American controversial rap musician and producer Kanye West (currently known by the stage name Ye) as well as the fanatical ultra-supporters of Inter Milan, who play in Serie A, the main Italian football league.
There is a collaboration that neither the music world nor the football world expected to see. Now, however, these parties have together risen to the top of the world’s hit lists.
Inter Milan’s ultra-fan group Curva Nord, which takes its name from the supporters’ stands at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, has been named as one of the performers in Ye and Ty Dolla Signin on the new album Vultures 1 by the Â¥$-duo. Supporters sing the songs Carnival and Stars.
In addition to the vocal parts, the supporters have participation in the lyrics of the songs.
Of these two, Carnival has, for example, become one of the five most listened-to songs in the world at the moment on the music streaming service Spotify. The album was released on February 10 and immediately became the most listened to in 72 different countries. Carnival has already been played more than 44 million times.
When it was revealed that Inter Milan fans were involved in the album, the Italian and international media woke up. In addition to Italy, the surprising collaboration also made headlines in the United States and around Europe.
How did West end up with football fans?
Italian music media RockIt found finally an explanation for how football fans ended up singing along to West’s new album.
Italian media interviewed the music manager Richard Santoro, which became the starting point for a sudden collaboration. Santoro had first worked with West’s background team as an organizer of a hastily planned gig, but also as an administrator.
When the October gig was organized in Italy, West’s son St had wanted to go see Serie A football.
– Since I support Inter, I would have liked to take them to the match in Milan. However, in the end it was difficult to organize according to the schedule, so we ended up going to Genoa’s home match.
West’s presence in Genoa’s game immediately attracted attention. Instead, it was the supporters, the ultras, who attracted West’s attention. According to Santoro, the singing, torches and passion of the audience had taken the musician with them.
– He was impressed by it all. He called me later and said he wanted them to be part of his performance. He said he wanted 2 500 ultras on stage with him at the same time to sing his songs.
36 hours notice for tape
In the end, the gig planned for the Campovolo concert area in Reggio Emilia was cancelled. However, the plan is still valid, says Santoro.
– If everything goes well, he really wants the whole curva (fan base) with him on stage, he said according to RockIt.
However, the idea remained fresh in the air. Shortly after the turn of the year, West called again. Santoro brought him together with an Italian producer Federico Secondomèn with, who at the same time became one of the producers appearing on the album.
– Then a few weeks back he called and made a demand: I had 36 hours to organize a recording session with Kanye and Inter’s ultras.
Santoro started pulling on the strings. Curva Nord went along and Santoro got 200 Inter fans to join in the recordings, which are now part of the songs on the album.
– We recorded it in parts. We put the supporters who knew English better in the foreground and had to coordinate a bit. On that January 27th, we recorded five different parts for the album.
Ultrie’s influence was also seen in the title of the song Carnival. Ye and Ty Dolla Sign had originally named the song Hoolygans, referring to the hooligan culture of football.
Contradictions and turmoil
In ultra supporter culture, opposition to “modern football†lives as one strong value. This means opposing all commercialism connected to football.
For their part, Inter Milan’s supporters have also opposed their club’s commercial efforts. Within this framework, Curva Nord has protested in recent years, among other things the Chinese Zhang family that owns the club as well as planned European against the football Superliga.
Now the appearance of Curva Nord’s ultras on Kanye West’s album has raised questions about the contradiction, whether the commercialism of ultras is against their values.
West, on the other hand, has created his own share of commotion, which also hits Inter fans. The rapper has recently made anti-Semitic statements in public and also said that he admires Adolf Hitler.
In this field, Inter’s ultras are not pure bullies either. Curva Nord’s groups have previously been under investigation for their anti-Semitic and racist chants. Over the years, the latter groups have been banned from participating in matches and Inter have been fined for the behavior of their fans.
Inter leads Italy’s Serie A by a clear margin. As long as you can wait, the songs of the club’s ultra supporters will surely play in the famous Milanese stadium.