WHICH ITALIAN DO WE SPEAK TODAY? THE YOUTH SLANG OF HIP-HOP MUSIC

Abstract

Contemporary Italian is undergoing numerous and rapid changes. Given the impossibility of illustrating all the salient features within a brief presentation in a (futile) attempt at broad contextualization, a very recent and particularly eloquent example from the hip-hop phenomenon is preferred. This example addresses youth slang, showcasing, despite its specific intricacies, some more general traits of the phenomenon, including the profound influence of English on Italian and the importance of age as a factor impacting spoken variations. Specifically, the text of "Louboutin" (from the album of the same name), a single released on June 25, 2020, by Vale Pain, an artist of Peruvian origins born and raised in the San Siro neighborhood of Milan, currently considered one of the leading exponents of the drill genre in Italy, will be analyzed and commented upon. This will be done in collaboration with the rapper Rondodasosa, who is also from the same neighborhood, where most of the official video was filmed.