Italian hip hop started in the 1980s. One of the first hip hop crews to catch the attention of the Italian mainstream was Bologna's Isola Posse All Star, then and still today produced by Sandro Orru, who had written the soundtrack to the animated TV series Signor Rossi in the 1970s. The European Music Office's report on Music in Europe claimed that, in general, hip hop from the south of Italy tends to be harder than that from the north.
Luis Armando Lozada Cruz, known by his stage name Vico C, is an American rapper and record producer. Regarded as the founding father of reggaeton, Vico C has played an influential role in the development of Latin American hip hop and urban music.
Club Dogo was an Italian rap group from Milan (Lombardy) that consists of Gué Pequeno and Jake La Furia, and beatmaker Don Joe.
Sandro Orrù, known as DJ Gruff, Gruffetti or Lowdy N.C.N., is a pioneer of the Italian hip hop scene. Known for his original take on rapping and scratching techniques since 1982. He has been active as a turntablist, DJ, beatmaker, rapper and producer.
Fabrizio Tarducci, better known as Fabri Fibra, is an Italian rapper. In his career he has sold more than 2.3 millions of certified copies.
Otierre are an Italian hip hop band.
The name means Originale Trasmissione del Ritmo.
David Sánchez Badillo, known professionally as Tempo, is a Puerto Rican rapper and songwriter. He was the leading figure in the reggaeton scene from the late 1990s until his arrest in 2002. He was released in 2013 after spending 11 years in prison. Although Tempo had success during the emergence of reggaeton, his popularity faded following his imprisonment; he is nowadays regarded as a controversial figure within the genre.
Clementino, stage name of Clemente Maccaro, is an Italian rapper proficient in freestyle in both Italian and Neapolitan language. He, along with rapper Fabri Fibra, is member of the group Rapstar. After winning several freestyle competitions between 2004 and 2006, he signed a contract with the independent record label Lynx Records, releasing the debut album Napolimanicomio in 2006. Three years later he joined Videomind, releasing IENA in 2011, and in 2012 he formed the Rapstars with Fabri Fibra, In 2013 the rapper signed a contract with the record label Universal, publishing shortly afterwards Mea culpa, who had a moderate success in the motherland, reaching fourth position in the FIMI Album Ranking and being certified a gold record.
Jari Ivan Vella, known professionally as Ensi, is an Italian rapper proficient in freestyle. He won the first edition of MTV Spit in 2012.
Noyz Narcos, stage name of Emanuele Frasca, also known as Noyz or White Zombie, is an Italian rapper, beatmaker and writer. He is also a member of the Italian hip-hop collective TruceKlan.
Cosimo Fini, better known by the stage name Gué, previously as Gué Pequeno, is an Italian rapper and record producer. He was also earlier a member of various formations, notably the hip hop duo Club Dogo with rapper Jake La Furia and producer Don Joe. Between 1999 and 2001, he was also in "Sacre Scuole", a group made up by Gué Pequeno, Dargen D'Amico and Jake La Furia.
Inoki, also known as Inoki Ness, pseudonym of Fabiano Ballarin, is an Italian rapper and record producer.
Yarah Bravo is a singer-songwriter, rapper, poet, beatmaker. Born to a Chilean mother and a Brazilian father, who came to Sweden as political refugees. She sings and raps in English, Swedish and Spanish.
All the Moron's Men is a 1999 Italian comedy film directed by Paolo Costella.
Davide Bassi, better known by his stage name Bassi Maestro, is an Italian rapper, deejay, beatmaker and producer from Milan, Italy. Bassi is one of the pioneers of Italian underground hip hop, having started his career back in 1988.
Primo Brown, pseudonym of David Maria Belardi, was an Italian rapper, known for having played in the rap band Cor Veleno.
Cor Veleno is an Italian hardcore hip hop music group, made up of the producer DJ Squarta and rappers Grandi Numeri and Primo Brown, the latter of whom died in 2016.
