Daniel Nwosu Jr. (born March 22, 1994), better known by his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Dax (often stylized as DAX), is a

Nigerian Canadian Nigerian Canadians are Canada, Canadian citizens and residents of Nigerian origin and descent. Nigerians began migrating to Canada during the 1967–1970 Nigerian Civil War. Nigerians were not broken out separately in immigration statistics until 1 ...

rapper, singer, and songwriter.

Early life

Daniel Nwosu Jr. was born on March 22, 1994, in St. John's,

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. He grew up in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

and moved to Wichita to attend university, and he later moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. He attended the Newman University, where he played guard for the

Newman Jets The Newman Jets are the athletic teams that represent Newman University, located in Wichita, Kansas, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in ...

basketball team. He initially wrote poetry and was a motivational speaker prior to pursuing a rap career. During his tenure at Newman University he worked as a janitor, which he claimed was a job he liked because he was able to work on building his rap career in his spare time from work.

Career

Dax decided to write up a poem as he rode on a bus with his basketball team in 2016. After impressing one of his teammates with the poem, Dax realized he had a knack for putting words together. He began seriously releasing and promoting music through his

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

account dropping mixtape ''2pac Reincarnation Vol 2: As Told By Dax'' in 2017, He rose to fame for the official music video of his song "Cash Me Outside" featuring Danielle Bregoli. He released his first

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

in August 2018, entitled "It’s Different Now" which features guest appearances from other rappers including

OT Genasis Odis Oliver Flores (born June 18, 1987), better known by his stage name O.T. Genasis, is an American rapper, actor and singer. Early life Odis Oliver Flores was born on June 18, 1987, in Atlanta to Garifunas from Belize. He is a Garifuna Amer ...

and

Futuristic The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

. The following year, he was featured on

Hopsin Marcus Jamal Hopson (born July 18, 1985), known professionally as Hopsin, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Los Angeles. In 2007, he was signed to Ruthless Records, and had founded his own record label, Funk Volume, i ...

's song "You Should've Known". In June 2019, he went on "It goes up" tour with

Tech N9ne Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two m ...

and then later announced his first solo headlining tour "It's Different Now Tour" via

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

and scheduled to tour in October across America and Canada. In 2020, he released another EP called "I'll Say It For You" which received generally positive reviews, the 7 track EP was preceded by the controversial single "Dear God", in which Dax asks questions for God as he contemplates the existence of both himself and the world at large. The song was praised by the critics for its subject matter and lyricism, the music video of the song has over 50 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and has been streamed more than 50 million times on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

. Later that year he released two more singles, "Faster" and "I don't want another sorry" featuring Tech N9ne and

Trippie Redd Michael Lamar White II (born June 18, 1999), known professionally as Trippie Redd, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is one of the most prominent members of the SoundCloud rap scene, which gained mainstream acclaim in the late ...

respectively. In April 2020, he released the single "Coronavirus (State Of Emergency)", which was written about the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. In July 2021, Dax released a sequel to "Dear God" called "Child of God" in which he responded by thanking God for what he had done for him. In August 2021, Dax announced his debut studio album and released "Propaganda" featuring Tom Macdonald as album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

. The song peaked at number 15 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

s R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart and at number 9 on the Rap Digital Song Sales chart. In early October 2021, album's third single "40 Days, 40 Nights" featuring

Nasty C Nsikayesizwe David Junior Ngcobo (born 11 February 1997), known professionally as Nasty C, is a South African rapper, songwriter, and record producer. After releasing three mixtapes, one being "Undisputed" and two EPs, Ngcobo released his debu ...

was released. On October 15, 2021, his debut studio album ''Pain Paints Paintings'' was released digitally through Living Legends Entertainment. On March 11, 2022, he released a new single titled "Dear Alcohol", the song was written about

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

. It debuted at number 9 on the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

and at 28 on the U.S.

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart, and was eventually certified Gold by both the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

and

Music Canada Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It a ...

. In the song, Dax has reflected on his toxic relationship with alcohol admitting to the times in his life when he "got wasted" because he didn't want to be alone with himself, he wrote on YouTube while promoting the single that, "This one is very personal to me". On June 10, 2022, he released a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

crossover remix for the song featuring vocals from country singer

Elle King Tanner Elle Schneider (born July 3, 1989), known professionally as Elle King, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Her musical style was influenced by Country music, country, Rock music, rock and blues. In 2012, King released her d ...

Artistry

Style and influence

Initially, Dax did not take rap seriously because of his interest in basketball but there was a phase where he grew up listening to

Tupac Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the b ...

. He was never really a big fan of rap but he started listening to hip-hop when

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

took over the scene. Dax has also cited artists like

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

and

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

. He compares his style to artists such as

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

, and Hopsin.

Feuds

KSI

On November 18, 2018

KSI Olajide Olayinka Williams "JJ" Olatunji (born 19 June 1993), known professionally as KSI, is an English YouTuber and rapper. He is a co-founder and member of the British YouTube group known as the Sidemen. He is the CEO of Misfits Boxing and ...

appeared on the What's Good? Podcast, where he called out various internet rappers. In the interview KSI said both

Quadeca Benjamin Lasky (born October 2, 2000), better known by his stage name Quadeca (formerly QuadecaX8), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, YouTuber, and former video game commentator. He uploads rap songs, music videos, ...

and Dax were worse than him at rapping. Quadeca went on to post a full diss track against him on November 23, 2018, called "Insecure". Shortly after, Dax also responded with his own diss track, which was a remix of Eminem's diss track toward

Machine Gun Kelly George Kelly Barnes (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known by his pseudonym "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thomps ...

, " Killshot". KSI then responded to Dax and Quadeca's track with a reaction video, also accompanied by a diss track called "Ares". He challenged Dax to a private boxing match, with Dax accepting but repeatedly delaying it. He then later appeared on Deji's diss track "Unforgivable" against KSI.

Tory Lanez

On January 24, 2019,

Tory Lanez Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterson (born July 27, 1992), known professionally as Tory Lanez, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and convicted felon. He received initial recognition from the mixtape ''Conflicts of My Soul: The 416 Story'', rel ...

claimed through a tweet that he is the "best rapper alive". Dax responded by posting a video on

, featuring a diss track titled "I'm Not Joyner Or Don Q" aimed at him. Lanez posted a video on Instagram in response in which he pressures Dax to apologize for the diss track. Dax addressed the situation in interviews with

DJ Akademiks Livingston Allen (born May 17, 1991), more commonly known as DJ Akademiks or simply Akademiks, is a Jamaican-American podcaster, media personality and YouTuber. DJ Akademiks rose to fame for his YouTube channel which covers the latest news in t ...

, '' Impaulsive'', and ''

No Jumper Adam John Grandmaison (born November 24, 1983), more commonly known as Adam22, is an American podcaster and YouTuber. He is best known for being the creator and host of pop culture-oriented podcast ''No Jumper''.Grierson, Tim. How Adam22 Tur ...

'', saying that apologizing was the right thing to do because he did not want a fight to break out.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Mixtapes

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Notes

References

External links

Official Website

Dax
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Dax
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dax 1994 births Canadian people of Igbo descent Living people 21st-century Canadian rappers 21st-century Nigerian musicians 21st-century Canadian male musicians Black Canadian musicians Canadian Christians Canadian male rappers Musicians from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Nigerian male rappers Nigerian musicians Nigerian male musicians Nigerian Christians Newman University, Wichita alumni Canadian contemporary R&B singers Hardcore hip hop artists 21st-century Canadian male singers Canadian male singer-songwriters Songwriters from Kansas Songwriters from California 21st-century Black Canadian male singers