We've been talking about rap and arenas for some time now, so Club Dogo's ten consecutive sell-out dates, nine years after their last live show, wouldn't be a coincidence given their exceptional nature. One thing should be noted, however: last night in Assago was not only the celebration of the most historic and influential group in Italian hip-hop, it was also not just the celebration of a style of music that had also achieved laborious and belated success in Italy, but rather the Demonstration – authorized and “paid” – of a community that recognizes itself in the Dogo and grew up with their music as a soundtrack.
It is an almost unique case in this genre, except perhaps for the Neapolitan rap that will flock to the stadium for Geolier in a few months, which is not about the fan cult of the musical idol of the moment or the hype of a sudden media success, Sanremo or not, bringing people to concerts. It is the feeling of being part of a movement and a history, especially Milanese but not only, that puts on hold the usual individualistic ritual of the pop star to be celebrated by transforming the evening into a collective event in which the Club Dogo are the chariot that leads them in the procession, “by the people for the people” – as they sing in almost half of the setlist Break your neck – Manifesto of their more or less conscious rap pulsism.
The Dogofiero audience includes everything: Gen Z and Boomers, families with small children, the tattooed bodybuilder with the bag like in the cult sketch of The usual idiots – “Fuck the Dogos, fuck the Dogos!” – and the middle-class professional who arrived in the SUV, uniting the center and the suburbs in a single large square, not only metaphorically represents a certain point on the stage, complete with scooters, benches and drinking fountains. Yes, because the group's live show is structured like a bildungsroman. The beginning is a tribute to the old school, to the passion for the rap genre, symbolized by the Wu-Tang Clan logo on the console: old hits – including Chronicles of the Resistance And Rap soprano since the debut of Fist me – customized by the arena thanks to the restoration of Don Joe's beats. Jake and Gué appear dressed all in black, hardcore without the bling, to underline that “I've been rhyming since…” is more than a trademark. The recovery of one's own identity, unique and perhaps unrepeatable given the changes in the scene, is a question of the details distributed across the punch lines of her collection: Tamarri and not Maranza, Nike Silver before and more than the Tn, “Uncle” and not “brother”.
Photo: Edoardo Anastasio
The second part of the show, complete with dancers, is the most dynamic and stadium-like part of the discography, the part where you scream at the top of your lungs while imagining Kanye in a corner picking up the sound with Boom, far away from the Inter-curve: Local life, I'll ruin everything, Who caresAlready the titles strung together give a good impression of the atmosphere that animated the forum at a certain point in the evening and of what it is, to paraphrase another highly acclaimed hit: “their world, their rules”.
There is also space for new pieces like Boom Bap Mafia, Milly And Alone in Milan As Elodie sings on stage, the audience greets her with the same enthusiasm as the classics and Jake expresses his amazement. After all, they are Born for this, as the two rappers emphasize in a “speech!” Speech!” about the big bar in the square that became the Forum and how they sing while in the videos we see them young, clean-shaven in black and white photos, nostalgia and a few tears for the good old days.
But in yesterday's big show there is nothing nostalgic (at best celebratory, as we said) and even the last part of the concert is back to the roots timeless and powerful like Vincenzo's scream from Via Anfossi Pure Bogotaone of the vintage hosts along with those of J-Ax in It's still burning and Giuliano Palma in PESWitnesses to a time when rap had neither reached the charts nor the Rete 4 talk shows.
Gué and Jake rap, hype up the crowd, and even dance as the song begins dance-dance From Fragile, and – emotions aside – they seem completely comfortable in the role of masters of ceremonies at this secular mass with a stadium choir. After all, I always like to remember this, even if I don't come from the increasingly rhetorical “need of the suburbs” – Gué did the classic at Parini, Tupac and Snoop also attended “prestigious” schools – they don't need that to affect their sincerity towards them of the street, because they sought the street, studied it and lived it in this immersive experience that was their journey into rap. And even their authenticity is beyond question, there is no Ferragni Syndrome to justify anything, in fact the Dogos were influencers even before social media. And this is their party, their city (the cathedral is always in the background in the pictures), their world.
