DSP from Pesaro

Shout Outs

I first heard rap Italiano in 1990 when a long-time friend Claudia Maghini brought me Jovanotti's CD "Giovani Jovanotti." While the pop tunes were pretty good, the rap in English was atrocious. So when I visited Milano four years later and her brother Ivo told me about rap Italiano, I smirked. "Yea, I know all about it," I said.

Ivo and Claudia, 1994

After I got back to NYC, Ivo sent me a 90 minute sampler of who's who in rap Italian. This was different! These were sounds I could only imagine in my wildest dreams. My life was changed! I became a one man champion of Hip Hop Italiano, making cassette mixes for anyone who was interested and going on air on a local radio station. I also approached VIBE to write an article and queried David Byrne's Luaka Bop label to put together a compilation CD, all to no avail.

Many people have helped in my pursuit of Italian rap, sending CDs, books, and magazine articles from Italy. To all of them, I say:

Massimo Rispetto!!!!

Regina on Vespa

In addition to Claudia and Ivo, Regina Sansalone has been a daily life-line to the madrepatria, sending her witty electronic updates on politics and culture from her outpost in Roma. This virtual paesana has been my main source for Hip Hop Italiano, mailing care packages with CDs, books, magazines, etc. When I received the CD Canti Sudati without the liner notes, la Reg made her way through the clogged streets of Roma (twice) to retreive it in the office of the newspaper Il Manifesto. Her selfless charity will be certainly rewarded with official beatification, at the very least.



Shout out to Pierpaolo Pino from Roma who I met on line and then in person in NYC. Early in my quest, Pierpaolo sent me cassettes and transcribed lyrics for me.

Big hellos to Furio Ciulini of Pozzuoli, Emanuela Ruggeri from Bologna, Matteo Martelli, aka Slang, from Urbino, Irene Argillo of Napoli, and Marcella Albiani from Sassuolo, whose correspondence provided me with a wealth of information I couldn't get from newspaper and magazine articles.

Thanks to Rita Passeri, Gianni Di Meo, and my dad Enrico for helping with translations of lyrics, a number of which were unwritten and in various dialects. Mille grazie to Gil Fagiani and dad (again) for bringing CDs and stuff back from the Boot.

Rappers Frankie Hi Nrg Mc, 99Posse's Marco Messina, and Sergio Messina answered my numerous email queries for info. Frankie not only sent me his CDs but turned me on to Ice One and Colle der Fomento. I (virtually) met Sergio just a few weeks before going live and his generosity with crucial historical details are greatly appreciated.

Big shout out to Chris Culpepper, El Gato Malo, Barnes Tilney, and Judith of calamondin.com for help with images, and to Lee Nevo with the site's message board.

I would also like to acknowledge the use of Martha Cooper's fabulous photographs and the following Italian graf writers' pieces as headers throughout the site:

And last not but not least, to the anonymous writers who made their thoughts and feelings known to the world in Formia and who first alerted me that something big was happening in Italy. I'm honored to use their collective work on the splash page and as a header on the Links page.

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