Honiro

Honiro is an Italian record label and portal dedicated to Italian urban music. It was founded in 2005 by Jacopo Lavecchia, initially as a website hosting concert and freestyle battle videos. In 2006 it evolved into a pioneering weblabel offering free downloads of mixtapes and unreleased projects by emerging artists. During its weblabel era (2006–2013), it became a hub for Italian rap culture, featuring artists such as Gemitaiz, Canesecco, MadMan, 3D, Coez, Achille Lauro, Rocco Hunt, and Caneda, and organizing events and freestyle contests across Italy.

Honiro was founded in 2005 by Jacopo Lavecchia, at a time when Italian rap and urban music was still on the margins of the industry. Lavecchia began by filming concerts and freestyle battles and sharing the videos online, until a regular user, Domenico Di Renzo, suggested organizing that content on a dedicated site. Thus Honiro.it was born, initially a simple PHP homepage with downloadable videos. Soon the site transformed into a pioneering weblabel: in addition to videos, a 'free download' section was created where emerging artists published mixtapes and unreleased projects, often over American beats, made available in an orderly manner with tracklists and official counters. This was in 2006, and while elsewhere it was difficult to find scattered and temporary links, Honiro offered a unique reference point for the Italian rap scene. During the weblabel era (2006–2013), the portal became a true hub of urban culture: sections dedicated to events, news, and video clips; a community that followed exclusively the content uploaded only there; and the first reference artists: Gemitaiz, Canesecco, MadMan, 3D, Coez, Achille Lauro, Rocco Hunt, Caneda, many gravitating around the Bunker Studio in Rome. In parallel, Honiro began bringing the scene from the web to the stage: evenings and contests in Rome (Rashomon Club), Milan (Barrios Cafè), showcases throughout Italy. Famous freestyle contests with international prizes ('New York Battle', 'Los Angeles Battle', 'Paris Battle') offered real trips for the winners. In those same years, the first limited series of physical discs (mixtapes) were also born.

1. 1Honiro.it - Portale dedicato alla musica urban italianahoniro.it
2. 2La Storia di Honiro - Honiro.ithoniro.it
3. 3Honirowikidata.org