After the release of Non pago rent, Digos went to Bello Figo’s house
After the release of Non pago rent, Digos went to Bello Figo’s house
It was October 2016, already a very particular year for Italian rap, when at a certain point Bello Figo arrived with Non pago rent. An ironic song, extremely lol, but it caused an uproar. Controversy after controversy, memes, television debates regarding Bello Figo and the situation of immigrants. I don’t pay rent has become a media and political case.
He was invited on Rete 4 by Maurizio Belpietro to the program “Dalla tua parte”. Belpietro asks him “Mr. Bello Figo, why do you make provocative songs about the things that bother Italians?And he replies: “My brothers are human beings who need wifi, good food and girls“. Alessandra Mussolini screams that he should be “kicked out” because he makes money on the suffering of Italians, another guest accuses him of inciting rape and femicide, a PD parliamentarian says he is an arrogant person, Bello Figo becomes the object of the invectives of Calabrian citizens and Venetian mayors in connection, there is even an African cultural mediator who accuses him of exploiting the suffering of immigrants: “I agree with Mussolini – screams – someone like that needs to be kicked in the ass!”. Bello Figo’s response to this stoning is the “dab”.
Years later, Bello Figo spoke about the song, how it was born and what happened afterwards in a recent interview with Luca Casadei’s One More Time Podcast, where he says: “I lived at home with my parents, they paid me rent, so I actually didn’t pay rent. Initially he didn’t talk about politics, there was this issue of immigrants clashing with Italians and I tried to talk about it in this song, it seemed nice to me. When it came out I was invited to do an interview on television. My figure there was the refugee, the one in the song, who they had to judge even if it wasn’t true. ‘Shame, it’s your fault… you’re a refugee’, I was laughing because I wasn’t a refugee, I go home I see 1000 memes, the guy who called me for that show called me again ‘oh when are we going to do it again?’ I say no, because after that phone call the media still continues to use that show, I felt used there.”
And he adds: “I never thought that a song made in my bedroom could go so far. Imagine an African boy who doesn’t even speak Italian well, so I would never have thought it. So the situation was slipping away a bit for me too. My friends told me ‘but delete it, the song is our problem, they don’t even let us do concerts, we go around and people look at us badly’, they were also ashamed of me. If I entered a bar I was seen as the one who insults Italians. I handled it with a bit of smiles, I was a bit sorry, I suffered because it wasn’t my intention to create a national discussion. Digos came to my house ‘we have seen threats at your evenings, but has anyone out there ever come to beat you up?’ I replied ‘no no the situation is calm for now’, I locked myself in the house and continued singing”.
