Cranio Randagio

Cranio Randagio was the stage name of Vittorio Andrei, an Italian rapper born in Milan in 1994 and raised in a household steeped in the arts — his father a film and TV director, his mother an actress. He gained national attention in 2015 as a contestant on the Italian version of X Factor, where his raw, confessional style and distinctive delivery stood out even after his elimination during the home-visit round. His music blended street-level Italian rap with introspective, often melancholic lyricism, touching on themes of youth, love and disillusionment rather than the more boastful tropes common in the genre at the time.

Songs like «Se solo potessi» and «Un Banalissimo Ti Amo» showcased a softer, more vulnerable side of Italian rap, while tracks such as «Petrolio» and «Lupi della notte» leaned into grittier street narratives. His EP work and singles built a small but devoted following in the years after his TV appearance, positioning him as part of a wave of young Roman and Milanese rappers reshaping the scene in the mid-2010s.

His career was cut short in November 2016, when he died in Rome at the age of 21. He remains a cult figure in Italian rap, remembered for the promise of his early work and for a life ended too soon; his younger brother Sergio has continued to make music under his own name.