul serio la cosa» «E da qui ho capito che dovevo prendere sul serio la cosa»

he said in an interview.

At 15 he gave up high school to devote himself full time to music, while at 16 he started taking music theory lessons. On September 26, 2017 he released his first song “6itch”.

«Diciamo che è successo per necessità, forse per dare una voce vera e propria a quello che fino a qualche mese fa dicevo solo con i beat. “6itch”, per esempio, è stato il mio primo vero e proprio pezzo. L’ho scritto per sfogo e l’ho caricato su YouTube il giorno dopo senza aver nemmeno curato benissimo il mix: inaspettatamente è stato apprezzato tantissimo, allora ho deciso di caricarlo su Spotify finendo nel giro di una settimana nella top 50 Viral Italia con un lavoro fatto in nemmeno un giorno».

A prophetic comment under the YouTube video quote: “Se the Supreme inizia anche a scrivere pezzi sui suoi beat è finita, ritiratevi a vita privata”. And so it was. After producing the base of Salmo’s “Perdonami” other artists searched for him to produce other beats such as Dani Faiv “Gameboy Color”, “La La La La La”, “Fruit Joint”, “Chairaggione” by Nitro.

Davide also releases his second single, “5olo”, on February 9, 2018. 4 months later the third solo piece, “Scuol4”, followed by “Oh 9od” feat. Nayt. This is where, with an animated video that is very reminiscent of Rick & Morty’s style. In 2019 he took part in the emerging rap artists of the Italian scene.

He participated in July at Machete Mixtape 4 and lend the voice in the refrain of “Supreme – L’Ego” by Marracash feat. Sfera Ebbasta. In November 2019, with the release of “Blun7 in Swishland”, He becomes even more famous with 6 million views on youtube.

At this point, his cartoon version with the purple sweatshirt depopulated almost everywhere in Italy, also thanks to the statue version that is placed in the middle of Milan Central Station.

I personally prefer him as a music producer than as a singer because he uses a very high pitched tone. I recognize his ability to produce beat, considering that it is a very complicated job for a boy of only 19 years old.

The FSK Satellite group is one of the most influential in this period as regards the Italian trap genre, with techno, screamo and emo influences. They don’t always follow the classic trap formula because they want to try to take a different trap route, an evolution. It is currently composed of three members plus the producer: as voices we have Taxi B, real name Michele Ballabene, who uses the punk and screamo style, Sapobully, first name Romano Maiorella, focused on drill, and Chiello FSK, Rocco Modello, who is focused more on the emo and melodic, while the producer is called Greg Willen and doesn’t have a stage name. The main themes of their songs are money, women and above all drugs.

Their musical career began in 2017 in Potenza, with the first publications of songs on youtube and other singles on soundcloud. Initially the band consisted of six members, including YoungGucci, who however took off in 2019. The first song is published in June 2017 and is called “Flexoni“; is not very successful but they try again the following year with the drop of an album instead of another single called “Zingaro“. In this first album there were only the voices of Sapobully and Chiello FSK but not even this went to rank in the charts.

It is only in 2019 that they begin to make their way into the world of trap, with the release of FSK Trapshit (distributed by Universal), and finally stand out a few months later with the release of a “new” album: “FSK Trapshit Revenge“, that was a remade of tjeir previous album in the latter there were seven unpublished works, one of which was the collaboration with the already well-known artist Gue Pequeno. With this album they manage to place sixth in the FIMI ranking (ranking for the best-selling albums in Italy, updated weekly) and in January 2020 they earn gold for the 25 thousand copies sold nationally.

Their ‘boom’, in addition to the album and collaborations, is partly due to Salmo: he in fact gave them advertising indirectly when he began to comment negatively on the themes that recurred in trap songs at that time and in the videos of songs that showed trap-houses with scenes sometimes unsuitable for young people, such as the act of doing drugs. “Avoid making videos in which … and do yourself heroine who badly influences fans” words of Salmo.
The group then replied, always not directly, and made sure that their music was more about the effects of addiction than drugs.

concerti e certificazioni

They should have had live shows rather than concerts, but the current situation blew everything away. The dates are not yet known when they will be moved but they also hope as soon as possible.

“Ansia no” certified gold disc.
“FSK Trapshit” certified gold disc (by FIMI Italy).

Written by Giulia Pellicanò

Sfera Ebbasta, whose real name is Jonathan Boschetti, was born in Sesto San Giovanni on December 7, 1992.

He did not have a beautiful childhood, his parents separated and his father died in 2006. During his childhood he grew up mainly in Cinisello Balsamo, although he moved several times together with his mother Valentina and his sister Andrea. He was rejected once in primary school and dropped out of school during the first year of high school. After retiring from school he tried to work as an electrician and as bell boy for the delivery of pizzas. During adolescence, he began listening to various hip hop artists, such as Eminem, 50 Cent, Gucci Mane, Club Dogo, Gemelli DiVersi.

He started his musical activity by uploading videos on YouTube between 2011 and 2012 without enjoying any success. During this period he met the producer Charlie Charles, with whom he formed the Billion Headz Money Gang (BHMG) group.

From 2014 he has produced several songs with Charlie Charles and published them on YouTube. After the release of the song Panette he began to be contacted by some record labels.

On June 11, 2015 he began to be better known thanks to the XDVR album, made with some songs published in the previous months that had not been successful. The album achieved good success and the popularity of trap music in Italy increased. He was the subject of numerous criticisms as various songs speak of criminal activities and drugs.

In 2016 the rapper released his first album signed Sfera Ebbasta. This album features some of his most famous songs such as “BRNBQ” (good guys in bad neighborhoods), “Figli di papà”, certified platinum for having sold more than 50,000 copies. Between October 2016 and March 2017 the rapper promoted the album through a tour, performing in various cities in Italy.

In 2017 Sfera Ebbasta released “Dexter”, produced by Charlie Charles and Sick Luke, and in the same period he took part in the single “Bimbi” by Charlie Charles together with rappers Izi, Rkomi, Tedua and Ghali. Subsequently the rapper performed at the MTV Awards 2017, in which he presented “Tran Tran”.

In 2018 Sfera announced the second album “Rockstar”, produced by Charlie Charles. All the eleven tracks conquered the top positions of the Top Singles. Thanks to the success of the album, the rapper has also become the first Italian artist to rank among the first hundred in the Spotify world ranking. A few hours after publication, Sfera Ebbasta was supposed to hold a concert at the Lanterna Azzurra disco in Corinaldo, in the province of Ancona. However, an accident occurred shortly before the performance which resulted in the death of six people and numerous injuries. He got a tattoo on his temple in memory of the six dead people. In 2019, in response to the accusations and criticisms made against the artist following the tragedy, the rapper published the unpublished “Mademoiselle”.

In 2019 the entry of Sfera Ebbasta among the judges of the thirteenth edition of X Factor is announced, together with Malika Ayane, Mara Maionchi and Samuel.

Personally, I like it a lot because I find that he is able to convey all the pain that you experience during adolescence and above all he represents what many boys and girls feel.

Scrivo una canzone, sì, quella è per sempre, per certe persone sarà un salvagente.

Sera Ebbasta-ricchi per sempre

Non filtrano i raggi da questi palazzi e non vedono il sole.

Sfera Ebbata-brutti sogni

Ho paura della morte, sì, ma della vita pure.

Sera Ebbasta-20 collana

Tedua, pseudonym of Mario Molinari, is an Italian rapper born in Genoa on the 22nd of February 1994 from a not particularly wealthy family. At the age of only three he was entrusted to a foster family, due to the absence of the father and the constant travel of the mother. He will stay there only a few years, in fact he will move shortly after to Milan, to his maternal grandmother, and then again to the Genoese suburbs, where he grows up getting in touch with those who will later be the members of the Wild Bandana (Vaz Tè and Izi). In this period the three will soon give themselves stage names: Molinari will choose Incubo, a name then abandoned in favor of Duate.

His musical career has a prominent and began to assert itself in 2015, when he returned to Milan and met music producers well known such as Charlie Charles, Sick Luke and Chris Nolan. He begins to write and publish songs that will then be brought together in the first mixtape << Aspettando Orange County >> and will make them available to everyone as free. The disc anticipated a second mixtape, entitled << Orange County Mixtape >> which has 21 tracks produced by the aforementioned (Charlie Charles, Sick Luke and Chris Nolan) and has seen among the collaborations artists such as Sfera Ebbasta, Ghali, Rkomi, Izi and Vaz Tè, these already quite well known too, especially in Milan.

The Orange County cycle ends with the release of the third mixtape Orange County California. It is a new edition of Orange County Mixtape with the addition of six unpublished pieces; Orange County California was subsequently certified gold by FIMI for the over 25,000 copies sold.

From May 2017 he begins to release some singles until in March 2018 he releases his best known album as well as listened to: Mowgli. It has been welcomed positively by specialized critics, who recognize its innovation in both trap and classic hip hop sounds. The album also achieved good sales success, reaching the top of the FIMI Album chart.

Tedua has often claimed to have been stylistically inspired by the Italian rapper Dargen D’Amico, from whom he inherited the vision of music as a stream of consciousness: on the Mowgli disc there is a piece, Acqua (thinking about you), whose refrain is a reprise of the track Malpensandoti by D’Amico.
his musical style does not follow the typical sounds of Italian trap or even from traditional hip hop ones: in fact he does not always follow the base (almost never) and for this there are many different judgments: there are those who express approval and pleasure and those who disapprove his stylistic innovation.

-Giulia Pellicanò

A lie told to oneself may seem reality.

 (3 Chances)

I took the skeleton in the closet and fed it to the dogs.

 (Elisir)

How do you say what you don’t think?

(Natura, Mowgli)

Massimo Pericolo, whose stage name is Alessandro Vanetti, was born in Gallarate in 1992. He began to approach the world of rap at the age of ten listening to some songs by Eminem. A few years later, discovering Italian rap, he wrote the first texts. When he met Kaso, a rapper who works with young people on educational and musical training projects in Gallarate, Massimo Pericolo started to record his very first pieces. During his adolescence he collaborated with some friends and made a 7 pieces demo which, however, was not published.

In 2014 he was arrested. During his time in prison he changed his name to Massimo Pericolo and he dedicated himself to writing songs. He published the first street video in 2016 (“Baklava”) and took part in various local events with the help of his friend and manager Xqz. He published songs with and without videos on YouTube. During this part of his life he met Rafilù, a friend of Speranza, and a long-distance friendship was born. When Massimo Pericolo met Speranza in Milan, he introduced him to Crookers, a famous producer. So Massimo Pericolo joined the Pluggers team and he published a piece with Ugo Borghetti, produced by Crookers and Nic Sarno. Sarno gave him the opportunity to make himself known to the general public.

On January 2019, the official video of the single “7 Miliardi”, still produced by Crookers and Nic Sarno, was released exclusively on Noisey. The video exceeded one million views in just over a month and received acclaim from audience and colleagues from all over the country. This song led him to success, today it has 10 million views on youtube. During an interview made on fanpage.it Alessandro said that the piece in question had been written about two years before the official publication but it had not been very successful.

On March the second video “Sabbie D’Oro” (feat. Generic Animal) produced by Palazzi D’Oriente was released. It received the public appreciation of the ”big” of the Italian rap scene, including Salmo. Today this song is the second most listened to, in fact it has 8 million views on youtube. Alessandro says that, according to him, this is the best piece he has ever written. The two singles are included in the debut album Scialla Semper, released in April. He brought this album to the ‘’MI AMI’’ Festival for the first time.

There is no particular information regarding the rapper’s private life. He always shows the artistic side of his existence on social media; the photos that he posts don’t suggest that he’s in a love story, so it is not clear whether he is single or not. His nickname on Instagram, where he has thousands of followers, is “Emodrill”, and he is a real phenomenon also on social media. His ability to get straight to the heart of his audience leds him to quickly establish himself in the national artistic fabric. From the many interviews he made it is clear that in his life he has had to go through a lot and the only support he has always had came from his friends, whom in many passages he compares to brothers.

”Devi comprendere chi sei quando non sai chi essere.”

Massimo Pericolo–Sabbie d’oro

”Non ho più le parole per dirti le cose che ho dentro e rimango dentro di me.”

Massimo Pericolo-Cocco

Giulia Alfieri