Is there still an Italian trap rap scene? After only five years, the hype surrounding trap rap music in Italy has faded

"Gentlemen, this is the anthem of the new school," says a user in the comments of Tedua, Sfera Ebbasta, Rkomi, Izi and the Frenchman Coyote Jo Bastard's "Revolver Freestyle" lyrics on Genius, which was released on January 13th of 2017. An emblematic and significant comment, that sums up the excitement around the new Italian trap rap scene between 2015 and 2016. Today, that scene is mourned, while the social networks are full of people who remind how relevant was the wave of new rappers exploded in 2016, a magic year, that saw many albums which are still appreciated nowadays make their debut. From Tedua's Orange County Mixtape to Sfera Ebbasta, made by the homonymous Cinisello Balsamo rapper, to Rkomi's Dasein Sollen and the Dark Polo Gang's Trilogy, it seems like every talent of the trap scene decided to concentrate their dedication on 2016, contributing to making musically unforgettable that year. 

Obviously, the social networks eased the game. Without social media and trap rap, a large part of the national scene there would not be. We think at tha Supreme and Young Miles, young producers on the crest of a wave thanks to the Internet, or ANNA, who became famous on TikTok. A question then stands spontaneous: is making trap music really that simple? Clearly not, but it's just because of this misunderstanding if nowadays we have all these rappers that equal, unable to give something new to the genre and capable of surviving by "taking inspiration" from their colleagues of the other European rap scenes at the aim of renewing the sound, which is already outdated after only five years. A similar fate in Italy is what drill rap is facing, which is another subgenre of rap made popular by Chief Keef and the Glo Gang, but also by Pop Smoke, who passed away one year ago and then became a legend. The feeling is that of being in front of a new possible speculative bubble: in the last year, many rappers emerged thanks to the drill, many more decided to try at making it, but the result has often been daunting. The problem, which is the same they have with trap music, is always the same: if something works elsewhere, it doesn't mean that it will work too in our country. So creativity and originality disappear in lyrics like any other, in an Instagram story in which someone says that he's the one to have first brought the genre to Italy, in a slang spoken without belonging to the right context.

When trap rap arrived in Italy in 2015, the novelty was real and the sound that was starting to go around was truly innovative for the panorama. The subgenre had much less following (compared to today) even in America, moreover the representatives of the new scene had a style, a charm, an almost revolutionary personality, but above all they really had something to say, a redemption to make, and the music was the right way to go to escape a life of hardship between public housing and crime. All the protagonists of the new wave trap had a story to tell and a strong relation to unite them all as if they were the chosen ones to bring trap rap to the fore. Unfortunately, now the reality is different and the Italian trap has run out of ideas, it's saturated and flat, and an escape route certainly cannot be copying someone else's movements and style of rapping. Someone manages to emerge - Rosa Chemical, an almost unique character on the Italian soil, to the aforementioned tha Supreme, which has a clearly recognizable sound, or to some emerging rappers, such as J Lord, Neapolitan whom we will soon hear about -, but for our ambitions, it's not enough. In 2021, the trap in Italy continues to sell a lot of albums and intrigue the public, but how long will all this last?