Tommy Kuti

(Formerly known as Mista Tolu, pseudonym Tolulope Olabode Kuti)
(Abeokuta, Nigeria, 1989 – )

Tommy Kuti: Redefining Italian Identity Through Music (By Anna Terroni)

In the evolving landscape of Italian music, few voices have been as bold, direct and culturally transformative as Tommy Kuti’s. Born as Tolulope Olabode Kuti in Nigeria and raised in a small town in the province of Mantua (IT), Tommy represents a new generation of Italians; multilingual, and multicultural. His music is not just a reflection of his personal journey, it’s a challenge to Italy’s dominant narratives about race, nationality, and belonging. Through his sharp lyrics, afro-infused beats and political positioning, Tommy Kuti has become one of the key figures pushing Italian culture toward a more inclusive and accurate self-image.

Tommy arrived in Italy as a child with his Nigerian family. Growing up in a mostly white, conservative part of Lombardy, he was often treated as an outsider despite speaking fluent Italian and sharing in the same culture, education, and environment as his peers. His sense of being Italian but seen as non-Italian soon became one of the central tensions in his work. “I’ve always felt too African to be considered fully Italian, and too Italian to be fully African,” he once said in an interview. This in-betweenness is not a weakness of his music, but rather its strength. It gives him the ability to speak across boundaries and articulate the complexity of second-generation identity.

Tommy’s 2018 debut album, Italiano Vero (translation: Real Italian) wasn’t just a collection of songs. It was a statement, a redefinition of what it means to be Afro-Italian in the twenty-first century. The album’s title alone introduces a new vocabulary in Italian pop culture, one that embraces hybridity instead of hiding it, as he says in his song “#Afroitaliano” (“#Afroitalian”): “Ho la pelle scura, l’accento bresciano / un cognome straniero e comunque italiano” (“I have dark skin, a Brescian accent / a foreign surname and still I’m Italian”). These lines cut directly through one of the most common and painful experiences of second-generation youth in Italy: being treated as foreigners in the country they feel is their own. Throughout the album, Tommy discusses police profiling, cultural pride, relationships across cultures, and the internal struggle of living in a place but never feeling completely at home. Therefore, his music doesn’t romanticize the immigrant experience: it humanizes it. In his songs, he blends English, Italian, and Yoruba-influenced rhythms to show that identity isn’t one thing; it’s a dialogue between many. Moreover, Tommy’s music blends genres and traditions: from American hip-hop to Nigerian Afrobeat, from Italian trap to conscious rap. His artistic influences include African diasporic artists like Fela Kuti (to whom he’s distantly related), and Italian rappers like J-Ax and Fabri Fibra,[1] but his work stands apart in one crucial way: its explicit focus on Black Italian identity. In “#Afroitaliano” he addresses the daily reality of Afro-Italians themselves: “Questi che ne sanno di file in questura / delle mille facce della mia cultura / è la melanina ciò che li cattura” (“These who know about files in police headquarters / of the thousand faces of my culture / melanin is what entraps them”), and the videoclip of the song shows black people employed in various common professions, demonstrating that they are not exceptions but part of the fabric of Italian society.    

Tommy’s lyrics are avowedly political, but never preachy. He uses humor, satire, and irony to expose the contradictions of Italian society. In “#Afroitaliano” he jokes about being black in Italy: “Mi dai del negro, dell’immigrato / il tuo pensiero è un po’ limitato / il mondo è cambiato, non è complicato / Afroitaliano per te è un rompicapo” (“You call me a nigger, an immigrant / your thinking is a little limited / the world has changed, it’s not complicated / ‘Afro-Italian’ is a mystery to you”). This line captures the absurdity of racial profiling with biting wit while making clear that his songs give space for laughter, pain, and pride to coexist, reflecting the layered experience of being Afro-Italian.

However, Tommy Kuti is more than just a rapper; he’s a cultural voice for a generation that has been invisible for too long. His impact goes beyond his lyrics: he regularly appears on Italian TV, contributes to public debates, and collaborates with other second-generation artists to push the conversation on race, identity, and representation forward. In 2018, Tommy starred in the Rai documentary Radici (Roots) which followed him as he returned to Nigeria to reconnect with his roots. The documentary showed a side of identity that Italian media rarely explores: the personal, emotional journey of belonging to two places at once. He was also active during the Black Lives Matter protests in Italy, participating in public rallies and calling out racist language in politics and the media.

Tommy’s visual aesthetic is just as political as his music. He often mixes traditional African prints with contemporary streetwear, symbolizing the cultural fusion that defines him. His videoclips are filled with diverse faces, urban settings and symbols of modern Black Italian life, not as exotic others, but as protagonists in their own story. Language is central to his identity, too. He moves fluidly between English and Italian, sometimes in the same verse. This multilingualism reflects the reality of many Afro-Italian youth, whose identities are shaped by both heritage and environment.

His work gives voice to a generation that has been Italian in every aspect other than societal recognition. Tommy once said in an interview: “I make music for those who feel like they’re always asked to prove they belong.” And that’s the heart of his mission. His songs are proof that identity is not given from above; it’s built from the ground up.

Looking ahead, Tommy Kuti continues to evolve as an artist. He collaborates with both emerging and established artists, and he uses his platform to elevate voices that remain marginalized in the Italian cultural space. His newest EP, Community, is the author’s most mature and personal project. A true mosaic of afrobeat, rap and amapiano sounds, with international urban influences, in which raw storytelling and infectious good vibes coexist, the album is a declaration of love to all the communities of which he has been a part. The message remains consistent: inclusion, pride, and truth.  

As Italy slowly begins to reckon with its diversity, Tommy Kuti is already there—rapping, speaking, laughing, and fighting. Through his music, he doesn’t just reflect a new Italy, he helps create it because, as he said: “I feel Africa sewn onto me like a shirt, but my homeland is where the heart is: in Italy.”

*******************

[1] It was thanks to the help of Fabri Fibra and his manager Paola Zukar that Tommy was able to approach Universal Studios, with which he would later sign a recording contract.

SOURCES

Translated songs: