Alessandro Aleotti, aka J-Ax, is one of the most iconic rappers on the Italian music scene. Born in Milan on 5 August 1972 and raised on the outskirts of Cologno Monzese, he has built a thirty-year career that took him, for the first time as a soloist, on the stage of the Ariston in Sanremo 2026 with the song “Italia Starter Pack”.
The origin of the stage name
The name J-Ax is not random and derives from the union of two abbreviations: the “J” stands for Joker, the singer’s favorite “bad” character, while “Ax” is the diminutive of Alex, a shortened version of the real name, Alessandro. A name chosen when he was very young, in his first street freestyles, and which later became an indelible mark.
He said some time ago in Luca Casadei’s podcast, One More Time, that until he was 5 years old he grew up with his grandparents in a peaceful and protected environment, but moving with his parents to the suburbs marked a painful turning point for him. The harassment suffered by his peers led him to develop selective mutism, a still little-known disorder that mainly affects children and manifests itself with the inability to speak in certain social contexts, despite normal language development. This is not an organic dysfunction, but an emotional response to a strong state of anxiety.
Yet, speaking about all this today, J-Ax demonstrates a ease and clarity that are striking: no regrets, no anger. Only the awareness of those who have gone through difficult times and transformed them into fuel to become who they are.
The battle against addiction
Over the years, J-Ax has spoken openly about a long-standing drug and alcohol addiction that has shaped a part of his life. It was precisely the meeting with the American model Elaina Coker – who he married in 2007 – that gave him the strength to get out of it. A difficult path, which transformed not only his private life but also his music, increasingly rich in personal and social reflections.
His son Nicolas and his troubled birth
J-Ax’s fatherhood has a touching story. He and Elaina faced pregnancy loss before they were able to have their baby through assisted reproduction. Nicolas was born on February 24, 2017, and the rapper told that story with all his emotion in the song “Tutto tua madre”, one of his most listened to songs with almost 60 million views on YouTube.
The songs that made history
With Articolo 31 – the duo founded together with DJ Jad in the Nineties – J-Ax wrote some of the most important chapters of Italian hip hop, with many successful hits – how not to mention “Ohi Maria”, from the album “Messa di vespri” of 1994 – and 8 albums under his belt (“Strade di città” of 1993, the aforementioned “Messa di Vespri” of 1994, “Così com’è” from 1996, “Nessuno” from 1998, “Xché Sì!” from 1999, “Domani smetto” from 2002, “Italiano medio” from 2003 and “Protomaranza” from 2024).
As a soloist he then conquered the charts with “Il bello d’esser brutti”, “Maria Salvador” and the very successful collaboration with Fedez in “Assenzio” and “Tutto il Contrary”. In 2023 the return with Articolo 31 on the Sanremo stage with “Un bel viaggio” had established the reconciliation with DJ Jad after years of separation.
After returning to the Ariston stage in 2023 with Articolo 31 and the song Un bel viaggio, J-Ax returns to Sanremo 2026 as a soloist with Italia Starter Pack, a piece born from the idea – as he himself told Repubblica – that Italy was “colonised by the Americans well before the Second World War”.
Depression and the argument with Fedez
In a long interview with the newspaper, the rapper retraced the salient moments of a career with 71 platinum and 18 gold records, including unforgettable collaborations – such as the one with Pino Daniele and Enzo Jannacci, who told him: “You have a voice made to drown out the noises of the metropolis” – and more difficult pages, such as the end of Articolo 31, the depression that arrived in a subtle way during the pandemic and the broken relationships with many people of his entoxurage.
On Fedez, with whom he will meet at Ariston, he has chosen not to say too much. A more mature and aware J-Ax, who arrives in Sanremo with the ironic lightness of music and the weight of someone who has truly been through fire.
“Italia Starter Pack”: the song at Sanremo 2026
For the first time competing as a soloist at the Ariston, J-Ax brings a piece with strong country influences – himself defined as “a Johnny Cash version” – which photographs Italy with sharp irony. Here is the text of “Italia Starter Pack”:
The old man in the neighborhood always says
Many years older than his teeth
You can understand this country from a construction site
Five say what to do, only one does it
Better to be on the outside than on the inside
Everyone has something to hide
There are no saints in heaven at the moment
An accomplice is better than having faith
Share your password
Let’s do the Wi-Fi in half
A stadium choir sings
So they know who you are wherever you go
Need a bad song that does
Pappapparappa
Drop everything halfway
Here you always need a bit of ass to get by
It’s forbidden but it doesn’t matter
I’ll give you the gas hose
Italy Starter Pack
Says the man who gives me drinks
That those who lead should have no mercy
This country is like with precedence
It’s only about those who blame it, it’s never about those who have it
Eh
The less you know, the happier you will be
Let’s have a shot of happiness
Here we don’t protest about salary
Only for the pineapple pizza
There is time to pay
You already have debts anyway
Enjoy this moment
That when you go you don’t know it
Need a bad song that does
Pappapparappa
Drop everything halfway
Here you always need a bit of ass to get by
It’s forbidden but it doesn’t matter
I’ll give you the gas hose
Italy Starter Pack
And they tell us that we are dishonest, crafty
All great mama’s boys
Of wrong laws and correct coffees
But we also have flaws
And indeed
Need a bad song that does
Pappapparappa
Drop everything halfway
Here you always need a bit of ass to get by
It’s forbidden but it doesn’t matter
I’ll give you the gas hose (gas hose)
Italy Starter Pack
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