The Roman rapper, Giallorossi fan: “Roma is the first thing I laughed and cried about. I don’t like the midfield, it needs to be modernised. The songs at the Festival are chosen by those who don’t do anything about music: pretend it’s the Champions League, who makes the lists, the coach or the warehouse worker?”
“They broke my heart, now I have two. One for my suffering and one for yours” he sang, and for someone who works as a rapper it’s a deal: double sensitivity, useful for those who rhyme what they hear and see, and double ventricular resistance, useful for a fan of a team that puts emotions on a roller coaster like few others. Before touring Italy for the tour of his new album, Elsewhere, Gemitaiz rewinds the mixtape of his life. “I’ve been going since Totti was seventeen”, he says in one verse, but before that he also stumbles over the ball. “My father was a guitarist, like all parents who play an instrument he gave me concerts when I was little. But as soon as I started walking I became familiar with football”
What kind of player is the young Gemitaiz?
“External attacker, good, fast. I play until I’m 16, then the rest of my life takes over”
“I try: guitar, drums, bass… nothing. But music fascinates me, and when I start writing I discover that the voice is my instrument. Then I hear ‘All eyez on me’ by Tupac, and that record changes my life. For months I don’t listen to anything else. I’m compulsive, if I’m passionate about something I want to know more and more, it makes me want to listen to all the rap I can find.”
Once upon a time many kids wanted to be footballers, today many more want to be rappers…
“You know what? Today you have many quick ways to break into music: maybe your voice works, maybe you have the song that rocks, maybe a video… The ease with which everything can be achieved makes a kid say ‘I want to be a rapper’ because in his head it’s simple. On a football field you can fuck yourself like that all your life and never get there, right? The new generations are lazy, they don’t want to run. The same person who would have told you before that he wanted to be an actor today tells you he wants to be a tiktoker”
Golden Ball? Maybe Kane, Dembelé, there’s the Champions League and the World Cup involved… but my favorite is Olise
One thinks of American rap and thinks of basketball. Does Italian rap have any reference sports?
“Yes, football and combat sports. Jake La Furia is a ball addict, so are Emis Killa and Madman, but they are all AC Milan fans… Madman has recently been obsessed with I don’t know what strange martial art technique, a lot of his colleagues do boxing…”
You and Madman even made a song called Pistorius…
“In those years (2013, ed.) it was cool to do a piece with the name of a popular character. And that was his moment, between athletics and the murder of his girlfriend. The story of the legless athlete who suddenly becomes the villain of the situation fascinates us, there are a whole series of analogies with his character: I run fast, I run towards gold, I shoot with my mouth…”
Olise makes me enjoy. They compare it to Yamal, but they are different. The only thing they have in common is that they 99% jump you and are mentally one step ahead of the opponent
Is there an athlete who inspires you today?
“On the spot I’ll tell you no. But if I see something and it strikes me and I find it a good metaphor to fit into a piece, sport always provides beautiful punchlines to use”
One of your most famous songs is called Ballon d’or. This year who would you give it to?
“Mmm, maybe Kane, Dembelé, there’s the Champions League and the World Cup involved… but my favorite is Olise. He makes me enjoy it. They compare him to Yamal, they play in the same role but they’re different. The only things they have in common is that 99% of the time they jump you and they’re mentally one step ahead of the opponent. Did you see the first leg between Bayern and PSG in the Champions League? You don’t skip Nuno Mendes easily, he’s a beast, he’s fast, yet Olise always managed to mix it up somehow”
“It’s life, it’s passion, it’s the first thing that made me laugh and cry. It’s the team that I went to support with my father and which I’m still completely dependent on. I go to the stadium with Rodrigo D’Erasmo, the violinist of Afterhours. He drags me there, every time I’m afraid it won’t go well…”
A toxic love, in short.
“It’s not an easy team to support, ours is certainly the most entertaining fan base in the world. Nobody knows how to be self-deprecating like a Roma fan. There’s a brilliant page on social media, Schickposting, of Roma fans who make memes about themselves. The best one is that of an arrow chasing itself in a circle and going from ‘If we see ar Circo Massimo’ to ‘I don’t want you anymore, you see’ and vice versa. An entirely Roman irony that is reflected in Romanism, even in moments you always make a laugh.”
Roma wins the scudetto, Totti plays with number 10 and you are 13 years old.
“The best year to be a Roma fan. I’ve seen many other very strong Romes, like the one that knocked out Messi’s Barça, but that one was truly unbeatable. One of the beautiful things about music is that it led me to meet my idols. We write to each other with Aldair and De Rossi, when I met Candela for the first time at the stadium 4 years ago it didn’t seem real to me”
Roma’s specialty: internal diatribe. Totti or Spalletti?
“Come on, no one was with Spalletti…”
Pisilli is a mini De Rossi. Kean? Better as a footballer than a rapper
“So, a Roma player can’t help but be with Ranieri. He wanted to retire for a long time, he should have gone after Cagliari, then he returned to Roma, he saved our asses… one more time, he started acting as a senior advisor and left the scene after having done much more than he should have done. Next year, however, I don’t think he would have stayed. Gasperini, on the other hand, is a formidable coach and doesn’t want to be retired. I’m with both of them, that’s it. I’m on the good side of Rome”
DS Gemitaiz, buy three players for Roma.
“We’re in a very good position in defence, we need the midfield. The old men, Pellegrini, Cristante and company, have had their time, El Aynaoui on some days you can see he has what it takes. I’d like to see him, Koné and Pisilli in the middle, who is a mini De Rossi. One says ‘You’re blaspheming’, but no: he’s a true Roma fan, who wants to play for Roma, runs like a damned man and is also technically good. Then I’d take Atta from Udinese who in my opinion is very strong, Dumfries on the right and Kean: ok, we already have Malen, but in my opinion he is a great striker”
He raps too. Did you hear it?
“Yes, I heard it. Better as a footballer, without a doubt”
Italy is no longer what it used to be. It is often said for the national team and for Sanremo.
“Sanremo is in a worse situation. But not because of who participates, eh, but because of how it is managed. Beyond musical tastes, it’s the theater that is created around it that is horrendous for me. The songs are no longer at the centre, a presenter or someone who has never had anything to do with music should not choose them. Pretend that Sanremo is the Champions League, who makes the team list? The coach or the warehouseman? Or someone who has nothing to do with football?”
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