PIPPO SOWLO - La fine della Naspi

Filippo Mosca, aka Pippo Sowlo, is back. Born in Rome in 1994, he graduated in philosophy from the University of Tor Vergata with a thesis on Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. In 2019 he released a digital EP for Bomba Dischi titled "Ok Computer però trap". The record contains six tracks, which actually follow just as many scattered around the web that often went viral in the indie-hipster scene, especially in Rome.

Some call it "comedy-trap": in content it's satire, and it's certainly the Italian music product closest to stand-up comedy, marked as it is by a pronounced taste for the dirty joke, the biting provocation, the total demolition of any form of (self-)censorship. Needless to say, everything is seasoned with street Roman slang, which in Pippo Sowlo's music isn't a detail but the very substance. In "Fregne mutilate", for instance, one of the project's earliest songs, disability becomes an opportunity - but here's the outrageous twist - not for the disabled person themselves, but for the desperate sexual predator, encouraged by the presumed insecurity and psychological subordination of their prey. At least a dozen other outrageous - or "grèvi", as they say in Rome - Pippo Sowlo tracks could be mentioned. "Miguel" is a mask straight out of contemporary Roman commedia dell'arte: the boorish suburban father, divorced, gambling-addicted and morally despicable, who sees his son as an existential dead weight; "Sciarponi" (based on an idea by Sanguedecane) crudely illustrates the phenomenology whereby the more of a coatto you are, the more likely your friends are to die tragically in a car crash. But it's "Sirvia" - built on a Carl Brave and Franco 126-style beat - that stands as the iridescent gem of Pippo's songbook, with the brilliant idea of packing into one Roman guy's soliloquy a compendium of all the plagues of a toxic relationship: violence, body shaming, stalking and revenge porn.

Being scandalized while listening to Pippo Sowlo is understandable, but also short-sighted. It would be like blaming a film or theatre actor for the character they're playing. In any case, at a certain point, the fear that these lyrics and characters might become a burden in Filippo's private life led him - who had meanwhile become a researcher and high school teacher - to abandon the project. But the spark of hype that had made Pippo Sowlo a niche success never really died out. And perhaps that's partly why, after roughly five years of inactivity, the project has risen from the ashes with the release of "La fine della Naspi": twenty-five minutes of music and nine trap miniatures in full Pippo Sowlo style.
The substantial novelty for listeners lies in the production (G Coal, ESSEHO, Oh Shit DeAndré, Is That You?, Tenth Sky), polished and glossy as never before. The real surprise, though, after all these years, is hearing that Pippo Sowlo's inspiration hasn't dipped at all. Aside from a couple of underwhelming episodes ("AirTag" sounds like a lesser "Sirvia", and "Dont's" is a rather forgettable track in the style of late-period Contessa), the record works.

"Vale Todo Season" - built on an Evelyn "Champagne" King sample - is an instant classic on our man's exceedingly (extremely) broad-minded views when it comes to relating to the opposite sex ("Ho fatto er viscidone con l'amica de mi' madre/ vale todo season, non mi puoi giudicare"), "Accreditato" perfectly conveys the anxiety and stigma of being turned away at the door when you assumed you were on the list, while "La merda umana" is essentially the flip side of Coez's "E yo mamma", namely the hysterical, disillusioned and frustrated reaction to one's own mother's looming old age.

For anyone who has never entered Pippo Sowlo's world, "La fine della Naspi" represents, should you wish it, the classic baptism by fire. For those who instead keep a "rebel prince" scarf or a "Guardie" t-shirt in their room, there's no need to say it: what you've been waiting for has landed on streaming platforms.

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08/07/2026