On the day of the national strike for Gaza and Flotilla, Ghali published a long intervention in which he accuses the rappers of having betrayed the essence of the genre (born as protest music) by choosing the silence on the conflict in the Middle East. A silence that “has officially killed rap”.
It is not the first time that the artist takes a position on the topic: already in Sanremo 2023 he had invoked the “stop to the genocide”, unleashing political and media discussions. Now Ghali returns with even harder words: «The rap is dead, you are not a rapper. Use a thousand words to fill the stanzas but do not say anything about Palestine ».
For him, the justifications given by many colleagues-by the will to remain “out of politics” to the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian question-are only Alibi. “All excuses, all bullshit”, he writes, listing three real reasons behind silence: disinterest (“is not in your algorithm”), fear of losing sponsors and opportunities, or even complicity: “support genocide means not even not to take sides”.
The rapper underlines how the absence of a position also has other consequences: «You have not spoken, and the brands do not seek you. What did you earn with your silence? ».
For Ghali, the comparison is clear: on the one hand the mobilization in the Italian squares, on the other the musical charts. “Italy is on the street, and Flotilla will go down in history,” he writes, indicating those who sacrifice work days to demonstrate as a positive example. In his opinion, those who are silent will end up losing not only artistic credibility, but also personal dignity: “The genocide will fall on your art, on your pen and the health of future generations”.
To support Ghali also Clementino, who in the Neapolitan sinks the blow against the “ranking rappers”: “Mettiteversa shaking. You can have all the Platini and all the gold necklaces in the world, but you are nothing. You are just munnezz ».
Also for him, silence is equivalent to betraying the original spirit of hip hop, born as a protest voice: “Hip is knowledge, Hop is movement”, he recalled, accusing colleagues of thinking only of his own interests.
