Bohemia (rapper)

Bohemia
Background information
Birth name	Roger David
Also known as	Raja King of Punjabi Rap Creator of Desi Hip Hop Punjabi rapstar
Born	(1979-10-15) 15 October 1979 Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan[1]
Occupation(s)	Rapper Record producer Music director Lyricist Musician Keyboardist Poet Actor
Musical career
Origin	Oakland, California, United States
Genres	Desi hip hop Hip hop Rap
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Universal Music Group Sony Music India Kali Denali Music Coke Studio Pakistan T-Series
Associated acts	Snoop Dogg Akshay Kumar Kurupt Gippy Grewal Mika Singh Baby Bash Tarsame Singh Saini Jasmine Sandlas Sukh-E Sean Kingston Neha Kakkar Bally Sagoo Devika Chawla Sajjad Ali Lazarus Bilal Saeed Guru Randhawa Tony Kakkar Iraj Weeraratne Ali Quli Mirza Nishawn Bhullar Raxstar Deep Jandu Deeder Zaman Lucky singh Glasses Malone Babbal Rai Karan Aujla Rohail Hyatt
Website	thepunjabirapper.com

Roger David (born 15 October 1979), better known by his stage name Bohemia (Urdu/Punjabi: بوہیمیا‬) stylized BOHEMIA or Raja, is a Pakistani American rapper and record producer.

Early life

Bohemia was born on 15 October 1979,^[2] in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. He moved to the United States with his family when he was 13.^[1]

Career

In early 2000 he moved to join his cousin in Oakland who was working at a West Oakland recording studio, and introduced him to a young hip hop producer called Sha One (Seth Agress). Discovering that they both shared a deep interest in music, they made plans to form their own record label, which they subsequently called "The Outfit Entertainment". After Sha heard Bohemia reciting something he had written in Punjabi he asked him to rap it over one of his beats. Over the next few months, he wrote a library of lyrics. This would become arsenal for his debut album Vich Pardesan De (In The Foreign Land) – an autobiographical story of his life as a Desi youngster adopting to the streets of America, which he and Sha One produced together. Their first single "Sha Te Ra" was released as a music video, but the song itself was not included on Vich Pardesan De. The following album, Pesa Nasha Pyar [Money, Intoxication, Love] became the first full-length Punjabi rap album released by a major label. It was recorded and produced by Sha One and Bohemia in their downtown Oakland studio. After nearly two years of perfecting their sound and style, a seamless fusion of Bohemia's Punjabi vocals, and Sha One's English hooks, the album was finally released. He subsequently signed a multi-record deal with music label Universal Music Group. In 2006, Pesa Nasha Pyar was on the Top 10 downloads of Maxim, and No. 3 on Planet M chart India.^[3] His first album Vich Pardesan De get nominated in BBC UK top ten albums.

Bohemia Rapper In 2018

Da Rap Star, his third album, received four nominations at the UK Asian Music Awards and PTC Punjabi music awards. It also remained at No. 1 on Planet M chart several weeks.^[4]

He performed the title track for Warner Bros film Chandni Chowk to China, appearing in the film with Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone.^[5] A few months later he did the title track for another Akshay Kumar film, 8 x 10 Tasveer.^[6] In 2011, he gave a song as a present to Akshay Kumar for his first Hollywood production Breakaway.^[7]

In May 2012, Sony Music India signed Bohemia. As part of the association, Sony Music managed his music albums, launches and shows under its management program.^[8][9]

In September 2012 he released his fourth album Thousand Thoughts.^[10] In 2013, it won Best Non-Resident Punjabi Album award at PTC Punjabi Music Awards.^[11] At the Coke Studio Sessions he was the first rap artist, appearing in their fifth season where he performed three songs. Bohemia has also recorded a collaboration with Sonu Kakkar and Jamaican American artist Sean Kingston.^[12]

In 2015, Bohemia launched his own music label Kali Denali Music.^[13] Bohemia appeared in XXL magazine in New York.^[4]

In 2017 Bohemia released his latest album Skull and Bones Which hit no.1 on iTunes India within 24 hr of release

Awards and nominations

Discography

References

External links

• Official website