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Background

Born on November 3, 1989, in Rexdale, Ontario, Navraj Singh Goraya comes from a family of Punjabi Sikh Indian immigrants from Punjab, India. NAV’s mother worked in computer manufacturing, and his father was a forklift operator. The rapper became interested in music after he was given a boombox when he was in the third grade. But music seems to run in his blood because his uncle was also a famous Punjabi singer in India. NAV started doing mash-ups in high school and producing beats for Toronto underground artists, becoming very popular on the SoundCloud platform. He attended West Humber Junior Middle School and Thistletown Collegiate Institute during high school, where he had to spend an additional year to graduate. When he finished high school, he attended and graduated from Metalworks Institute in 2010 with a degree in Audio Production and Engineering.

In mid-2015, NAV co-produced the single ‘Back to Back’ by fellow countryman Drake. A few months later, he released one of his first songs on his SoundCloud account, ‘Take Me Simple,’ which reached over 10 million plays. The following year, his song ‘The Man,’ was played on Drake’s OVO Sound Radio. In the same year, he released the song ‘Myself,’ his biggest song at the time on SoundCloud. This earned him numerous co-signs, including internet personality Kylie Jenner. After these songs, the talented musician signed with XO and Republic Records.

On September 2, 2016, NAV participated in Travis Scott’s song ‘Beibs in the Trap.’ NAV co-authored, executive produced and appeared in the song’s music video. It reached number 90 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in July of the following year and was certified twice platinum by the R.I.A.A. for having sold over two million copies.