My Sentence, 2005, Blueroom, Rialtosantambrogio, Rome

The project, conceived by Paolo Chiasera, music by DJ Shablo, narrates the life of Jota Castro through a multilingual song (English, Italian, French, Arabic) featuring several leading figures in the hip hop music scene with features by Guè Pequeno and La Furia (Club Dogo), Weld Grira, Sean and Tek Money and contributions by Gianni KG, Royal Mehdi and Vincenzo Da Via Anfossi.

A former diplomat of Peruvian origin, Jota Castro (Lima, 1969), an artist famous for his ‘politically incorrect’ works (such as the series ‘Mother fuckers’ or, to quote one, ‘Mussolini never killed anyone’, 2003) has combined political and social commitment with artistic activity. His numerous participations include exhibitions in Paris, the Venice Biennale and Tirana, Biennale dell'Emergenza (of which he is one of the promoters). He was the winner of the Gwangju Biennale (2004) in China.

The idea came about during the exhibition ‘Hardcore, vers un nouvel activisme’ (Paris, Palais de Tokyo, 2003) entirely dedicated to activism and political commitment in contemporary art: Chiasera noticed one of Castro's works ‘That's me in a sentence’, a text on a wall, with which the artist exposed to the public ‘his own life’ summed up without modesty and easy sentimentalism.

Chiasera was struck by Castro's words and thought of using them to compose a musical piece; later, after meeting Castro - who immediately showed great interest in the project - he started to bring it to life. To create the sound of the song, Chiasera thought of a very specific musical genre: ‘I liked the idea of neighbourhood kids singing about Jota's life a bit like the storytellers of old, and I thought hip pop was the best medium to achieve this’.

Hence the collaboration with DJ Shablo, who curated the work through to its final realisation. Shablo, an Italo-Argentinian music producer, took care of the musical production of the project, constructing atmospheres and sound weaves that accompanied Jota Castro's lyrics in their different linguistic interpretations.