Piotta
S(u)ono diverso

Once upon a time, there was the supercafone.

It was the summer of 1999 when a relatively unknown Roman "rapper" named Piotta began to make a name for himself. Radios and TVs started playing a track (if it can be called that) repeatedly, which would become the earworm of that summer, with all its trashy, dismal, and rather depressing energy. (I would only save the amusing exchanges in the video with Mastandrea). This is how he achieved success, becoming an icon of the coarse world and beyond.

Let's fast forward a few years.

It's 2003, still in Rome, when a certain Roberto Angelini writes another of the trashiest pages of our musical world: this time the track is "Gattomatto," a torment of that year and a trailblazer for the singer-songwriter.

"Supercafone" vs "Gattomatto," a clash of titans of squalor. But... in life, there's always a way to redeem, rehabilitate, and finally reclaim oneself.

Year 2009.

After releasing some other albums, certainly more respectable than their debuts, the two return. 

Roberto Angelini with "La vista concessa" and Tommaso Zanello (his real name) with "S(u)ono diverso."

Without exaggerating, "La vista concessa" is one of the best Italian albums of the decade. I recommend listening to it for those who haven't yet. A work that not only brought prestige to Italian music but also consecrated Roberto Angelini as one of the best modern singer-songwriters.

"S(u)ono diverso," although certainly inferior, achieves the same goal: making people forget the supercafone beginnings and appreciating Piotta's new way of making music.

Press play and you'll notice. The title track is just the first of 12 declarations of change. ("What they expect is what I don't give because I am the same and sound different"). It's a Piotta you wouldn't expect, who isn't in the mood to play; his rhymes are sharp or sarcastic and never delve into the banal. They tackle important themes. Racism in "Scappa," introduced by the words of a black boy beaten mercilessly by the police, politics in "Sabotaggio" (feat. Rezophonic) and "A testa alta" (feat. Ska-p); disdain mixed with ridicule for the television world in "Ti amo, ti odio" (feat. Andrea Ra).

The sound is unique; it's not hip hop, it's not rock... it's been defined as post-rap, but labeling isn't important. What matters is the result: a cocktail of rap, rock, and electronics that goes down like a treat. The metamorphosis was likely influenced by the Warped Tour in the USA, where Piotta was the first and only Italian to be part of the great American event featuring punk rock, alternative rock, emo, post-hardcore, and Christian rock bands annually.

Indisputably, the most touching track is "22 - 05 - 08" (produced by Assalti Frontali), dedicated to Alessandro and Flaminia, two young lives destroyed by a road pirate, just a few meters from the artist's home:

"And that funeral was a wedding and if God helps, hatred will pass too, and it was so true as I was, as if that child had been me. As if that love and that age were mine, which then seems the best to you, that you look around and believe in justice, good, peace, the future that arrives, eternal love, and maybe this is true... when in the morning you saw each other in the sky, beautiful as always, beautiful as the sun like in that photo above the Messaggero. And your heart beats and doesn't stop now and you can feel it with your hands on your chest, this is for you who are no longer here, the best youth watching from up there".

Also noteworthy is "Stiamo tutti bene," featuring the support of Roy Paci, a statement full of regrets... memories that hurt, but which optimism has helped overcome. One of the best tracks on this album. An album with something to say, well-made, pleasant, and more than ever relevant.

The supercafone is no more; he must be chasing some gattomatto.

I conclude again with the words of Tommaso Zanello aka Piotta, from "Un'altra volta."

For me, you made it, brother.

"How many things would I change and how many would I do, if I could go back. How many words I wouldn't say and how many I would shout, once again hitting harder. Happiness is what I want, so many mistakes only out of pride, on this sheet now I confess and still have time to give it a new meaning.".