TEDUA - Ryan Ted

“La Divina Commedia” (2023) closed a chapter in the career of Genoese trapper Tedua, bringing him a commercial triumph further boosted by the deluxe edition, driven by the duet with Annalisa, “Beatrice” (2024). Since then he's largely gone off the radar, save for the odd feature. Back in October, a video clip revealed the rapper's first-ever show at San Siro, set for June 24th. To accompany the event, this “Ryan Ted” dropped on May 22nd, a somewhat scattershot but genuine mixtape that harks back to the sound of his early days.

The songs fly by fast, aggressive but always controlled. “Rap leggenda” is a self-celebration with a robotized voice, while “Faxxx” (feat. Latrelle) is a nursery rhyme that could date back to 2016.

Like a gym circuit workout, “Uno+Gangsta” (feat. Nerissima Serpe) keeps pumping hard, while “Mai” unwinds into a sweeter melancholy. Then it's back to sweating it out with “Felpa nera” (feat. Anna), before the load lightens up on “Too Late”. There's little point running through the entire tracklist, a hefty sixteen songs long.

Worth noting are a few more nursery-rhyme cuts (“Hoola hop” with Ernia) and some potential pop-rap numbers reminiscent of Dargen D'Amico (“Volare”, “Gli anni”, “Blue”, which recycles “Purple”), setting aside several rough patches along the way.

There's also room to pay tribute to his influences on “Veliero di carta”, dedicated “to all the artists who raised me”, and an interesting “Lettera a Tedua”, where he stands bare before the listener. He confronts the criticism that's been leveled at him, often harshly:

Tedua è un meme, Tedua non sa cantare

Tedua thinks he's being intellectual

[…]

And Tedua's off beat, he doesn't even have the talent

He doesn't know what he's doing, people only like him because he's good-looking

[…]

Fuck off, you look like you're made of coke, Tedua

I swear, you've sold out a bit to the system

"Ryan Ted" is a mixtape meant to prove that Tedua is ready for the big concert planned in Milan. Like his early work, it's naive, messy and made with heart. Once upon a time that might have been enough, in a scene that was still developing and coming from a newcomer, more or less. Three years on, in a climate of general fatigue with certain sounds and certain messages, it's harder to hand out a passing grade. A shame, because here and there it's clear the talent is there and could shine even without the excessive pretentiousness of the previous album. Strange to say, but maybe it just needed a bit more time.

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19/06/2026