For a few days now, a twisted debate has been taking place over a marketing gimmick created by Fabio Rovazzi. On Sunday 12 May, the singer made a live broadcast on Instagram during which, at a certain point, his mobile phone was stolen by a boy. It was a fictitious theft which actually served to announce the release of “Maranza”, Rovazzi’s new single in collaboration with Il Pagante. The singer’s staging created a media short circuit, as unexpected as it was useful for the promotion of the song. In fact, many newspapers initially reported the news of the theft as real, only to be denied a few hours later. Many therefore lashed out against the artist, claiming that he was damaging the public image of Milan and making fun of the people who actually suffered robberies. The housing councilor of the municipality of Milan Pierfrancesco Maran threatened Rovazzi with reporting him for the damage to the image that he would have caused to the city. The police commissioner Giuseppe Petronzi defined the singer’s gesture as disrespectful towards the citizens. Mayor Beppe Sala himself intervened, reporting “a deterioration in behavior and civic sense, which undoubtedly is a risk for our community”. Rovazzi defended himself, again through his Instagram profile, stating that «the crime-Milan comparison was made by the press and politicians. Perhaps it was an unconditional reflex because Milan is actually in a disastrous situation.” Meanwhile, on Wednesday night, “Maranza” was released on all digital platforms. The song, as one could easily imagine, is ironic about the figure of the Maranza, using stereotypes and clichés. If there is one thing that unites Rovazzi and his detractors it is the total disinterest in the Maranza themselves, now inanimate objects to be fed to public debate. None of the actors in the field ask themselves who these people actually are, whether it is right to make them a caricature for marketing purposes, whether it is right to use them as a weapon of political propaganda to fuel insecurities and racist and classist prejudices.
In this sense, the history of the term “maranza” already speaks enough for itself. This word today identifies a young, male person, usually raised in the suburbs, who displays “street” attitudes, listens to rap music and wears flashy clothing and accessories, linked to the world of streetwear. Often, but not necessarily, the maranza has North African origins or comes, in any case, from a racialized community. What distinguishes this figure aesthetically are above all some garments, such as for example the tracksuits of football teams, Nike TN shoes and Lacoste polo shirts. However, maranza has existed in the lexicon of the Milanese suburbs since the 1980s. At the time, this term simply meant a suburban boy with a bold attitude, a synonym of words still used today, such as “coatto”, “tamarro” or “zarro”. In fact, the term had no connotation in terms of clothing choices, musical tastes and, above all, ethnic origin.
Almost disappearing in the last fifteen years, the word “maranza” has had a new life starting from 2020. Thanks to TikTok, and then to traditional media, maranzas have become, almost overnight, the bugbear of the Milanese streets. It all happened around Covid. Immediately after the pandemic crisis, the perception of a large segment of the Milanese population was that the city had become more dangerous. A sort of “moral panic” totally denied by the data provided by the Milan Police Headquarters, which see a decrease in criminal phenomena in the city. It is precisely in that uncertain and delicate phase that figures such as the Maranza, or the infamous baby gangs, (re)become part of the collective imagination as bearers of social disorder and violence. Today the term has therefore undergone a process of re-signification, so much so that the false myth has spread that “maranza” is the result of the portmanteau between the word “morocchino” and the word “zanza”, which in Milanese dialect identifies the thief.
In a country already weakened by years of Islamophobic and racist rhetoric, a new figure enters the collective imagination, perfect for stoking ancestral fears. However, all this has an obvious cause. Also at the turn of Covid, the explosion of a generation of non-white Italian artists occurred for the first time in Italy. Dozens of rappers from racialized communities – usually labeled as “second generation” – have, in just a few years, become idols of many young white people. The success of these artists, fueled by the spread of TikTok, was a real revolution for the Italian entertainment system, usually used to pacifying and subsuming every alternative artistic form. The sometimes violent and nihilistic lyrics of many “second generation” rappers have contributed to explaining what it means in relational, economic and emotional terms to grow up as a non-white person in Italy.
This part of the story, denied by the majority of white Italians, has provoked both the fear of adults, who would prefer to look away, and the curiosity of children, excited by being able to see through the keyhole what is happening beyond their own neighborhood . The story of the Italian-Moroccan rapper Baby Gang is significant from this point of view. Today the twenty-two year old boy is the most listened to Italian artist in the world while he finds himself imprisoned for reasons that are causing discussion. The rapper has in fact made a series of posts on social media to promote his new album. An activity that should have been permitted by the house arrest regime in which he found himself. The Court of Appeal of Milan instead considered these actions not legitimate, requesting his transfer to prison. This fact is part of a broader framework of criminalization of the Baby Gang figure, which goes well beyond the facts for which he is awaiting trial. A criminalization that reflects a broader attempt to delegitimize artists whose social and cultural weight is poorly tolerated.
Independent of the events linked to individual rappers, what plays a role in this mechanism is the perverse work of the mainstream media and beyond. Between openly racist television programs and the carelessness of progressive newspapers, a wrong narrative surrounds the figure of the Maranza. What is not recognized by anyone is in fact the historical significance of this phenomenon. The empowerment through music of communities that have always been marginalized in our country and the transversal success of a youth culture opposed by the Italian entertainment system would deserve much more attention than that which is dedicated to it by an old and increasingly conservative Italy . The general intent is in fact to denigrate this phenomenon, making fun of the figure of the maranza or criminalizing it when there is the possibility. An intent that responds to the fear of having to deal with something new and disruptive. The controversy between Rovazzi and a part of Milanese politics and journalism is, in this sense, a manifesto of the relationship that our country has with young people and with non-white people, two categories with which the majority of adult Italians do not wants anything to do with it.
