Miss Impossible: negoziare modelli di genere per la GenZ, tra musica trap e social platform. Il caso di Anna Pepe

Abstract

Among the main symbolic referents for Italian Gen Z identified in the literature, trap music and digital platforms emerge as particularly prominent. Trap, the most listened-to musical genre among Italian Gen Z and characterized by the youngest average age of artists in the history of recorded music, conveys complex meanings that require analysis through a trans- and cross-media lens. As a generational response to historical, political, economic, and media transformations, trap music reappropriates and reconfigures elements of hip-hop—especially gangsta rap—emphasizing success, power, and violence as markers of competence traditionally linked to hegemonic masculinity. However, trap culture also constitutes a space in which a number of female artists are currently gaining visibility and engaging in self-representation to an extent previously unseen in the history of Italian hip-hop. Building on this premise, the present contribution explores the trap scene as a gendered space, examining the negotiations, continuities, and ruptures of gender norms enacted within it by female artists. In particular, the analysis will focus on the figure of Anna Pepe, currently the most followed and listened-to female artist on the main digital platforms, and the subject of the highest number of posts.