Kevin Pouya (born December 20, 1994), known

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. A mononym may be the person's only name, given to them at birth. This was routine in most ancient societies, and remains ...

as Pouya, is an American rapper from

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. Considered as a pioneer of the early

underground rap Underground hip hop (also known as underground rap or simply underground) traditionally refers to hip hop music that is outside the general mainstream canon or counter-cultural in nature, usually with a heavy emphasis on emotion, lyricism, and/or ...

scene that began on

Soundcloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

in 2012, along with discovering the well known hip-hop duo

Suicideboys Suicideboys (stylized as $UICIDEBOY$) is an American hip hop duo from New Orleans, Louisiana. Formed in 2013 by cousins Scrim (stylized as $crim) and Ruby da Cherry, the duo initially rose to popularity on SoundCloud for their abrasive, self-pr ...

in their early career, Pouya has developed a long-lasting core fanbase as an

independent artist Independent music (also commonly known as indie music, or simply indie) is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties afforded by i ...

Early life

As a teenager, Pouya and his best friend Nicholas Voutsinas (known professionally as "

Fat Nick Nicholas Voutsinas (born September 6, 1994), known professionally as Fat Nick, is an American rapper from Miami, Florida. Initially rising to prominence alongside American rapper Pouya and their collective Buffet Boys, he is known for being a le ...

") had a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

comedy channel called ''NICK AND POUYA SHOW''. While mostly being

comedy sketches Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

, the videos also served as mini vlogs for the friends. Travelling around the local neighborhoods in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, they would often feature other friends in the videos, including future rapper

Denzel Curry Denzel Rae Don Curry (born February 16, 1995) is an American rapper. Born and raised in Miami Gardens, Florida, Curry started rapping while in the sixth grade and began working on his first mixtape, ''King Remembered Underground Tape 1991–1995 ...

and the group Raider Klan. Pouya dropped out of

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in his sophomore year. He worked cleaning toilets at a restaurant for a year before finding success in music.

Career

Pouya started rapping seriously around 2011, and after debuting a freestyle with local Florida rapper Nell titled ''Shotz From The Double Glock'', began releasing music frequently. Again staying close with childhood friend

, the two formed the ''Buffet Boys'', a group that later became their record label. He gained notoriety after he released the song "Get Buck" in 2013, which as of June 2022 has over 13 million video views. On November 20, 2013, Pouya released a collaboration EP with

The Cool Kids Cool Kids may refer to: Music * The Cool Kids (duo), an alternative hip-hop duo Albums * Cool Kids (album), ''Cool Kids'' (album), a 1983 album by Kix * ''Cool Kids'', a 2011 EP by Natalie Walker Songs * Cool Kids (song), "Cool Kids" (song), a ...

Sir Michael Rocks Antoine Amari Reed (born December 24, 1987) is an American rapper better known by his stage name Sir Michael Rocks (or Mikey Rocks). He started his music career in 2005 as a member of the hip hop duo The Cool Kids (duo), The Cool Kids, and later ...

titled ''Gookin. The two connected after Rocks had moved to Miami. His fifth solo mixtape ''Stunna'', was released on March 5, 2014. ''Elevator Magazine'' described the mixtape as

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Bone Thugs-n-Harmony (formerly known as B.O.N.E. Enterpri$e and also referred to as simply Bone Thugs or Bone) is an American hip hop group formed in 1991 in Cleveland, Ohio. Consisting of rappers Bizzy Bone, Wish Bone, Layzie Bone, Krayzie ...

influenced, and said "he does a great job of molding their style into his own version with a twist of his own style thrown in there." His next mixtape was released on March 25, 2015, entitled ''South Side Slugs''. The mixtape contained guest appearances from

, SDotBraddy,

, and new Buffet Boys member Germ. Pouya collaborated with

on an EP titled ''$outh $ide $uicide'', that was released on September 1, 2015. In 2016, he released his debut studio album ''Underground Underdog'' under the Buffet Boys label. The album peaked at #156 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a rec ...

. In 2017, he was a featured artist in the song "On Her Mind" by

progressive metalcore Progressive metalcore (also called technical metalcore or ambient metalcore) is a fusion of progressive metal and metalcore characterized by highly technical lead guitar, "atmospheric" elements, and complex instrumentation. Some notable practiti ...

band

Volumes Volume is a measure of regions in three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The ...

on their album Different Animals. That same year, he released a collaboration mixtape with

titled ''Drop Out of School''. In 2018 he released his second studio album, titled ''Five Five''. On June 30, 2019, Pouya released his third studio album titled, ''The South Got Something to Say.'' The album included guest appearances from

City Morgue City Morgue was an American hip hop music, hip hop duo from New York City, which consisted of rappers ZillaKami (Junius Rogers) and SosMula (Vinicius Sosa). History Prior to the formation of City Morgue in 2017, Junius Rogers, professionally k ...

Juicy J Jordan Michael Houston III (born April 5, 1975), known professionally as Juicy J, is an American rapper and record producer. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, he is a founding member of the Southern hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia, established ...

and

Ghostemane Eric Whitney (born April 15, 1991), known professionally as Ghostemane or Eric Ghoste, is an American rapper and record producer. He has released eight solo albums and three collaborative albums under his Ghostemane moniker, primarily merging ...

. In December 2020, Pouya collaborated with

to release ''Drop Out of School 2''. Pouya's fourth studio album ''Blood Was Never Thick As Water'' was released on October 22, 2021. The title comes from a lyric in the closing song to the album, and features rapper

and singer Lu. In February 2022, he released the extended play ''dirt/hurt/pain/''. It would be the last project by Pouya to be released under ''Buffet Boys''. In March 2022, Pouya along with other ''Buffet Boys'' members, announced that the label would be disbanding indefinitely. Not long after, they announced their new label ''All But 6 Records''.

Personal life

Pouya is of Cuban and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

heritage, born to a Persian Iranian father and Cuban mother.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

* ''Baby Bone'' (2013) * Gookin' (2013) (w/

) * ''$outh $ide $uicide'' (2015) (w/

$uicideboy$ Suicideboys (stylized as $UICIDEBOY$) is an American hip hop duo from New Orleans, Louisiana. Formed in 2013 by cousins Scrim (stylized as $crim) and Ruby da Cherry, the duo initially rose to popularity on SoundCloud for their abrasive, self-pr ...

) *''Pouya x Germ x Shakewell EP'' (2015) (w/ Germ & Shakewell) * ''Pouya & Boobie Lootaveli: Greatest Hits, Vol. 1'' (2020) (w/ Boobie Lootaveli) * ''Drop Out of School 2'' (2020) (w/

) * ''Dirt/Hurt/Pain'' (2022) * ''Chrome Casketz'' (2023) (w/ Terror Reid) * ''Chrome Casketz 2: Armageddon'' (2024) (w/ Terror Reid)

Mixtapes

* ''Fuck It'' (2012) * ''Don't Sleep On Me Hoe'' (2012) * ''WarBucks'' (2013) (w/ SDotBraddy) * ''Stunna'' (2014) * ''South Side Slugs'' (2015) * ''Drop Out of School'' (2017) (w/ Fat Nick) * ''Pouya & Boobie Lootaveli: Greatest Hits, Vol. 3'' (2019) (w/ Boobie Lootaveli) * ''All But 6'' (2023) (w/ All But 6 & Fat Nick) * ''All But 6 Vol. 2'' (2024) (w/ All But 6 & Fat Nick)

Singles

Guest appearances

References

{{Reflist 1994 births Living people American musicians of Cuban descent American people of Iranian descent 21st-century American male rappers Rappers from Miami Hispanic and Latino American rappers