• Brown Boy So Radio

Navraj Singh Goraya (born November 3, 1989), better known by his stage nameNav (stylized as NAV or ΠΔV), is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer from Rexdale, Ontario of Indian Punjabi descent.^[1] He is signed to XO and Republic Records.^[2][3].

• 2Music career

Early life[edit]

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Navraj Singh Goraya was born on November 3, 1989 in Toronto, Ontario and was raised in the city's suburban Rexdale neighbourhood. He is of Punjabi descent; his parents are Sikhs originally from the northern state of Punjab in India. His mother was involved in computer manufacturing and his father operated a forklift.^[4] Goraya first became interested in music after his mother bought him a boombox in the third grade.^[5] His uncle, who was a popular singer in Punjab, also brought him to a studio.^[6] He began making mash-ups in high school and producing beats for local underground Toronto artists, and became popular on SoundCloud. Goraya first started producing using Sony's ACID Pro software.^[4]

Music career[edit]

2015–present: Commercial debut[edit]

In September 2015, Nav released one of his earliest songs to his SoundCloud account, called 'Take Me Simple', which has been listened to over ten million times.^[7] In July 2015, Nav contributed production to Drake's diss of Meek Mill, 'Back to Back'. In 2016, 'Take Me Simple' and 'The Man' were featured on Drake's OVO Sound Radio on Beats 1.^[8][9]

Brown Boy So Radio

In September 2016, Nav collaborated with American rapper Travis Scott on Scott's song 'Beibs in the Trap' from his album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, which Nav also co-wrote and solely produced. It peaked at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100,^[10] and by July 2017, had been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after selling over a million copies domestically.^[11] In February 2017, after signing to the XO label and Republic Records Nav produced and co-produced his debut commercial self-titled mixtape 'NAV', which included by the lead single, 'Some Way' featuring The Weeknd. The mixtape included 'Myself'.

Nav released the collaboration mixtape, Perfect Timing with producer Metro Boomin on July 21, 2017, which featured the likes of Playboi Carti, Offset, Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage, Belly and Gucci Mane.^[12] The lead single from the album, 'Call Me', peaked at 89 on the Canadian Hot 100.

Nav received a Juno Award nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2018.^[13]

In May 2018, Nav released his debut studio album Reckless on XO Records and Republic Records. Nav released the single 'Wanted You' featuring Lil Uzi Vert on November 3, 2017. The single is Nav's first as a lead artist to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also featured appearances from Quavo and Travis Scott.

On January 12, 2019, Nav announced his retirement from Music after his colleague, Lil Uzi Vert, announced he was retiring too. This news caused the outbursts of many fans as they requested both artists to come out of retirement together. While in retirement, Nav would frequently tweet how him and Lil Uzi are both enjoying retirement, as they are able to play Fortnite together. On March 14, Nav's manager, Amir 'Cash' Esmailian, said he was tired of hunting Nav for his hard drive for music so he decided to release the Brown Boy EP on his behalf. Following this, Lil Uzi posted on Instagram to tell Nav that the EP was 'amazing' and that he should come out of retirement. Nav officially announced the end of his two-month retirement on Instagram by announcing the release of his upcoming album, Bad Habits.

Nav received two Juno Award nominations for Fan Choice and Rap Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2019.

On March 22, 2019, Nav released his second debut studio album Bad Habits on XO Records and Republic Records. The album featured appearances from Meek Mill, Young Thug, The Weeknd, Gunna, and Lil Durk.^[14]Bad Habits debuted number one on the US Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. ^[15][16]. A few days later on March 26, 2019, Nav released the Deluxe version of Bad Habits which featured new guest appearances from Future and 88Glam, and all the songs from the Brown Boy EP.^[17] The originally unreleased track 'Habits' which was supposed to feature Lil Uzi Vert, was also released as a solo version.^[18] According to Nav, he recorded Lil Uzi Vert's verse himself and put it on the song.

Controversy[edit]

In June 2017, Nav had received backlash from some members of his musical audience for continuously using the 'N-Word' in his songs such as on 'My Mind' and 'TTD'. In an interview with Genius, Nav stated that the neighborhood he grew up in of Rexdale is very 'multicultural' with members of the 'Chinese to white to black to Jamaican' openly using the term with one another. He stated that it was commonly used among his friends when they would make music, but once he had gotten global exposure, Nav said he started seeing some backlash. In this interview, Nav had stated that he'd no longer use this term in his music anymore, and that you wouldn't hear it on his then-upcoming collaboration project with Metro Boomin, Perfect Timing. ^[19].

In August 2018, Nav featured on rapper Travis Scott’s album, Astroworld, on the song “Yosemite”. He was the subject of many memes mocking his feature, as his verse on the song was initially mixed at a very low volume. Nav himself shared a meme on his Instagram, mocking the mixing of the track.^[20] Producer Mike Dean later confirmed this was an error, and re-mixed and re-released the track on streaming services with the updated vocal mix.^[21].

In March 2019 during an interview with Pitchfork, Nav expressed his frustration stating that 'Fame is something I want, it’s a good problem to have. I’m still not there, because when I walk out of fucking Delilah in L.A. and TMZ will be standing out there with cameras and not even take a picture of me, I get sick. I get in my fucking Lambo truck right in front of them. All my jewelry on and they don’t even take one picture.' ^[22]. Nav further stated in the Pitchfork interview that he hoped his latest project, Bad Habits would help him become more noticed by TMZ along with other paparazzi. A week later, TMZ found Nav in New York and did a brief video interview with him, asking him questions about a possible collaboration project with Lil Uzi Vert.^[23]

Discography[edit]

• NAV (2017)
• Perfect Timing (2017)
• Reckless (2018)
• Bad Habits (2019)

Awards and nominations[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Navraj 'Nav' Goraya. 'Navraj 'Nav' Goraya Credits'. AllMusic. Archived from the original on 2017-02-23. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
2. ^'Nav Signs Deal With The Weeknd's XO Records - XXL'. Xxlmag.com. Archived from the original on 2017-09-04. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
3. ^Jona. (2016-07-01). 'How We Came To The Conclusion Toronto Rapper Nav Is a Member of The Weeknd's XO'. Made-in-toronto.com. Archived from the original on 2017-02-23. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
4. ^ ^ab'Nav Is the 'First Brown Boy to Get It Popping' and His Meteoric Rise Is Far From Over'. Complex.com. Archived from the original on 2017-10-14. Retrieved 2017-10-14.
5. ^'Nav: Meet the Toronto Rapper-Producer Opening the Weeknd's Starboy Tour'. Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2017-10-14. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
6. ^Carter, Brooke (2017-08-05). 'Nav Net Worth - How Wealthy is the Rapper Now? - The Gazette Review'. The Gazette Review. Archived from the original on 2017-10-20. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
7. ^'NAV'. SoundCloud. Archived from the original on 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
8. ^'Drake – OVO Sound Radio Episode 13 Tracklist'. Genius.com. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
9. ^'Drake – OVO Sound Radio Episode 16 Tracklist'. Genius.com. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
10. ^'Travis Scott Chart History: Hot 100'. Billboard. Archived from the original on September 26, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
11. ^'Travis Scott & Nav's 'Biebs In The Trap' Just Went Platinum'. HYPEBEAST. Archived from the original on 2017-10-20. Retrieved 2017-10-19.
12. ^'Nav and Metro Boomin Drop 'Perfect Timing' Project - XXL'. XXL Mag. Archived from the original on 2018-02-01. Retrieved 2018-01-31.
13. ^'Arcade Fire and Daniel Caesar lead 2018 Juno Award nominations'Archived 2018-02-08 at the Wayback Machine. CBC Music, February 6, 2018.
14. ^Slingerland, Calum (March 21, 2019). 'NAV Gets Meek Mill, Young Thug, the Weeknd for 'Bad Habits' Album'. Exclaim!. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
15. ^Caulfield, Keith. 'NAV Nets First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With 'Bad Habits''. Billboard. Archived from the original on 2019-04-05. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
16. ^Caulfied, Keith. 'NAV's 'Bad Habits' Set for No. 1 Debut on Billboard 200 Albums Chart'. Billboard. Archived from the original on 2019-04-30. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
17. ^Chin, Mallory. 'Nav Drops Future-Assisted Track on Deluxe Edition of 'Bad Habits''. HYPEBEAST. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
18. ^Saponara, Michael. 'Nav Connects With Future for 'Amazing,' Releases 'Bad Habits' Deluxe Edition'. Billboard. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
19. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2019-05-24. Retrieved 2019-05-22.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
20. ^'NAV'. Instagram. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
21. ^'Mike Dean'. Twitter. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
22. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2019-05-03. Retrieved 2019-05-22.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
23. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2019-04-01. Retrieved 2019-05-22.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)