Nav (rapper)


Navraj Singh Goraya, known by his stage name Nav, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Nav began his career as a producer, eventually co-producing Canadian rapper Drake's "Back to Back" in 2015, and gained mainstream attention in 2016 when his song "Myself" went viral.
Nav signed to XO and Republic Records and released his self-titled debut mixtape, as well as Perfect Timing with Metro Boomin in 2017. Nav released his debut studio album Reckless and followed up with Bad Habits which debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. In 2020, Nav released his highest charting song "Turks", which peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. His third studio album, Good Intentions, became his second number-one album on the US Billboard 200.

Early life

Navraj Singh Goraya was born on November 3, 1989 in Toronto, Canada, and was raised in Rexdale. 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. Goraya first became interested in music after his mother bought him a boombox in the third grade. His uncle, who was a popular singer in Punjab, also brought him to a studio. 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. Nav attended Thistletown Collegiate Institute for his high school education and had to spend an additional year to graduate. Following high school, Nav attended and graduated from Metalworks Institute in 2010 with a diploma in Audio Production and Engineering.

Music career

2015–2017: Commercial debut

In July 2015, Nav contributed production to Drake's diss of Meek Mill, "Back to Back". In 2016, "The Man" was featured on Drake's OVO Sound Radio. On September 4, 2015, Nav released one of his earliest songs to his SoundCloud account, "Take Me Simple", which has accumulated over ten million listens. In January 2016, he released the song "Myself", which quickly became his biggest song at the time, earning him numerous cosigns, including from Kylie Jenner.
On September 2, 2016, Travis Scott released his second studio album, Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, with Nav featured on his song titled "Beibs in the Trap." Nav had co-wrote, solely produced, and appeared in the music video for the song. It peaked at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and by July 2017, had been a certified 2x platinum Recording Industry Association of America after selling over a million copies. In February 2017, after signing to XO and Republic Records, Nav produced and co-produced his debut commercial self-titled mixtape NAV, which included the lead single, "Some Way" featuring The Weeknd. The mixtape also included "Myself".
Nav released the collaboration mixtape, Perfect Timing, with fellow producer Metro Boomin on July 21, 2017, which featured the likes of Playboi Carti, Offset, Lil Uzi Vert, Gucci Mane, and others. The lead single from the mixtape, "Perfect Timing ", peaked at 89 on the Canadian Hot 100.

2018–present: ''Reckless'', ''Bad Habits'', and ''Good Intentions''

In February 2018, Nav received a Juno Award nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2018. On April 24, 2018 during his "Freshman Tour", Nav announced at his Los Angeles concert that he was working on a project that would soon be released a month later known as Reckless and that him and Metro Boomin would be teaming up once again to make a sequel to Perfect Timing, which would be known as Perfect Timing 2. On May 18, 2018, Nav released his debut studio album Reckless through XO Records and Republic Records. It features guest appearances from Quavo, Travis Scott, Lil Uzi Vert, and Gunna. The project featured the song, "Wanted You" featuring Lil Uzi Vert, which became Nav's first single as a leading artist to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 64.
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 studio album Bad Habits on XO Records and Republic Records. The album features appearances from Meek Mill, Young Thug, The Weeknd, Gunna, and Lil Durk.
Bad Habits debuted number one on the US Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart. A few days later on March 26, 2019, Nav released the Deluxe version of Bad Habits which featured guest appearances from Future and 88Glam, and all the songs from the Brown Boy EP. The highly anticipated track known as "Habits" which was supposed to feature Lil Uzi Vert, was also released on the Deluxe version. According to Nav, he recorded Lil Uzi Vert's verse himself and put it on the song.
On March 27, 2020, Nav released the heavily anticipated single, "Turks" with Gunna featuring Travis Scott. It became his highest charting song on the Billboard Hot 100, debuting at number 17. His third studio album, Good Intentions was released on May 8, 2020 and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. Three days later, he released the commercial mixtape Brown Boy 2 as the deluxe version of the album. Soon after the release of Good Intentions, Nav released a merchandise collaboration with Vlone and Virgil Abloh related to the album.

Controversies

In June 2017, Nav had received backlash from some members of his musical audience for continuously using the word "nigga" in his songs such as on "My Mind", "TTD", and other songs. 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, but once he had gotten global exposure, Nav said he started seeing some backlash. In this interview, Nav had stated that he would no longer use this term in his music anymore, and that people would not hear it on his then-upcoming collaboration project with Metro Boomin, Perfect Timing.
In March 2018, Nav had publicly criticized XXL through a series of tweets and Instagram posts along with releasing the single, "Freshman List". His main reason for criticizing the magazine was due to not being selected for the 2018 freshman cover. In his tweets, Nav shared his thoughts that had ranged "from angry and bitter to motivational and inspirational". After his tweets and release of the single, Nav decided to step it up a notch by sending shots at the outlet's editor-in-chief Vanessa Satten through now deleted Instagram posts and further continued to diss the outlet.
In June 2018, Nav and Lil’ Uzi Vert were accused by rapper Kid Buu of stealing his flow for their hit single, "Wanted You" which had charted on the Billboard Hot 100. However, he was confronted a few months later by Cash, Nav's manager, and admitted that he was lying in an attempt to stir up controversy and gain attention.
In August 2018, Nav featured on Travis Scott's third studio album, Astroworld, on the song "Yosemite" alongside fellow rapper Gunna. He was the subject of many memes mocking his feature, as the ending of the song, which Nav's four vocal lines were recorded, was initially mixed at a very low volume. Nav himself shared a meme on his Instagram, laughing at the error. Scott and 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 a week after the release of the song and album.
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." However, he later clarified that this was taken out of context, and rather than being disgusted for not being recognized, he is grateful to still have anonymity as a celebrity. 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.

Discography