Global Hip Hop

Rap's transnationalism provides powerful opportunities for Italian youth to address the specificity of their local conditions, while being globally-connected to the larger Hip Hop nation.

This engaged cosmopolitanism includes membership in Hip Hop posses, crews, and "families" based locally and linked nationally through the centri, the Hip Hop media, and the Web. Ultimately, Italian rappers and supporters are affiliated with the international Hip Hop movement that privileges new forms of group formation that undermines the notion of the nation state.

This network happens on an individual basis, as when artists join creative forces — Napoli's Almamegretta recording with Bristol's Massive Attack, Frankie Hi Nrg Mc performing with Run DMC and Public Enemy, and 99 Posse collaborating with dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson on their CD Cerco Tiempo. In addition, rap concerts bring together members of the Hip Hop Nation from the Boot and beyond.

In July 1995, a week long international Hip Hop festival sponsored by the Dionysia Project was held at Tor Bella Monaca, a sprawling housing project on the outskirts of Rome originally built for poor migrants from the surrounding countryside. Performers and artists were invited from Italy, South Africa, and United States, and members of the Hip Hop family traveled from different parts of Europe. NYC Graf pioneers Lee, Stash, & Futura 2000 held workshops with their Italian counterparts. Italian and American rappers performed on the same stage — Colle der Fomento, Commonsense, Havoc & Prodeje, Ice One, KRS1, OTR, La Pina, and Piotta e la Comitiva.

One of the best Italian expressions of this international collaboration is La Pina's recording Stessa Gente (Same People) from her 1998 CD Piovono Angeli. With guests Al Tariq, Black Attack, Rival, and Torch, this polyglot rap in English, French, Italian, and German embodies rap's potential as a heterogeneous voice of solidarity and resistance.

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