Nayt

The Molise-born, Rome-based William "Nayt" Mezzanotte, born in 1994, made his debut back in 2012 with "Nayt One", delivering a hardcore-hip-hop sound in line with the Roman tradition of Colle Der Fomento - technical and aggressive, though in a few episodes updated with crossover touches thanks to electronic production ("Non vedi") or southern elements. Within his generation, he's one of the few willing to venture into extra-beat territory. These early efforts are then enriched by an emo-rap sensibility on "Raptus" (2015), with soul and pop softness, flattening the content into a more pronounced romantic melancholy, a vein frequently mined on the more polished and elaborate "Un bacio" (2016). "Raptus 2" (2017) is a showcase of rap technique and dexterity, further refined on "Raptus 3" (2019): short but intense work in which Nayt explores the possibilities of his speed while also maturing the emotional and romantic side of his lyrics, and which in this latest chapter reaches moments of spectacular updating of Roman hip-hop into trap ("Brutti sogni", "Effetto domino") and even into the Latin wave ("Exit"), with crossover episodes that go beyond the Salmo model, blending it with MadMan's frenzy ("Animal").

Expressive maturity arrives with the double album, or rather the pair of mirrored albums, "Mood" and "Doom" (2021). The storytelling can now turn psychoanalytic ("La musica dovunque", "Il blocco dello scrittore", "Doom"); trap is just one of the many ideas and styles drawn on, always delivered with razor-sharp technique ("Tuttappo'", "Mortale") and, in several moments, a renewed pointed hardcore-hip-hop edge ("Lividi" feat. Mezzosangue; "OPSS" feat. Gemitaiz and Mattak). On "Doom", the bolder of the two halves, on "Tuttok" and on the acoustic "Sorpresa", Nayt reveals himself as an angry, melancholic singer-songwriter - so much so that, recombined into a single album as "Mood/Doom" and trimmed of a few lingering longueurs, it can be considered one of the most interesting hip-hop albums of the year.

His follow-up, “Habitat”, is an album full of reflection, capturing a rapper who differs from most of his peers: thoughtful, uncertain, uninterested in the latest trends, and engaged in a search that seems, above all, private and personal. “Lettera Q” (2024) confirms the path he's taken, without the anxiety of having to write his definitive album.

After appearing at Sanremo, Nayt releases “Io individuo“, an album with some memorable moments to add to a vast discography that still lacks a chapter destined for the genre's history books, perhaps weakened by his desire to show off many sides of his approach to making music.

(Antonio Silvestri)