Song after song, one hit after another, Tony Effe has become a point of reference in the Italian music scene in recent years. In 2014 he was among the founders of Dark Polo Ganga collective that has become a point of reference in the trap scene made in Italy, recognized as one of the precursors of the genre. In 2021 he began his solo career, enriched by important collaborations with Sfera Ebbasta, Guè, Geolier, Capo Plaza, just to name a few.
Who is Tony Effe: real name, parents, origins, why is he called that?
Tony Effe’s real name is Nicolò Rapisarda. He was born in Rome on May 17, 1991, under the sign of Taurus. The singer comes from a wealthy family: his father is a goldsmith while his mother worked for a period in a hotel.My father is a goldsmith since he was fourteen. My mother doesn’t work, she was like a waitress in a hotel but mhh. That is, salaries like a thousand euros a month for my mother, and my father gets like five thousand, four thousand… I don’t know,” she said in an interview.
Despite being grew up in Rome wellbetween the Monti, Trastevere and Campo de’ Fiori neighborhoods, Tony started to get busy as a kid. “When I was in high school my father gave me 150 euros a week in allowance. For me it was not enough. At 17, however, I was already smoking and already had a scooter, I put petrol in it. I was a poor man from the center. There was the son of this one, the son of that other one. My revenge with music was economic. Maybe I didn’t live in council houses, but in a 90 square meter house and I felt inferior when I went to the house of X’s son who had the house with the pool in Capalbio. I also wanted the house with the pool in Capalbio”.
Tony Effe’s stage name is due to period in which he acted. Perhaps not everyone knows that Nicolò made his cinema debut at the age of just 4, in the cult film Honeymoons by Carlo Verdone. Subsequently she worked in 1999 to All for one, a fiction broadcast on Rai Uno in which he played a child named Tony. His pseudonym therefore derives from this character (Effe instead stands for Fendithe famous luxury brand).
Growing up Tony Effe decided to devote oneself mainly to music even if there were negative moments, as confessed by the person concerned: “I had periods with a bit of depression, in which maybe I had to do things and I didn’t do them. So he called me Gianmarco, my manager. Maybe I had to do some stories for merchandising but I stayed in bed all day and didn’t do them. Then one day I wake up and start doing everything.”
Tony Effe career: films and songs
Tony Effe was a child prodigy. After his debut at just four years old alongside Carlo Verdone, he then acted in the films Shadow of the Giant, Paparazzi and Prisoners of the Heart. Then came the aforementioned Rai fiction Tutti per uno where Nicolò wore the clothes of little Tony, a child forced to give up his passion for football because of a heart disease. A character who marked the artist so much that he decided to call himself with that name to make his way in the world of seven notes.
During his high school years Nicolò started rapping for fun with his friends, whom he met at school. Among these are the futures Dark Side (Arturo Bruni), Dark Pyrex (Dylan Thomas Cerulli) e Dark Wayne (Umberto Violo). A few years later, convinced by Sick Luke, record producer and son of rapper Duke Montana, the four boys launched themselves into trap: this is how the Dark Polo Gang (also known as DPG) was born.
Dark Polo Gang’s recording debut took place in 2017, when the group released their first album, Twins. The album, produced by Sick Luke, brought innovations to the Italian musical panorama through trap sound and explicit lyrics. In 2021 Tony Effe released his first solo album, Untouchablewhere he contrasts unbridled luxury, between swimming pools and diamond necklaces, with the troubles of street life, between drugs and crime.
The second album was released in 2024 Icon. Effe has recorded one hit song after another, starting with Bosswhich samples the song In Yes Club by 50 Cent. Among Tony’s other hit songs: Taxi on the Moonin which duet with Emma, After 4 (where he collaborated with Bresh and Tedua), Miu Miu e Sex and Sambathe hit of summer 2024 con Gaia. A well-constructed hit, with captivating sounds and a pounding chorus that immediately gets into your head.
Tony Effe, gossip and girlfriend: the love story with Taylor Mega
Tony Effe lived an intense love story with Taylor Megawhich lasted several years (from 2019 to 2021) and with several push and pull. A very important relationship for both and which blossomed after a message from the singer on Instagram. An overwhelming passion: “We have sex five times a day”Taylor said at the time. It’s definitely over because of a betrayal of Tonywho admitted: “When I cheated on her, I cried confessing the betrayal because I knew it would be the end of our relationship.” Mega, for her part, remarked that “two selfish people can’t be together.” During a break from his relationship with Taylor Mega, Tony Effe had a brief liaison with the top model Vittoria Ceretti, now linked to Leonardo DiCaprio.
In the summer of 2023, thanks to the song Taxi on the Moonthere has been talk for a long time of a flirt between Tony Effe and Emma. According to Marrone’s statements, the rapper would have tried but received a resounding two of spades: “What if he hit on me? A little bit yes, come on. I won’t go into details because I’m a lady. What if they were verbal advances? Yes, let’s say. I didn’t do anything about it guys. No, I’m not going out. He is my brother, I love him and I am happy to sing with him.”
In 2024 Tony Effe was photographed by Chi first with Chiara Ferragni and then with Giulia De Lellis. With Fedez’s ex-wife there would have only been a dinner with mutual friends and a few messages but nothing too profound. With the former suitor of Men and Women, however, the musician would have spent a long night together in Naples, after the Geolier concert. For now, however, Tony continues to declare himself single.
