“there will be some rappers at Sanremo 2025, but their songs will be pop-oriented”

Carlo Conti: “there will be some rappers in Sanremo 2025, but their songs will be pop-oriented”

The statements released by Carlo Conti on the 2025 Sanremo Festival are causing discussion.

Guest of the podcast Pezzi by Luca Dondoni, Andrea Laffranchi and Paolo Giordano, Carlo Conti declared that Anna will not be at the Festival “Anna has a very intelligent manager who doesn't send her to Sanremo because he wants to make her grow” he said and implied that they could Tony Effe and Fedez will be there, Codacons permitting. Well yes, because Codacons is not exactly a fan of Fedez and in recent weeks has warned Rai from competing singers with violent and misogynistic lyrics in their repertoire by naming Tony Effe.

So rap won't be at the Festival?

It will definitely be there, but it will be pop.

“A lot of rappers have shown up, but they're more pop-oriented and they're growing. I like that young people talk about their generation in a non-aggressive way” said Carlo Conti, sparking some controversy from rap fans.

If it is true that many rappers we have seen on the Ariston stage in recent years have brought more “pop” tracks, such as Geolier, Lazza, Ghali, Rkomi, it is also true that the rap we find at the top of the charts is already pop.

Carlo Conti's words may bother us, but they still make sense. The songs that are brought to Sanremo are songs made for Sanremo. For example, Lazza would never have gone to the Festival with a song like Zonda, but he did it with Cenere, which still remains in line with his repertoire, but is more suitable for a context like that of the Festival.

I always start from the assumption that Italy doesn't want rap and has never wanted it, at least as it really is. Now he accepts it, because you want it or not it is the most popular genre in recent years, he uses it to fill popular national events, as he did in the past by inviting Sfera Ebbasta to the May Day Concert, only to then spit on it. He wants it in Sanremo, otherwise young people wouldn't watch Sanremo, but he wants it shaped to his liking. He wants the version for families and children, the one that is politically correct, that doesn't bother anyone. And if we want, speaking of Sanremo, he is also right, as long as there are rappers willing to act as puppets on the Ariston stage to have a little more visibility.