![]() ![]() His wanderlust had only been increased by international tours he had done with the professional dance company he joined as a teenager. “All of them were looking to go and find a better chance somewhere in Europe, or the States. “I think maybe 90 percent of the boys my age were in the same situation,” he says. Soolking's big break came when a friend invited him onto a radio show to perform a freestyle rap, titled ‘Guerilla,’ that quickly went viral. While he’s quick to stress that growing up in Algeria’s capital city was “a real enrichment and life experience for me,” he’s also frank about the fact that it was hard, as a young man, to see any real future for himself there. It’s been a remarkable journey for Derradji, who was born and raised in Algiers. In France, he’s famous enough that when I ask whereabouts in Paris he lives at the start of our interview, the reply is brief: “I can’t tell you that.” He’s one of the biggest pop stars in the world whose primary language isn’t English - which isn’t to say he doesn’t pull in English-speaking audiences he’s played North America many times, including New York’s storied Apollo Theater in May. ![]() The clip for the album’s third track, “Suavamente,” released in February, has over 143 million views on YouTube. Since 2018, Soolking has racked up 8 billion streams on various platforms. However you want to describe that music (media write-ups usually reference rap, R&B, reggae and raï as the most obvious touchstones), it’s clearly connecting with people. Soolking (real name Abderraouf Derradji) was born and raised in Algiers. ![]() “I don’t want to give it a label, you know? My music is my music.” “My own music is Soolking music,” he continues. “From the traditional music of Algeria, like raï, American rap, French rap, reggae music, pop music like Michael Jackson, jazz… I’m not listening only to hip-hop or anything. “I listen to a lot of different music, so my influences were a little bit from everywhere,” Derradji tells Arab News. It’s just one example of the wide array of music that Soolking (real name Abderraouf Derradji) enjoys listening to and is influenced by, even if that influence isn’t always clear in his own material. DUBAI: The first track on Soolking’s latest album, “Sans Visa,” is called “Kurt Kobain.” It’s a nod to his roots as a fan of Nirvana and other grunge bands who started his music career as a drummer in a rock band in his native Algeria. ![]()
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