Speranza and the provincial streetwear
From Givova to Caserta: Speranza and the real aesthethic of Italian suburbs
Just a few months ago the name Speranza wouldn't have meant anything for all the rap and trap fans in Italy, and only a few would have bet on his success. Instead, his arrogant, real and loud rap is sending all his colleagues addicted to autotune back home. The style of the rapper from Caserta reflects perfectly his attitude to music and places him galaxies away from the other Italian emerging artists: he doesn't need brands, trends or a nice Instagram profile to conquer that street credibility. On the other hand, he's made his rap and his humble origins a badge of honor, using as a manifesto a Givova tracksuit rather than a Gucci belt.
Even though at a first look he might appear quite rude, mainly because of his divisive voice, Speranza is definitely the rough diamond shining in the Campania scene. His rap is complex and thought after: he mixes different flows and languages (French, Roman and a few gypsy terms) with the dialect of Caserta. His poetry deals with the street life and above all the life in jail, a topic very often forgotten in Italian music. The protagonists are his neighborhood friends or his cellmates, and the combination of lyrics, music and imaginary has made Speranza the rapper with the highest street credibility in Italy, locating him miles away from the usual rap and trap scene.
He talks about drugs and trafficking in a very different way from those exaggerated tones - often ridiculous or childish - used by his colleagues, Speranza talks about the life in the suburbs because he knows it, he's an insider, he sings about what he has truly lived. He doesn't drink the pink juice of DrefGold or Sfera Ebbasta, he drinks Tavernello in the squares. He doesn't come from Rome or Milan, Speranza was born in Caserta and he speaks about the real provincial life in 2018, about all the consequences of a marginalized life, above all in a social and cultural environment like the one in Campania.
His image reflects his poetic. If the vast majority of trappers look the same (Nike and adidas are core elements of every look, plus the classic Off-White and Vetements, or Supreme and Gucci), Speranza is the exact opposite. By looking at his Instagram profile and his visuals, his closet is made of tracksuits and tight T-shirts, a few hoodies and the signature sneakers, but they're never the newest and most sought-after silhouettes. Not so hyped items connected with a criminal and suburban aesthetic, far away from the clichés of Gomorra and true to life.
Once in a while, he sports very well-known brands, like Nike or Emporio Armani, but on him they become the symbol of a social redeeming or the sign of belonging like the golden necklace. And for a rapper that has made candor and realness his benchmarks, a wardrobe without a fashionable brand is more important than you might think. The striking example that mirrors the values of Speranza is his song Givova, which takes the Campanian sportswear brand, for a long time connected with a certain type of Sunday markets and criminal aesthetic, and turns it into a status symbol and a metaphor of his trap:
Trasim nda galera ca tuta ra Legea, ra Zeus o ra Givova / Scarpe slacciate o' per / New Balance o Diadora / Fors sbagliamm e mod / Ma nu sbagliamm mod.
Givova
Givova, Zeus and Legea are all Italian sportswear brand more interested in the substance and in the economy of their items, rather than hype, like it is for adidas, Kappa or Nike. Moreover, they remind of a specific aesthetic, very close to Speranza: the Italian suburbs, prisons, amateur football played on the ground.
Even in the visual for Chiavt a Mammt Speranza proudly wears two football jerseys very far from the hype of the PSG jerseys (worn by DPG in Cavallini and by Travis Scott). To be precise, one is a Palermo jersey, dating back 2006-7, of David di Michele, and one is a Algery Puma jersey made worn by Sofiane Feghouli. Both the jerseys' fit and imaginary reflect perfectly the real and genuine universe of provincial life incarnated by Speranza.
