Toseina is a slang term for codeine, a pharmaceutical opioid often used in cough syrup. This word is interesting because it directly references a key element of the song's title and theme, "Syrup."
In the context of the song, it highlights the artist's lifestyle and the drug culture often associated with trap music, where codeine syrup is mixed with soda to create a recreational drink. It's a unique and specific term that stands out from more common vocabulary.
In "Syrup", Italian rapper Shiva brings heavy, nocturnal trap energy straight out of Milan. Right from the hook, he sets the tone with "Sto versando syrup nella cup" ("I'm pouring syrup in the cup") and calls the concoction his self-prescribed medicine alongside weed and Toseina. Rather than worrying about outsiders talking trash, he tunes it out from the backseat of a luxury car: "Sto cenando nel retro di un Benz / Milano è la casa dei cattivi" ("I'm dining in the back of a Benz / Milan is the house of the villains"). He talks about his wins with total swagger, claiming he pocketed a cool million without signing his life away to a major label, and brags about driving a Lamborghini—nodding to its raging bull emblem with "c'ho un toro sul logo" ("I have a bull on the logo") while noting it still packs an Audi engine underneath.
The verses fly by packed with vivid pop-culture jabs and classic rap boastfulness. Shiva claims he stacks more cups than a Starbucks barista, adding candy to purple drank mixed into a limited-edition Sprite. He flexes his street paranoia and precision with funny, hyper-specific imagery like "laser giallo come Lisa e Bart" ("yellow laser like Lisa and Bart" from The Simpsons) and drones lined up like Google Maps. Through it all, he keeps his circle tiny and his methods cash-only ("non ho Visa card"). It is cold, blunt, and full of sharp punchlines aimed at rivals who diss him in public but secretly copy his flow.
Shiva is the stage name of Andrea Arrigoni, an Italian rapper born in 1999 in Legnano, a town near Milan in the Lombardy region.
He began releasing music as a young teenager, and a freestyle contest win in 2015 landed him his first record deal. His debut album, Tempo anima, came out in 2017, but it was the 2019 singles Mon fre, with Emis Killa, and Bossoli that made him a star.
Since then Shiva has become one of Italy's leading trap artists, topping the charts with albums like Milano Demons and Santana Season and teaming up often with fellow Milanese rapper Sfera Ebbasta. His music leans into a laid-back, melodic flow over stories of Milan's fast money and faster nightlife.