David Christopher Daniel Wahlgren (born 13 July 1966), better known by the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Papa Dee, is a Swedish

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

. His most commercially successful track is his version of the

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion st ...

song "

The First Cut Is the Deepest "The First Cut Is the Deepest" is a 1967 song written by British singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, originally released by P. P. Arnold for her album The First Lady of Immediate, ''The First Lady of Immediate'' in April 1967. Stevens' own version ...

Music career

Wahlgren debuted in 1988 with the single "Funky Raggamuffin/Let the Music Play", a mixture of dancehall and

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

. He then joined the Stonefunkers and became the group's rapper. This was followed by a few years of cooperation with

Rob'n'Raz Rob'n'Raz were a Swedish people, Swedish music duet (music), duo of Robert Wåtz and Rasmus Lindwall. After some years of DJing in the late 1980s, they decided to start performing and composing together. They worked on record producer, productio ...

. Wahlgren then went solo, and had his breakthrough in 1990 with the album ''Lettin' Off Steam'', which was predominantly hip hop and dancehall. His next album, ''One Step Ahead'', had elements of

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

, mixing song and rap. His 1994 release, ''Original Master'', produced by

Denniz Pop Dag Krister Volle (26 April 1963 – 30 August 1998), better known as Denniz Pop (stylized ''Denniz PoP''), was a Swedish DJ, music producer, and songwriter. He was a member of the DJ collective SweMix and later co-founded the recording studio ...

at Cheiron Studio, incorporated

Euro disco Eurodisco (also spelled as Euro disco) is a genre of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the middle 1970s, incorporating elements of pop and rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco compositions featur ...

into his music. During the 1990s and 2000s, he released several albums, often in cooperation with Desmond Foster and a couple with

Soundism Soundism is a group of music producers and sound engineers with music recording studios located in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Västerås in Sweden. They are part of the Swedish hip hop culture. Not only have new artists emerged, but also other ac ...

. 2001, Soundism also produced the Papa Dee song "Hottie Hottie Girls" featuring

Lady Saw Marion Hall, formerly known by the stage name Lady Saw, is a Jamaican singer and songwriter whose career has spanned over two decades. Formerly known as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Dancehall, she is known for her guest ap ...

, Jamaica's prime female dancehall star.

Kent (Gillström) Isaacs Kent Isaacs is a Swedish producer, mixer, musician, songwriter and music entrepreneur. He is co-owner and operator of Cosmos Music, an independent Scandinavian music label. Isaacs has been known to work with Robyn, RZA, Slick Rick, Yusuf I ...

also produced a couple of Papa Dee's more daring and innovative albums. One of the albums they did together was the cover album, recorded in Jamaica, with reggae musicians including Horse-Mouth,

Flabba Holt Errol Holt (born 19 July 1950), also known as Errol Carter and by his nickname Flabba, is a Jamaican bass guitar player and a singer who was a member of The Morwells and the Roots Radics and has played on hundreds of Jamaican albums. Biograph ...

and Chinna Smith. He is also a member of The

Brooklyn Funk Essentials Brooklyn Funk Essentials is a music collective who mix jazz, funk, and hip hop, featuring musicians and poets from different cultures. The band was conceived in 1993 by producer Arthur Baker and bassist and musical director Lati Kronlund. In ...

and of Dubchek with David Barratt. His songs have been featured in several feature films including

Predator 2 ''Predator 2'' is a 1990 American science fiction film, science fiction action film written by brothers Jim and John Thomas, directed by Stephen Hopkins (director), Stephen Hopkins, and starring Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Ruben Blades, Rubén Bla ...

, starring

Danny Glover Danny Glover ( ; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, producer, and political activist. Over his career he has received List of awards and nominations received by Danny Glover, numerous accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian A ...

. In 1997 Dubchek made music for the critically acclaimed ''

Two Girls and a Guy ''Two Girls and a Guy'' is a 1997 American black comedy-drama film written and directed by James Toback and produced by Edward R. Pressman and Chris Hanley. It stars Robert Downey Jr., Heather Graham and Natasha Gregson Wagner. The film is ma ...

'' featuring

Robert Downey, Jr. Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965), also known as RDJ, is an American actor. One of the highest-grossing actors of all time, his films as a leading actor have grossed over $14 billion worldwide. In 2008, Downey was named by ''Time ...

and

Heather Graham Heather Joan Graham (born January 29, 1970) is an American actress. The accolades she has received include nominations for two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, and an Independent Spirit Award. After appearing in tel ...

. In the Swedish feature film/comedy '' Smala Sussie'' Papa Dee was credited both featuring as himself onscreen and as songwriter. PD composed music for the stage (Top Dog/ Underdog at Stockholms Stadsteater) Due to his prolific yet flexible imprint Papa Dee has enjoyed a successful career as one of Sweden's most sought after voice artists dubbing cartoons and movies alike.

Partial voice work

* In the 1990s, Wahlgren dubbed Buster Bunny in

Tiny Toon Adventures ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It originally aired from September 14, 1990 to December 6, 1992, airing in syndication before eventually settling a ...

, rendering that of the character's original voice actor,

Charlie Adler Charles Michael Adler (born October 2, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director. He is known for his roles as Buster Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', the Bigheads on ''Rocko's Modern Life'', Ickis on ''Aaahh!!! Real Monsters'', Doc ...

* He took on Eddie Murphy's character in "Mulan" (1998) and "Mulan 2" (2005) as Mushu * In '' Snow Dogs'' (2002) he rendered Cuba Gooding Jr's character . * He also dubbed

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...

in the Swedish release of "

Shark Tale ''Shark Tale'' is a 2004 American animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman, from a screenplay written by Letterman and Michael J. Wilson. The film features the vo ...

''/''Hajar som Hajar" (2004) - he featured as Oscar. * In ''Space Chimps'' (2008) he voiced Andy Samberg's character Ham 3. As founding member of the NYC groove collective

he has recorded 4 full-length albums: * ''Cool and Steady and Easy'' (1994) * ''In the Buzz Bag'' (1998) * ''Make Them Like It'' (2000) * ''Watcha Playin’ ''(2009) As Dubchek with David Barrat, Papa Dee recorded full-length albums * ''Down Memory Gap Lane'' (1998) * ''The Far East End'' (2010) Highlights as featuring guest artist include: * Leftfield's ''Leftism'' on the track ''Release the Pressure'' - additional vocals (1995) *

Titiyo Titiyo Yambalu Felicia Jah (born 23 July 1967) is a Swedish singer and songwriter who has won four Grammy's. Biography Early life Titiyo was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to Ahmadu Jah, a Sierra Leonean drummer, and Maylen Bergström. Through Ja ...

''My Body says Yes'' (1990) *

Mad Professor Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser (born 27 March 1955, Georgetown, Guyana) known by his stage-name Mad Professor, is a British dub music producer, engineer and remixer. He has collaborated with reggae artists Lee "Scratch" Perry, Sly and Robbie, ...

compilation ''DJ’ s Choice'' Tribute to MLK (1990) * Diana King's album ''Respect'' (2002) in the duet ''Keep It On The Downlow'' In 2001

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

used his track ”Ispy” for its worldwide commercial. Between 2000-2008 Papa Dee hosted his own radio show, ''P3 Rytm'' for SR, the Swedish National Radio Network 2012: Back on the move Papa Dee's currently working on his book ''Was Jean Baptiste Bernadotte a blackman?'' and his upcoming album ''Fall From Grace'' is in the final stages.

Personal life

Wahlgren was born in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, to a Swedish mother and a

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

ian father. His father left the family when he was a small child. On 14 September 2008, Wahlgren was arrested and charged with grave assault (Swedish: ''grov misshandel'') with bodily harm to his wife Andrea on a street and in their apartment. His wife categorically denied that maltreatment had taken place and later wrote a book, ''En Fjärils Kamp'' (A Butterfly's Struggle), about how she was not heard in the trial. Despite this, a Swedish lower court found him guilty of a lesser charge of assault (Swedish: ''misshandel'') on 20 October 2008 based on testimony from multiple witnesses and he was fined SEK 8,700. In 2010, the Swedish High Court acquitted him of the other charges of assaulting his wife in their apartment after she denied the assault. Papa Dee was awarded SEK 25,000 for the suffering as a result of the prosecution and SEK 18,045 for lost income and costs. Papa Dee and Andrea Wahlgren divorced in 2012.

Discography

Albums

* ''Lettin' Off Steam'' (1990) * ''One Step Ahead'' (1993) * ''Original Master'' (1994) * ''The Journey'' (1996) * ''Island Rock'' (1998) * ''The Man Who Couldn't Say No'' (2001) * ''Live It Up!'' (2004) * ''A Little Way Different'' (2008) * ''Fall From Grace'' (2012)

Singles

Singles as featured artist

Other appearances

* ''Debut studio album'' - The Bitter Twins (TBA)

References

External links

Papa Dee's WebsiteSoundtracks for Predator 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Papa Dee 1966 births Living people Musicians from Gothenburg Swedish people of Ghanaian descent Swedish male rappers Swedish reggae musicians Dancehall musicians Ragga musicians Brooklyn Funk Essentials members English-language singers from Sweden