Peter Wit: «With Payback Rec. we want to build something lasting, without shortcuts»

It was 2022 when we heard your name for the first time. A lot of time has passed since then and, despite your young age, you’ve released so many projects. Who introduced you to this culture? What were the stimuli that pushed you to take your first steps?

Definitely thanks to my siblings, my sister danced breakdancing and my brother listened to Dogo, they downloaded songs from the computer we had at home. Like every younger brother, I wanted to copy them in everything, so I would go and get everything they listened to.

Who was the first person to recognize your talent? Someone with an authoritative opinion, already in the Rap game, who told you “you really kill it” “you have something special”?

If by authoritative we mean the opinion of a person who had already built a significant and lasting career, definitely Nicolas (E-Green, ed.). However, I take this opportunity to mention all the producers I’ve had the pleasure of working with and building good friendships with over the years, because we’ve always done it on the basis of respect and mutual esteem.

You’re part of an independent reality, recently born, but already with strong credibility in the underground scene, thanks to the supervision of a name like E-Green. How did you join PayBack Records?

Well, I can proudly say that I saw Payback being born, it’s been around for two years and Nico and I have known each other and worked together for four years now. I’ve lived it from the beginning and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

What is the DNA, the philosophy that characterizes the label and what does it mean for you to have E-Green as a mentor? How do you work, confront each other and talk about Hip-Hop and life with a reference figure from a different generation than yours?

I think “no Shortcuts” is a motto that perfectly sums up the spirit of what we’re doing. We’re here with a knife between our teeth trying to build something lasting, without the need to chase market logics that stink of rot. For me anyway, having Nico on my side is great luck because he’s a person who has already experienced the dynamics of this game and has been navigating this environment for twenty years. My feeling, honestly, is that I’m in an iron barrel (safe and sound).

You came out this month with “Giovani d’oggi”: what does this record represent for your young career and what does the title represent? You could be considered a “Young person today,” but what’s it like to tell the story of your generation? What do you see yourself in and what do you think makes you different? Is there something in particular that older generations don’t understand about your generation?

This album is my best project so far, for my journey I’d like it to represent that small leap in quality, I like to think that so far we’ve been playing and that this is the real beginning. I chose the title because I decided to tackle themes that don’t just concern me, I wanted as many people as possible to see themselves in it, especially my peers and younger kids because they’re the ones who can better understand what led me to write certain things.

The only thing that has always made me feel “different” has always been that among my friends my age I was the first to leave school and go to work, but I still feel absolutely like everyone else, part of the problem. Probably, thinking about the conversations with my colleagues who are all my father’s age, the usual speech like “when I was 20 I already had a house three kids a car etc. etc.”… they don’t realize how the world has changed and how this country has gotten worse.

In some tracks on the album you can perceive more reflective writing, less oriented towards pure challenge. Has your way of writing changed or has what you feel you need to tell changed?

Maybe both things. If when I was little the tracks I wrote most easily were the less committed ones, now it’s exactly the opposite. In this album I wanted to say things, I’ll continue to do so in the future as long as I feel this need.

Is there something you would have never put in a lyric before and that today you feel the need to say, even at the cost of exposing yourself?

Well certainly, also referring back to the previous question, all the more delicate themes regarding which I’m quite fragile, like for example “In tutta la vita” (in all of life).

Is there a particular track from this latest project you’re most attached to? One that best tells who Peter Wit is today?

Probably “Giovani d’oggi” and “Terra promessa”  reflect me more than all the others.

You also talk about your grandparents in some tracks: what did they say about this passion of yours for Rap? Did they advise you something or did they observe in silence letting you do your thing?

Obviously they didn’t understand much about it, but they knew I had a passion that I loved with all of myself and they always advised me to keep pursuing it.

You’re very young, but you’ve already released several albums, EPs and you have many collaborations. How do you juggle work commitments, daily life, fun and the aspiration to pursue an artistic career?

I was born in 2004, and honestly it’s not easy. I don’t do it in the best way because I realize that I often fall into very avoidable distractions, but I’m trying. To answer you better, I’ll tell you something Nico told me at a time when I was particularly down and felt the need to change what was my routine, he advised me to dedicate myself to this thing like a job and he told me “it will seem like you have less time available, but you’ll only have the necessary time to do the important things.” To this day I believe it’s one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received.

What is the biggest goal you want to achieve with your music? Not only in terms of numbers or visibility, but of impact and message.

To remain in people’s hearts. Thinking that maybe in 30 years someone will play “Giovani d’oggi” to their son in response to a question like “dad what did you listen to at my age?” gives me goosebumps.