M¥SS KETA - LE RAGAZZE DI PORTA VENEZIA - THE MANIFESTO

What this video is

Released 18 October 2019, exactly four years after the original 2015 video, THE MANIFESTO reframes a cult Milanese underground anthem as a mainstream pop-feminist declaration. The song is dedicated to the Porta Venezia neighbourhood of Milan — historically one of the city's first multiethnic districts and by 2019 a hub of LGBTQ+ nightlife and multicultural youth culture. The original track was built on a sample…

Why it matters

Landmark document of 2010s Italian underground rap's crossover to pop. M¥SS KETA — an anonymised, always-masked figure whose concealed identity was a deliberate artistic-political statement — used this video to consolidate a distinctly Milanese genre fusion of techno, house, rap, and pop punk…

The director

Born Piacenza, 1986; based in Milan. Director and member of the Motel Forlanini creative collective since 2014. Gained international viral attention in 2013 with short film C'est la vie and the Exploding Actresses YouTube series. Longstanding visual…