Bibliography
You can locate most of the English-language books by going to amazon.com.
Adinolfi, Francesco et al. Comunità virtuali: I centri sociali in Italia. (Roma, Manifestolibri, 1994).
An edited collection of six essays exploring the public space of Italian centri sociali, from a historical overview of the city of Milano to self-produced music. The Appendix is a city-by-city synopsis of some of the better known centri, many of which have been closed by the police.Jannis Androutsopoulos and Arno Scholz, "On the Recontextualization of Hip-Hop in European Speech Communities: A Contrastive Analysis of Rap Lyrics," a paper presented at the conference "Americanization and Popular Culture in Europe" in Ascona, Switzerland, November 1999.
from the paper abstract:
.... Although hip-hop is widely considered to be an "imported" cultural pattern in Europe, this paper is based on the assumption that European hip-hop is not merely an imitation of its US model, but the outcome of a recontextualization process, wherein a globally available cultural model is being appropriated in various reception communities. .... our research provides evidence for the active and creative aspect of globalization: Globally available cultural products can provide the impulse for a locally enacted symbolic creativity — in our case, for specific "local" European forms of rap.William Anselmi. "From Cantautori to Posse: Sociopolitical Discourse, Engagement and Aantagonism in the Italian Music Scene from the Sixties to the Nineties." In Music, Popular Culture, Identities, edited by Richard Young. (Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi, 2002), 17-45.
Marco Borroni. Rime di Sfida: Rap e poesia nelle voci di strada. (Milano: Arcipelago Edizioni, 2004).
Based on the author's tesi di laurea, this book updates the literature by looking at the history vis-à-vis key cities and texts, providing interview material, and ultimately, examining the relationship between poetry and music.Alberto Campo. Nuovo? Rock?! Italiano! Una storia, 1980-1996. (Firenze, Giunti Gruppo Editoriale, 1995).
A popular book on Italian music, with interviews with 99 Posse, Almamegretta, Assalti Frontali, Bisca, Casino Royale, Isola Posse All Stars, Lionhorse Posse, Sud Sound System.M. Canevacci, R. De Angelis, and F. Mazzi, Ed. Culture del conflitto: Giovanni Metropoli Comunicazione. (Genova: Costa & Nolan, Spa., 1995).
The cultural expression of Italy's urban youth — cyberpunk, cartoons, graf, raves, etc. — is the subject of this collection of essays. Felice Liperi examines rap Italiano's language of revolt, while Roberto De Angelis looks at Italian Hip Hop among youth in the Tor Bella Monaca neighborhood on the outskirts of Roma.M. Canevacci (Ed.)et al. Ragazzi senza tempo: Immagini, musica, conflitti delle culture giovanili. (Genoa, Costa & Nolan, 1993).
The book addresses historic youth culture Italian-style, with its long term association with Marxism: i ragazzi con le magliette a strisce (the kids with the stripped shirts), transplanted Southern factory workers who waged pitched battles with fascists and police in Torino and Genoa during the 1950s; the student movement of the 1960s; and, the radical autonomia from the 1970s. Felice Liperi's article provides insight to Hip Hop Italiano.Ashley Dawson and Patrizia Palumbo. "Hannibal's Children:. Immigration and Antiracist Youth Subcultures in Contemporary Italy." Cultural Critique 59 (Fall 2005), 165-186.
David Forgacs and Robert Lumley, Ed. Italian Cultural Studies: An Introduction. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996).
An important collection of essays dealing with the broad topics of Geographies, Identities, Media, and Culture and Society. Peppino Ortoleva's description of the decline of Naples as a center of Italian musical production in his "A Geography of the Media since 1945" is of particular importance to the understanding of Italian popular music. But Marcella Filippa's uninformed and unsympathetic take of rap Italiano in her essay "Popular Song and Musical Cultures" is a disservice to ten years of creativity and politic song.P. Fumarola and Georges Lapassade Inchiesta sull' hip hop (Lecce: Caponne, date unknown).
Italian culture critics writing about Italian Hip Hop frequently quote Lapassade's work. I don't have this book but if you would like to trade, please contact me at italianrap@hotmail.com.Paul Ginsborg. A History of Contemporary Italy: Society and Politics, 1943-1988. (London, Penguin Books, 1990).
Ginsborg's astute analysis of the making of modern Italy never losses sight of the central roles of the workers' movement and the struggle for political reform. A must for understanding of post-World War II Italian politics and culture.Carl Levy, Ed. Italian Regionalism: History, Identity and Politics. (Washington, D.C., Berg, 1996)
This collection of nine articles explores historic and contemporary trends in regional as oppose to national identification in Italy. A good introduction to linguistic variety and recent separatist movements like La Lega Nord.Tony Mitchell. "'Doin’ Damage in My Native Language’: The Use of ‘Resistance Vernaculars’ in Hip hop in France, Italy and Aotearoa/New Zealand"
Tony Mitchell, Ed. Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA. (Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2001).
A great series of essays dealing with rap from Europe, Canada, and Asia. Mitchell's article on rap italiano expands and updates his previous work. Essays on on France, germany, and Isalmic Hip Hop also are useful for the work of Italian-Frence MC Akhenaton and Italian-German MC Toni L.Tony Mitchell. "Questions of style: notes on Italian hip hop." Popular Music 14.3 (1995), pp. 333-348
One of the few in depth articles in English dealing with rap Italiano. Mitchell's astute discussion of rap Italiano focuses on the "ideological and territorial conflicts over claims of authenticity versus fashion and opportunism" as played out by those associated with i centri and B-Boys.
Mitchell has explored popular music world wide in his book, Popular Music and Local Identity: Rock, Pop and Rap in Europe and Oceania.Patrick Neate. Where You're At: Notes from the Frontline of a Hip-Hop Planet. (London: Bloomsbury, 2003)
A British release looking at the world wide hip hop phenomena, including Italy.Pierfrancesco Pacoda. Potere alla parola: Antologia del rap italiano. (Milan, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, 1996).
A useful intro to rap Italiano, includes a history, discussion of major themes like i centri and the use of dialects, artist bios, and lyrics.Vincenzo Patane Garsia. Hip Hop, Sangue e oro: Vent'anni di cultura rap a Roma. (Rome, Arcana, 2002).
The story of hip hop as it evolved and took root in the Eternal City, as told by the scene's major players.Goffredo Plastino. Mappa delle voci: Rap, Raggamuffin e tradizione in Italia. (1996).
Ethnomusicologist Plastino explores the realities and the myths of rap Italiano's use of folk music.Joseph Sciorra. "Hip Hop from Italy and the Diaspora: A Report from the 41st Parallel." Altreitalie 24 (January-June 2002), 86-104.
This essays recounts the production of a three-day event in Tuscany that brought together Italian hip hop artists and rappers of Italian descent from Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United States for a symposium and a series of performances and demonstrations.Arno Scholz. "Un caso di prestito a livello di genere testuale: il rap in Italia." In Poesa cantata 2. Frank Baasner. Ed. (Tuebingen: Niemeyer, 2001)
The author analyzes the texts of Italian MCs, demonstrating how they've made this transnational musical form their own; with an extensive discography.Arno Scholz. "Intertestualità e riferimento culturale in testi rap italiani," in Horizonte: Italianistische Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaft und Gegenwartsliteratur 6 (2001), 139-162.
Arno Scholz. Subcultura e lingua giovanile in Italia: Hip-hop e dintorni.(Rome: Arcane Editrice, 2005).
Giacomo Serreli. Boghes e Sonos: Quarant'anni di musica extracolta in Sardegna: Dal beat al pop, dal jazz all'etnorock. (Cagliari: Scuola Sarda, 2003).
Pasquale Verdicchio. "Horizontal Languages and Insurgent Cultural Alignments: National Popular Culture and Nationalism."
Verdicchio's brilliant analysis of Hip Hop Italiano from a Gramscian perspective is available on line.Steve Wright. "'A Love Born of Hate': Autonomist Rap in Italy." Theory, Culture & Society. Vol. 17, No. 3. June 2000.
From the Abstract: "Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of Italian-language rap in the 1990s has been the close association of some popular performers with the nation's radical Left. Through a critical reading of the imagery, lyrics and other writings of two of Italy's best known rap bands, this essay seeks to explore the tensions between cultural labour and political commitment in the social centres movement."Steve Wright. Class Composition and Struggle in Italian Autonomist Marxism. (Pluto Press, 2002).
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