Rahul Kumar Velpula (born 26 Jan 1989), known professionally as Roll Rida, is an Indian

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 ...

, songwriter and actor in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

films and music. He became popular with his

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 ...

rap song on

Sankranthi Sankranti () refers to the transmigration of the sun from one zodiac to another in Indian astronomy. In ''Saurmana'' ''varsha'' (Hindu Solar year), there are twelve Sankrantis corresponding with twelve months of a year. The Sankrantis can be broa ...

, ''Patang'', was a huge hit with over 17 million views. His other popular songs are Kirana rap, Breaking news Kattif, Shankar Ka Beta, Ivvalane Dilkush, Ignite, Arupu etc. In 2018, he appeared as a contestant for ''Bigg Boss 2'' and successfully reached the 15th week of the show and finished in 6th place.

Early life

Roll Rida was born in

Karimnagar Karimnagar, also informally known as Elagandula, is a city and District Headquarters in the Indian state of Telangana. Karimnagar is a major urban agglomeration in the state. It is third largest City in the state and Municipal Corporation and i ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

, India. He did his schooling at Johnson Grammar School in

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

; intermediate at Narayana Junior College, Tarnaka and completed his

BTech A Bachelor of Technology (BTech) is an undergraduate degree that is awarded for a higher education program in engineering. Countries Australia In Australia, the Bachelor of Technology degree is offered by RMIT University, Edith Cowan Univ ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

from CVR College of Engineering, Hyderabad. He was popular for his singing in school and started a band in college with Syed Kamran.

Career

Roll Rida initially worked at

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

, Hyderabad and as Quality Analyst at

Tech Mahindra Tech Mahindra is an Indian multinational information technology services and consulting company. It was formed in 1986 as a joint venture between Mahindra & Mahindra and BT Group. Part of the Mahindra Group, the company is headquartered in Pun ...

. He picked his professional name, Roll Rida, upon a friend's suggestion, after popular American rapper,

Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), known professionally as Flo Rida ( ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 debut and breakout single "Low (Flo Rida song), Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the ...

, of Low song fame. He quit his job to pursue his successful singing career in 2017. His rap song ‘Arupu’ with Syed Kamran became popular. He was the first to do a rap song in Telugu language from

State. In 2013, he debuted on

with a single, ''Patang'', on YouTube became a huge hit, with over 14 million views. His songs Patang, Kirana song, Dilkush are popular among young listeners. He toured USA in 2015 and 2016 to promote his Telugu rap and Hip Hop songs. Roll Rida was featured on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

in 2010. He worked with Telugu music directors like M. M. Keeravani,

S. S. Thaman Ghantasala Sai Srinivas Sivakumar (born 16 November 1983), professionally credited as Thaman S, is an Indian composer and playback singer known for his works majorly in Telugu language, Telugu and Tamil culture, Tamil cinema. He is the recipien ...

and

Anoop Rubens Anup Rubens, born Enoch Rubens, is an Indian music composer and singer who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. He has received a Filmfare Award, a Nandhi Award, GAMA Awards and a ...

. He also performed with

Divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

. He worked as a voice artist for

Akhil Akkineni Akhil Akkineni (born April 8, 1994) is an American-born actor in Telugu films of India. He debuted as a child artist in the film '' Sisindri'' (1994), for which he won a Filmfare Special Award. Akhil made his debut as a lead actor with '' Akhi ...

in the film '' Manam'', and

Jr. NTR Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr. (born 20 May 1983), popularly known as NTR Jr, is an Indian actor, producer, and television presenter who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He is one of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema and has been featur ...

in '' Temper''. He acted in a short film, ''Hello!'', an urban rom com. It was released on YouTube. He was selected for ''Bigg Boss 2'' for his popularity. He stayed in the house till the week before the finale of that season.

Artistry

Roll Rida's rapping is a combination of Hyderabadi Telugu and Deccani slang spoken in Hyderabad old city.

Discography

Singles/Music Videos

Film songs

Other songs

Filmography

* '' 90ML'' (2019) as Kishore

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rida, Roll Living people Indian rappers Indian male pop singers Indian male playback singers Singers from Telangana People from Karimnagar district Telugu playback singers 1989 births Male actors in Telugu cinema