The man who goes by the name
Neffa was born Giovanni Pellino in 1967 in Scafati, Italy, a small town near Naples, but he spent much of his youth in the northern cities of Turin and Bologna. He began his musical career as a drummer in various hardcore bands, one of which was the influential Negazione, using the name "Jeff," but later decided to switch to hip-hop. Pellino, who at this point was performing under the name
Neffa, in honor of the Paraguayan Cremonese soccer star, hooked up with DJ Gruff and Deda to form Sangue Misto, a hip-hop group whose debut, 1994's SXM, is often considered the first great Italian rap album. In 1996
Neffa decided to try out his luck as a solo artist, and recorded the appropr...
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