Diaz (full name Andres Rafael Diaz) is a rapper from

Jessheim Jessheim is a town in the Ullensaker municipality in Akershus of Norway. History The railway station with the Jessheim station was built in 1854 as part of the Hovedbanen line from Oslo to Eidsvoll. The railroad had at the initial construction o ...

, Norway, born 26 July 1976. His father, Andres Rafael Diaz Rosa, is Spanish, and his mother, Inger, is Norwegian. He has released three solo albums: ''2050'', ''Velkommen Hjem, Andres'' (Welcome Home, Andres), and ''Jessheimfanden. A''ll paying homage to his hometown of

, which lies some 40 km N/NE of Norway's capital,

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, close to the city's airport,

Gardermoen Oslo Airport () , alternatively referred to as Oslo Gardermoen Airport or simply Gardermoen, is an international airport serving Oslo, the capital and most populous city of Norway. The airport is the second largest in Scandinavia and the Nordi ...

. ''2050'' is the postal code for Jessheim. ''Velkommen Hjem, Andres'' refers to the Norwegian film ''Velkommen Hjem, Anders,'' which was filmed in 1985 in Jessheim with a cast of local actors. In addition to this, he has collaborated on numerous singles and albums by artists like

Warlocks A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft. Etymology and terminology The most commonly accepted etymology derives ''warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver". The term came to apply speciall ...

Opaque Opacity is the measure of impenetrability to electromagnetic or other kinds of radiation, especially visible light. In radiative transfer, it describes the absorption and scattering of radiation in a medium, such as a plasma, dielectric, shie ...

Tommy Tee Tommy Flåten (born 18 December 1971), best known by his stage name Tommy Tee, is a Norwegian record producer, rapper, broadcaster, record executive, concert promoter and magazine publisher. He is known as the godfather of Norwegian hip hop. Tee ...

, Wu-Tang Clan's

RZA Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name RZA ( ) or the RZA, is an American rapper, record producer, composer, actor, and filmmaker. He is the '' de facto'' leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having pro ...

, and

kapasiteettiyksikkö Kapasiteettiyksikkö ( Finnish for "capacity unit") was a Finnish hip hop group from Helsinki. The group was formed in 1997 by Anders "Andu" Westerholm, Markku "Tasis" Wettenranta and Dan "Uniikki" Tolppanen. Along with Fintelligens, Kapasitee ...

The album ''Velkommen Hjem Andres'' includes the song "Mitt Terningkast," which Diaz's childhood friends

Shagrath Stian Tomt Thoresen (born 18 November 1976),Shagrath
at Encyclopaedia Metallum known professiona ...

and

Galder Tom Rune Andersen (born 18 October 1976), also known by his stage name Galder, is a Norwegian guitarist and vocalist. He is from the small town of Jessheim, north of Oslo. He is a founding member of the melodic black metal band Old Man's Child ...

of the

symphonic black metal Symphonic black metal is a subgenre of black metal that emerged in the 1990s and incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements. History One of the earliest forerunners in what would come to be the sound of symphonic metal was Celtic Frost ...

band

Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic lang ...

made in collaboration with. The song "Hats Off to Aruto", a tribute to another childhood friend, was briefly popular in the United States. Diaz started working as a DJ when he was 13 and has worked as a presenter on Norwegian Channel 24. He also used to run a record shop in Oslo, T&D Records, with mentor and producer

. Tommy Tee has produced much of Diaz's work and runs

Tee Productions Tee Productions is considered to be one of Scandinavia's largest Record label production it is hip hop record label owned by Tommy Tee, located in Oslo, Norway. Its signed artists include Diaz, Opaque, Warlocks, Son of light (earlier known as N-Li ...

, the record label that publishes albums by Diaz,

Gatas Parlament Gatas Parlament () is a Norwegian group of rap artists. It currently consists of artists Elling Borgersrud and Jester. The group was the first to release a hiphop-recording in their native language, Norwegian. All current and former members ha ...

, and others. He also used to work as a label manager for BMG Music (Norway) and as a promoter for Universal Music (Norway). By 2003, he was one of Norway's foremost hip-hop artists. Diaz retired from rap music, although he made a comeback appearance in October 2009. He studied business at the

Norwegian School of Management BI Norwegian Business School () is a Norwegian specialized university that provides education and conducts research primarily in the fields of business and economics, marketing, strategy, management, and administration. BI is organized as a self ...

. He has worked with the

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

, and for the past three years, he has worked for the Norwegian Red Cross (Oslo Red Cross) with inner-city youth.

References

1976 births Living people Norwegian male rappers Norwegian people of Spanish descent People from Jessheim {{Norway-musician-stub