99 Posse is an Italian hip hop/

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

group from

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. It raps both in Italian and in the local Neapolitan language. Most of 99 Posse's songs deal with political or social issues, and the group members are considered left-wing hardliners. As a showing of their activism, all of the group's albums have been released with a ''prezzo politico'' ("political price"): each CD displays a sticker saying "Don't pay more than...". For ''99 Posse'', this means "putting into practice a specific understanding about their relationship with the market, a sort of ideal practice." The group has gained popularity in Italy through its songs and its voicing of progressive political causes. Its first album, ''Curre Curre Guagliò'' (1993), was mainly influenced by

and world music. Subsequent albums, ''Cerco Tiempo'' (1996) and ''Corto Circuito'' (1998), included new styles like drum 'n bass and

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with " downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tem ...

. ''Curre Curre Guaglio'' was self-produced, but rose from its underground status to become an iconic album and cultural manifesto that eventually inspired the film ''Sud'' by Oscar-winning director

Gabriele Salvatores Gabriele Salvatores (born 30 July 1950) is an Italian Academy Award-winning film director and screenwriter. Biography Born in Naples, Salvatores debuted as a theatre director in 1972, founding in Milan the Teatro dell'Elfo, for which he directe ...

. The group also has its own record label, Novenove, which works to promote underground artists. On 18 July 2009 they came back without Meg in Naples, during a concert created by movements against repression and the blocking of 21 activists for G8 in Turin's university.

Band members

Members as of 2021

Former members

*Luca "'O Zulù" Persico – vocals *Marco "Kaya Pezz8" Messina – sampler and dub master *Massimo "JRM" Jovine – bass *Sacha Ricci – keyboard *Claudio "Clark Kent" Marino – drums *Maria "Meg" Di Donna – vocals

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

References

Bibliography

*Behan, Tom. (2007) ''Putting spanners in the works: the politics of the 99 Posse''. Popular Music 26.03, 497-504.
Cavallo, Vincenzo; Chambers, Iain. (n.d.). "Neapolitan Nights: from Vesuvian Blues to Planetary Vibes"
*Dello Iacovo, Rosario. (2014) Curre curre guagliò: Storie dei 99 Posse. Milan: Baldini&Castoldi.
Dines, Nick. (1999) "Centri sociali: occupazioni autogestite a Napoli negli anni novanta", Quaderni di sociologia, 43(21), 90-111.Messina, Marcello. (2016) "Cattivi guagliuni: the identity politics of 99 Posse". In P. Guerra, & T. Moreira (Eds.), Keep it Simple, Make it Fast! An approach to underground music scenes, Vol. 2, (pp. 131-136). Porto: University of Porto. Faculty of Arts and Humanities.Pugliese, Joseph. (2008). "Whiteness and the blackening of Italy: La guerra cafona, extracomunitari and provisional street justice". PORTAL Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, 5(2).
{{Authority control Italian hip hop groups Italian communists Ciak d'oro winners