Neffa

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...

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 appropriately titled Neffa & I Messaggeri della Dopa in 1996 with a group of Italian and American artists collectively called I Messaggeri della Dopa. The musician stuck with stalwarts Gruff and Deda for his next record, 1998's 107 Elementi, followed the next year with the five-song EP Chicopisco.

It was after this that Neffa decided to explore his other musical interests, namely soul, funk, and R&B, all of which are heard in his 2001 album, Arrivi e Partenze. Although he received a lot of criticism from the Italian rap community, the album did well commercially, and gained Neffa attention from a more mainstream audience. He followed up the success of Arrivi e Partenze two years later with I Molteplici Mondi di Giovanni, Il Cantante Neffa, and in 2006 his third album as a singer, Il Mondo Nuovo, was released in Italy.