Tokischa Altagracia Peralta (born 17 March 1996), known mononymously as Tokischa, is a Dominican rapper. After working for the renowned photographer Raymi Paulus, she was offered to enter the music industry. She signed a recording contract with Paulus Music and released his debut single "Pícala" to great regional success. In 2021 she expanded horizons, and was introduced to global artist. After her song "

Linda Linda is an English feminine given name, derived from the Spanish word , meaning "pretty." Linda may also refer to: Names * Linda (given name), a female given name (including a list of people and fictional characters so named) * Linda (singer) ...

" alongside

Rosalía Rosalia Vila Tobella (born 25 September 1992), known mononymously as Rosalía (, ), is a Spanish Pop music, pop and flamenco singer. She has been described as an "atypical pop star" due to her genre-bending musical styles. After being enthral ...

was released with great commercial success, she continued collaborating with artists such as

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer. He is one of the best-selling Latin artists, with 35 million records sold worldwide. Balvin was born in Medellín. At age 17, he moved to th ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

Anuel AA Emmanuel Gazmey Santiago (born November 26, 1992), known professionally as Anuel AA, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. Often called "The God of Latin trap" by himself and major Latin artists. His music often contains samples and interpola ...

and

Ozuna Juan Carlos Ozuna Rosado (; born March 13, 1992), known simply by his surname Ozuna, is a Puerto Rican singer, born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother. Five of his studio albums have topped ...

. Her lyrics mostly refer to

sexual activity Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) t ...

. Tokischa has often been catalogued as "controversial" by media outlets, with her music sparking

controversy Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an op ...

and receiving notable media coverage.

Early life

Tokischa was born in 1996 in a humble environment and spent most of her childhood and adolescence in the Los Frailes district, a low income area in the eastern region of the

Santo Domingo Province Santo Domingo () is a province of the Dominican Republic. It was split from the Distrito Nacional on October 16, 2001. Municipalities and municipal districts As of June 20, 2006, the province is divided into the following municipalities (''mu ...

. Her mother moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

when she was very young. Despite this, she was always aware of her. Her father was in jail, from which he escaped several times. Tokischa studied

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...

s and

dramaturgy Dramaturgy is the study of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. The role of a dramaturg in the field of modern dramaturgy is to help realize the multifaceted world of the play for a production u ...

. At sixteen she dedicated herself to professional modeling and at eighteen she started working in a call center for a year. At that age she was also groomed into underage

sex work Sex work is "the exchange of sexual services, performances, or products for material compensation. It includes activities of direct physical contact between buyers and sellers as well as indirect sexual stimulation". Sex work only refers to volun ...

, about which she commented during an interview: "being with a person you aren't attracted to and like is frustrating. After I had sex with someone, I would go into the bathroom to take a shower, crying, frustrated". At first she would spend the money on drugs, then on music. At age twenty, while Tokischa was doing a

photoshoot A photo shoot is the process taken by creatives and models that results in a visual objective being obtained. An example is a model posing for a photographer at a studio or an outdoor location. A photo shoot is a series of images that are taken, ...

for a magazine in her hometown, she met producer and designer Raymi Paulus, who was fascinated by her voice and musical talent, and asked her to record some songs in his studio. She eventually signed a record deal with his label Paulus Music. Tokischa identifies as

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

Career

In 2018 Tokischa debuted with the song “Pícala”, with Dominican singer Tivi Gunz. The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

, which reached one million views in the opening week, has scenes that show a psychedelic and hallucinogenic trip caused by the consumption of some substances. In November, she released the song "Que Viva" with Químico Ultra Mega. It was also presented at the Dominican Trap Festival, which takes place annually in different locations around the country. In February 2019, Tokischa released the single "Perras Como Tú", as part of the soundtrack for the Mexican film '' Miss Bala: Merciless''. In September, she released the extended play ''Freestyle #007'', featuring DJ Scuff. At the same time she released the single "Empatillada", with Jamby El Favo. The following month, she released the single "Twerk" with Eladio Carrión. Its music video reached more than five million views on the YouTube platform. The following year, Tokischa premiered the song "Varón", one of her most controversial songs. In February, she collaborated on the single "Amor & Dinero" by Jinchoo. In October, she released the song "Desacato Escolar" with Yomel El Meloso and Leo RD, which was partly censored on several platforms for a limited time. The following month, she released the single "Hoy Amanecí", featuring Tivi Gunz. In December, she published "El Rey de la Popola", with Dominican singer Rochy RD. In January 2021, Tokischa published the single "Yo No Me Voy Acostar", alongside

Yailin La Más Viral Georgina Lulú Guillermo Díaz (born 4 July 2002), known professionally as , is a Dominican rapper and singer. Career Díaz is a Dominican dembow artist. Currently signed to Iris Live Music / Rocnation Distribution, she released her first s ...

and La Perversa. That same month she premiered "Bellaca Putona", with Químico Ultra Mega, which managed to position itself at the top of the charts in her home country. During the year, she continued to release songs in the urbano umbrella genre and collaborations with regional artist. Tokischa made international headlines in the summer of that year after several collaborations with Latin artists

and

. Both music videos were filmed in

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

. Both Tokischa and Rosalía largely teased their song "

", which was produced by Leo RD. It was released on 1 September. They collaborated again the following year on "La Combi Versace", from the latter's album ''

Motomami ''Motomami'' is the third studio album by Spanish singer Rosalía. It was released on 18 March 2022 through Columbia Records. Rosalía enlisted producers Noah Goldstein, Michael Uzowuru, Dylan Wiggins and Pharrell Williams as well as longtime ...

''. A week before, "Perra", the Balvin collaboration, was released for digital download. Tokischa, together with her record label Paulus Music, had previously signed a distribution deal with Equity Distribution,

Roc Nation Roc Nation is an American entertainment company founded by Jay-Z in 2008. Headquartered in New York City, the company is a successor to his previous Roc-A-Fella Records label, with additional offices in Los Angeles and London. It serves as a re ...

's indie distribution company earlier that season. In September 2022, Tokischa was featured on "Hung Up on Tokischa", a remix of

's 2005 hit single "

Hung Up "Hung Up" is a song by American singer Madonna from her tenth studio album ''Confessions on a Dance Floor'' (2005). Initially used in a number of television advertisements and serials, the song was released as the album's lead single on October ...

"; the song uses

dembow The dembow beat or dembow riddim is a musical rhythm best known for its use as the core percussion element in reggaeton music, having taken its name from the 1990 dancehall song " Dem Bow" by Shabba Ranks. The rhythm, first developed by Jamaican ...

Artistry

Tokischa cultivates various musical styles, where trap,

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- ...

, rap and urbano stand out. However, she has stated in different occasions that there is no genre that identifies her. Her songs have quite personal and "the most honest possible" lyrics. One artist who inspired her early in her career was DJ Scuff. Tokischa is also a fan of

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

. She has stated that: "I chose to trap because it is the closest thing there is now to rock, which has always been my favorite genre. Trap is

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

. At that time I was very unleashed, and I expressed myself that way".

Controversies

In December 2019, Tokischa signed up on

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and started to post sexually-explicit content after having previously been censored on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

. In 2021, the singer said that "I opened my account because I have always liked explicit content, sexuality, sexiness and horniness. That had always caused trouble to me as a child since my family saw me taking hot pictures. Instagram deleted a couple photos of me some years ago so, when OnlyFans became a thing, I saw the opportunity to do it with no censorship nor explanation. I also met a team of professionals who taught me how to make an economic profit out of it. That helped me quite a lot during the pandemic. All investment I did in my music in the last months has come from this platform". In October 2020 she released the track "Desacato Escolar", a collaboration with Yomel El Meloso and Leo RD, on streaming platforms. The track caused controversy for its lyrics referencing prostitution. It was taken down from YouTube. Tokischa talked about it to ''

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española (''Spanish Radio and Television'', RTVE), is the Spanish national public Broadcasting, television and radio broadcaster. It is a state-owned enterprise f ...

'', stating that: "I think that those people who criticize him do not want to accept life as it is. Dembow and urban music in general are the expression of the neighborhood and the underworld, of what is lived. If the rap tells you about crime and weapons, it is because that exists, not because the artist is inventing it. We cannot ignore those realities. Prostitution is the same, it has always existed, and if they talk about it in songs, it is because it is like that. If that person who criticizes feels very neat, then perhaps it is because he does not want to know about these realities or that all that comes to light, but we sing about what we live, and that is inevitable". In August 2021, the rapper posed semi-naked at the sanctuary of the Virgin of Altagracia in La Vega. The town's mayor, released a statement in which he condemned that Tokischa "failed to the ethical norms and values that that govern the civilized and exemplary coexistence of our municipality". The rapper later expressed her regrets online and stated that "I didn't do it with the intention of offending, if not more to show that anyone can pray, come from wherever, or whatever it represents". Despite the apology, the La Vega Prosecutor's Office ruled that the performer will not be able to visit the sanctuaries of that province for a year, after Mayor Kelvin Cruz filed a complaint against her.

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted and certified songs

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1996 births 21st-century Dominican Republic artists 21st-century Dominican Republic LGBTQ people Bisexual women musicians Bisexual songwriters Dominican Republic women rappers Latin music songwriters Dominican Republic bisexual people LGBTQ people in Latin music Living people Mixed Dominicans OnlyFans creators People from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic Urbano musicians Women in Latin music 21st-century women rappers 21st-century rappers Latin Grammy Award winners Warner Music Latina artists