Aditya Prateek Singh Sisodia, (born 19 November 1985), known by his stage name Badshah, is an Indian
rapper
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
, singer, film producer and businessman known for his
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...
,
Haryanvi, and
Punjabi
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan
* Punjabi language
* Punjabi people
* Punjabi dialects and languages
Punjabi may also refer to:
* Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
music. He started his career in 2006 alongside
Yo Yo Honey Singh
Hirdesh Singh (born 15 March 1983), known professionally as Yo Yo Honey Singh or simply Honey Singh, is an Indian music producer, rapper, singer, songwriter and an actor. He started out in 2003 as a session and recording artist, and became a b ...
in his
Hip Hop group Mafia Mundeer. He split from Honey in 2012 and released his independent Haryanvi song ''Kar Gayi Chull'', which was later adopted into the 2016
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
movie, ''
Kapoor & Sons''. His music has been featured in
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
soundtracks for films such as 2014 films ''
Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania
''Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania'' () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written and directed by newcomer Shashank Khaitan and produced by Dharma Productions. It stars Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt and debutante Sidharth Shukla.
'' ...
'' and ''
Khoobsurat''. He is also considered one of the highest-paid artists and also a controversial rapper of India, for his songs like ''Genda Phool'' and ''Pagal''.
His debut single, "''
DJ Waley Babu
"DJ Waley Babu" is a Punjabi
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan
* Punjabi language
* Punjabi people
* Punjabi dialects and languages
Punjabi may also refer t ...
''" featuring
Aastha Gill, was ranked number one on the Indian iTunes charts within 24 hours of the release. The song crossed a million views on YouTube within 30 hours. In 2016, he collaborated with
Navv Inder on "''Wakhra Swag''" which won the 2016 Punjabi Music Awards for best duo/group and most popular song of the year award. He has appeared in ''
Forbes India
''Forbes India'' is the Indian edition of ''Forbes'' which is managed by Reliance Industries-owned media conglomerate, Network 18.
History and profile
Since its founding in 2008, ''Forbes India'' has achieved a circulation of 50,000 copies and m ...
''
Celebrity 100 in 2017, 2018 and 2019 as one of the highest-paid celebrities in India and as the only rapper in the list.
Ever since 2016, roughly each of his commercial works have been topping charts including the
YouTube Music
YouTube Music is a music streaming service developed by YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. It provides a tailored interface for the service, oriented towards music streaming, allowing users to browse through songs and music videos on YouTube bas ...
Video Charts,
BBC Asian Network
BBC Asian Network is a British Asian radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station's target audience is people "with an interest in British Asian lifestyles", especially British Asians between the ages of 18 and 34. The station ha ...
Charts, other several Indian radio and Indian streaming charts as well. As of 2020, four of his songs peaked on
World Digital Song Sales chart by ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''. His work, "
''Genda Phool''" came out to be commercially one of the most successful yet controversial number in the Indian history.
Early life and family
Badshah was born in Delhi, to a father from
Haryana
Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...
and a mother from
Punjab
Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...
.
[Whenever I need inspiration, I go to Delhi: Badshah](_blank)
''The Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...
'' (11 July 2014). Retrieved 16 October 2015. He is married to Jasmine.
[Did you know bad boy Badshah is a cute loving husband in real! Meet his adorable wife]
Dainik Bhaskar, 16 November 2015. They have a daughter Jessemy Grace Masih Singh (born January 11, 2017).
He completed his schooling from Bal Bharti Public School, Pitampura, Delhi where he performed with his school choir.
Prior to becoming a full-time musician he enrolled as a math student at the prestigious
Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi before moving to civil engineer at
PEC, Chandigarh, where he was exposed to new
Punjabi
Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan
* Punjabi language
* Punjabi people
* Punjabi dialects and languages
Punjabi may also refer to:
* Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
music which promoted him to take on "rap" writing. He has stated that if he had not become a rapper, he may have become an IAS officer.
Career
He started his career in the music industry with the name "Cool Equal", but then changed his name to Badshah. He further is known for his
catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recogni ...
"it's your boy Badshah", often stylized as "Ish yo boy Baad-uh-sh-aa-ah".
In 2018, Badshah released his first album O.N.E. – Original Never Ends.
On 7 August 2020, the rapper released a classic pop and hip-hop album namely, 'The Power of Dreams of a Kid' which had 8 tracks and includes features from the artists namely
Lisa Mishra
Lisa Mishra is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her reprise version of the song ''Tareefan'' in the 2018 Indian film ''Veere Di Wedding''. Since then, she has worked on songs like ''The Wakhra Song'' from the 2019 film ''J ...
, Sikander Kahlon, Fotty Seven, Bali and Music Producer Andy Grewal. The entire mastering and mixings of the album was done by Aditya Dev.

His 2019 song "Paagal" reached 74.8 million views on YouTube within 24 hours, setting the record for the
most-viewed video in 24 hours on YouTube.
BTS fans claimed that the artist had bought the views to cross the global record due to his low number of likes in the first 24 hours, but YouTube did not confirm whether the views are real or fake. The song also did not appear in the 100-position Global Top Music Videos chart for the week. However, Badshah denied it was fake views, but admitted his record label
Sony Music India
Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. is the record label operated by Sony in Chennai, India. The company began operation in 1997, and it was the first record company in India to be 100% foreign-owned, with Sony being a Japanese corporatio ...
bought paid
Google Ads.
An explanation for YouTube not acknowledging the record was that Badshah's record label Sony Music India had purchased advertisements from Google and YouTube that embedded the video or directed fans to it in some way. However, it has emerged that this is a common practice in the global
music industry
The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, trai ...
, and that similar practices had previously been used by the record labels of previous record holders such as
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...
and
Blackpink
Blackpink (, commonly stylized in all caps or as BLɅϽKPIИK) is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment, consisting of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa. The group debuted in August 2016 with their single album ''Square O ...
. This has cast doubt on some of the 24-hour viewership records on YouTube.
His song "
Genda Phool" was released by
Sony Music India
Sony Music Entertainment India Pvt. Ltd. is the record label operated by Sony in Chennai, India. The company began operation in 1997, and it was the first record company in India to be 100% foreign-owned, with Sony being a Japanese corporatio ...
in 2020. It had mixing with a
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the ...
folk song "Boro Loker Biti Lo". Ratan Kahar, a Bengali artist, claimed to be the original writer and composer of the folk song. Though Badshah later released a statement saying that it was a traditional
Baul folk song
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
which was not copyrighted, since folk music does not fall under copyright protections and is thus in the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
.
He again collaborated with
Jacqueline Fernandez in the song ''Pani Pani'', the song is sung by
Aastha Gill along with him. The song was instant hit and has been viewed more than 500 million times on YouTube. He further released the
Bhojpuri
Bhojpuri (;[Bhojpuri entry, Oxford Dictionaries](_blank)
, Oxford U ...
version of the song by collaborating with
Khesari Lal Yadav
Shatrughan Kumar Yadav (born 15 March 1986), known professionally as Khesari Lal Yadav, is an Indian actor, singer, dancer and model associated with Bhojpuri cinema. Also known by the Initialism KLY, Khesari has appeared in more than 70 films ...
. He rapped in the song in
Bhojpuri language. The Bhojpuri version got more in One million views in less than an hour and became first Bhojpuri song to do so.
Discography
Singles & collaborations
Film music
Film career
As actor
Badshah said that
Karan Johar
Karan Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo in the Hindi Film Industry, is an Indian filmmaker and television personality, who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several su ...
offered him
Vicky Kaushal's role in a
Netflix original film "
Lust Stories
''Lust Stories'' is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language anthology film, consisting of four short film segments directed by Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, and Karan Johar and based on the concept of the 2013 anthology film ''Bombay T ...
" and
Diljit Dosanjh's role in "
Good Newwz", but the popstar denied citing busy schedule and "things-didn't-work-out" things, hence below-mentioned
Khandaani Shafakhana is hitherto his only film as an actor.
Badshah, in the film, played the role of himself but with a different name, Gabru Ghaatak, wherein he was a patient of the protagonist, Babita Bedi played by
Sonakshi Sinha, with sex disorders who shied away to openly succour Ms. Bedi owing to the taboo around
sex in Indian society.
As producer
Awards and nominations
Business career

Badshah on few occasions has talked about his business ventures, he claimed in 2018 in the song "Take Off" that he has business ventures that are worth at least 9-digits, some of his known brands are BADFIT Clothing, Dragonfly Experience, Afterhours Productions.
Controversy
In August 2020, Badshah confessed to buying crores of fake views for ₹72 lakh on his
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
videos.
References
External links
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*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Badshah
Indian rappers
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Indian record producers
People from Delhi
Hindi-language singers
Punjabi-language singers
1985 births