Sfera Ebbasta
XDVR

For better or worse, everything started here. Trap in Italy, alienating and slowed-down sounds, chant-like melodies, Sprite and codeine: the entire myth revolving around new Italian rap music and its aesthetics has its origins here; from this mixtape, crafted by Sfera Ebbasta, a rapper born in '92 in Cinisello Balsamo, and Charlie Charles, a producer born in '94 in Settimo Milanese.

XDVR ("for real"), Sfera's second mixtape but the first when considering his trap rebirth in the middle of this decade, is a crucial album in the evolution of contemporary Italian music. It seems clear to me that rap is the dominant cultural force among the youth. If you haven't noticed yet, try observing your child's clothing, lexicon, and movements. If you're unlucky, unfortunately, you may have noticed their fascination with Makatussin, a cough syrup often mixed with soda/orangeade to synthesize purple drank, the coolest drug of the moment—at least until it takes away a few young souls.

Without being prude, it's clear that the dramatically dangerous downsides linked to the trap trend, and generally consequent to every time a drug addict is elevated as a behavioral model, will soon emerge and cannot be ignored. But underlying all of this, there's a music capable of exerting a deep, sick, visceral allure on today's youth. Sfera Ebbasta isn't a generational author, but his music, regardless of his intentions, is.

There's talent, perhaps unconsciously, but it's there. "In giro tutto il giorno sì, per davvero / Sotto i palazzoni, mmmh, per davvero / E ho mollato scuola sì, per davvero / E ne fumo cinque all'ora sì, per davvero / Mia mamma non lavora no, per davvero / E farò una rapina, rrrrahh, per davvero". I find this song lethal. Firstly, there's storytelling, the narration of a very specific scenario (the decay of the Milan outskirts, the poverty and despair leading to crime). Then there's that allure only a street thug can exert ("fanculo alla Madama" he'll say further in the piece, in a line that's always chanted loudly at concerts); there's the ingenious repetition, with that "per davvero" that's perhaps a lie, but sharp, essential, memorable, perfect as a rhythmic catchphrase. And above all, there's a synthesis, a simplicity of concept that allows the repetitive melody, together with the intoxicating and liquid soundscape, to get imprinted directly onto the body and mind of the listener. And boom, it's done.

It's the rap vibe, guys. Oblique and unique. All the songs follow the same style, but they all work great, acting as pieces of a solid and valuable musical puzzle. Many rhymes are already history, not memes (there's no irony linked to this record), but culture, in the broadest sense of the term. The kids have memorized it, are you really so scandalized that you don't want to try and understand why?

Rhyme after rhyme, each time it's a slogan. "Sognano piste a Courmayuer / ma tirano piste in Curva Nord" sings Sfera, speaking of those good boys from the rough neighborhoods he will sing about many times in the future - "Brutti Sogni," for example, is a hymn of burnt adolescence that went somewhat unnoticed by the general audience, but left an impression on those who encountered it. "Finché vedo tutto viola / si scioglie ogni cosa / la mia testa vola / versamene ancora, e ancora e ancora": it's a drugged poetic, but still poetic; they are not verses, they are lashes destined to leave a mark on virgin consciences. There's melancholy ("Dici che sei come noi, ma mi pare di no / Tuo padre i soldi ce li ha, io un papà non ce l'ho / E non ci crediamo agli eroi si ma già da un bel po' / Qualcuno paga gli errori ancora per un po'"); and then there's the sense of belonging to the neighborhood, the one that over the years has taught you to distrust those who didn't sit right with you ("la tua crew: tutti scemi / la tua kush: tutti semi / e tu dimmi che problemi hai?").

I believe one should always discern the artistic and cultural value of a work from the educational one. Often the two can intersect; often, instead, those mystical dynamics that make you prefer the little dirty punk girl from the suburbs to the bourgeois house and Church with a villa in the countryside, are reflected even in musical tastes. And if this influences your behavior, well, don't hassle the one you're following, because they've always been there and will be when you've changed your fixation: if you're following them, it's a matter only of yours.