Sidhu Moose Wala
Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu (born 11 June 1993), better known by his stage name Sidhu Moose Wala, is an Indian singer, rapper, songwriter and actor associated with Punjabi music and Punjabi cinema. He started his career as a songwriter for the song "License" by Ninja, and began his singing career on a duet song titled "G Wagon". Following his debut, he collaborated with Brown Boyz for various tracks which were released by Humble Music. He gained wide attention with his track "So High". In fall 2018, he released his debut album "PBX 1", which peaked at 66th on  Billboard Canadian Albums chart. Following the album, he started releasing his songs independently. Also, his single "47" was ranked on UK Singles Chart. In 2020, Sidhu was named by "The Guardian" among the 50 new artists. Ten of his songs have peaked on UK Asian chart, two of which have topped the chart. His "Bambiha Bole" entered in top five on Global YouTube music chart. In 2021, Moose Wala released "Moosetape", tracks from which charted globally including Canadian Hot 100, UK Asian, and New Zealand Hot charts. He often gets into legal troubles by promoting gun culture and also using  inflammatory and inciting lyrics in his songs. Personal life. Sidhu hails from the village of Moosa in Mansa district of Punjab, India. He was born in a Sikh family, to father Bhola Singh and mother Charan Kaur. He studied at Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana and graduated in Electrical Engineering in 2016. He has also performed at DAV College fest. Moose Wala admires and is influenced by rapper Tupac Shakur. He started listening hip-hop music from sixth grade, and learned music skills from Harvinder Bittu in Ludhiana. He has close relations with his parents, and has released tracks  titled "Dear Mama" and "Bapu". As of 2019, Moose Wala resides in Brampton. He is known for his controversial lyrical style, often promoting gun cultures, while also hurting religious sentiments as was the case related to Mai Bhago, a revered figure in Sikhism. Career. After graduation, Sidhu Moose Wala moved to Canada and there he released his first song "G Wagon". He started to perform live in India in 2018. He had also performed successful live shows in Canada. Moose Wala got his breakthrough with the song "So High" in 2017, a gangster rap collaboration with Byg Byrd. The song  won him the 2017 Best Lyricist award at the Brit Asia TV Music Awards. He continued his success with singles like "Issa Jatt", "Tochan", "Selfmade", "Famous" and "Warning Shots". At the 2018 PTC Punjabi Music Awards he was nominated for the Best New Age Sensation award for "Issa Jatt". In August 2018, he launched his first film soundtrack song titled "Dollar", for the film "Dakuaan Da Munda". In October 2018, Moose Wala released his debut album "PBX 1" in the pop music genre with a touch of hip-hop. The album charted on the Canadian Albums Chart. It won him  the Best Album Award at the 2019 Brit Asia TV Music Awards, where Moose Wala also won Track of the Year for "Legend", Best International Male Act and Best Lyricist. In 2019, Moose Wala founded a record label of his name and released numerous tracks on the record label. Releases include "Sidhu's Anthem", "Mafia Style", "Poison" (a collaboration with R Nait), "Sohne Lagde", and "Homicide". Also, he released "Boot Cut", by Prem Dhillon as a producer. In June 2019, his concert at the Surrey Music Festival was cancelled due to violent activities that had happened in Moose Wala's  past performances. His single "47", featuring Mist and Stefflon Don entered the top 20 on UK Singles Chart. The song also charted on the New Zealand Hot 40 singles chart. Moose Wala concluded the year with single "Dhakka". In 2019, Spotify included him in the list of the most popular artists in Punjab, along Maninder Buttar and Karan Aujla. In 2020, he featured in "Old Skool", sung by Prem Dhillon. The song was followed by "Tibeyan Da Putt", which topped the iTunes charts and was ranked at number 8 on the Apple Music charts in India. The song was followed  by various singles, including "911" and "8 Cylinder". In May 2020, Moose Wala announced his second studio album, "Snitches Get Stitches" on his Instagram handle, which was released on the same day. In the same month, he released his single "Dear Mama" on the occasion of his mother's birthday. In June 2020, he collaborated with Amrit Maan on the song "Bambiha Bole", which debuted at number 25 in India and 81 in Canada on the Apple Music chart. Its music video was viewed over ten million times within twenty-four hours. The song topped in India, and entered the  top 50 in Canada and New Zealand on the Apple Music chart. It topped the UK Asian charts, and also entered the top 5 of the Global YouTube charts. In September 2020, Moose Wala released "Game" with Shooter Kahlon, which became his first song to chart on the Canadian Hot 100 by "Billboard". In May 2021, Moose Wala released his third studio album, "Moosetape", which contains 32 tracks. On 12 September 2021, he performed at the Wireless Festival in London with British rapper Mist. Moose Wala was the first Indian singer to perform at this festival. Controversies. Feuds. Moose Wala  has a rivalry with Karan Aujla; both have replied to each other through songs, social media handles and live performances. Also, both the singers have been criticised for singing songs promoting violence. Elly Mangat, both Sidhu and Aujla's then-colleague in an interview disclosed that the dispute between two singers began when Sidhu's video targeting Aujla in his song was leaked to Aujla's management, and they threatened attacking Sidhu. Following the incident, both started targeting each other on social media. The rivalry was resolved temporarily till Karan Aujla released a diss-track "Lafaafe", followed by Moose Wala 's "Warning Shot". Aujla in an interview stated that he didn't write the track "Lafaafe", and didn't reveal anything about their rivalry, but praised Sidhu's work. In fall 2019, their rivalry was most-active as both the singers were on India tour, and targeted each other in almost every performance. AK-47 training. On 4 May 2020, Moose Wala's two videos went viral in which he was training to use an AK-47 with five police officers in one video, and a personal pistol in another. Six police officials who assisted Moose Wala were suspended following the incident . On 19 May, Moose Wala was booked under two sections of the arms act. Later that month, police started conducting raids to arrest him, but he went underground and evaded the arrest. On 2 June, Barnala court rejected his anticipatory bail, among five accused officers. In July, he got regular bail after he joined the police investigation. On 6 June, he was fined for black-tinted glass of his car in Nabha, and was released despite being under lookout. In July 2020, he released a single "Sanju", in which he compared his charges with Sanjay Dutt. Indian shooter Avneet Sidhu  criticised Moose Wala for promoting gun culture. On the next day, case was registered on him for the song. In an interview Moose Wala stated that he is being targeted by news channels and some lawyers. Glorification of Khalistani movement. In December 2020, Moose Wala released the single "Panjab: My Motherland", in which he glorified Khalistani separatist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. The song also includes visuals from a speech made by Khalistani supporter Bharpur Singh Balbir in the late 1980s. Section::::"ScapeGoat" and reopening of 2020 Arms Act case. On 11 April 2022 Sidhu released a new song titled "Scapegoat" in which  he laments his failure in the recent state assembly elections. Aam Aadmi Party alleged that the popular singer called the voters of Punjab "gaddar" (traitors) in the song for making AAP win. AAP also claimed that Moose Wala's song perpetuates the Congress' “anti-Punjab” mentality and has demanded an answer from the party's newly appointed state unit president, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, on whether he endorsed the singer's views. MLA Jagdeep Kamboj Goldy called him “frustrated”, and Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar said, “We will reopen the case showing Moosewala in possession of AK-47." Other ventures. 5911 Records . Following the various successful songs with Humble Music, Moose Wala started releasing songs independently in 2018. He released the first song "Warning Shots", which is diss track to Karan Aujla's track "Lafaafe". In the same year, his debut album "PBX 1" was released under T-Series, followed by the release of most of his tracks under his own label, as well as tracks from other artists. In 2020, Moose Wala released his second studio album "Snitches Get Stitches" under his own label. On 31 August 2020, Moose Wala officially launched his record label, 5911 Records. Acting career. Moose Wala  made his debut in Punjabi cinema in the film "Yes I Am Student" under his own production company Jatt Life Studios. The film was directed by Tarnvir Singh Jagpal and written by Gill Raunta. In 2019, Moose Wala appeared in "Teri Meri Jodi". In June 2020, he announced another film titled "Gunah". On 22 August, he released the teaser of his upcoming movie, "Moosa Jatt", starring Sweetaj Brar and directed by Tru Makers. On 24 August, he announced his new film "Jattan Da Munda Gaun Lagya", directed by Amberdeep Singh which is set for release on 18 March 2022. Politics . Moose Wala actively campaigned for his mother, Charan Kaur, who won the sarpanch election from Moosa village in December 2018. On 3 December 2021, Sidhu joined Congress for the 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election. Obtaining only 20.52% votes from the Mansa constituency, Moosewala lost to Aam Aadmi Party's Vijay Singla by a margin of 63,323 votes. During the 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election a case under Section 188 of IPC was filed against Moosewala for holding a door-to-door campaign in Mansa constituency for violating the code of conduct. Discography. Studio albums