Douglas León, known by his stage name Dogge Doggelito (born 24 July 1975) is a Swedish

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, lecturer, author and artist. He is also among the founders of '' The Latin Kings'' (TLK) -- one of Sweden's most successful rap groups. Doggelito is one of the most acclaimed rap artists in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Early life

Douglas Leon was born in Alby, Norra Botkyrka in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

on 1975, to a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n father and a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

mother. He has jokingly referred to himself as "Half

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

, half

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

". He grew up in the 80's and became familiar to hip hop in an early age and sooner or later it became a big part of his life. Although he initially wanted to be an actor, he was not accepted into any of the schools. He started to rap in 1983. He participated in many rap contests, including winning third place in Rap SM with his group The Latin Kings, and also in his teens he was a member in a

break dance Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in t ...

group. His brother also had big influence on him towards a career in

rap music Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

The Latin Kings

Dogge Doggelito formed his rap group The Latin Kings (''TLK'') with his friends, the brothers DJ Chepe and

Salla Salla (''Kuolajärvi'' until 1936) ( smn, Kyelijävri) is a municipality of Finland, located in Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The nearby settlement of S ...

('' The Salazar Brothers''). They formed the group in 1991, and came third in a rap contest in 1992. Their breakthrough came in 1994, when the group along with the help of the producer

Gordon Cyrus Gordon Cyrus is a Swedish musician, record producer, sound engineer, and designer. Cyrus was a member of the rock/pop group Whale along with Cia Berg and Henrik Schyffert, and discovered The Latin Kings. He was a member of the 90's Swedish hip h ...

, released their first album titled, ''Välkommen till förorten''. The album received huge success and was awarded with two

grammys The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

and other awards. The band split up in 2005. Today he is working on music and also in the book and TV business. For example, he starred in commercials for the Swedish electronics company

Elgiganten Elgiganten is a consumer electronics retailer operating in Denmark (including Greenland) and Sweden, where its parent Elkjøp operates in Norway and have subsidiaries like Gigantti (Finland), Elko (Iceland) and Elding (Faroe Islands). There ar ...

. He has also released a book with the language professor Ulla-Britt Kotsinas, named "Förortsslang". He has also appeared in movies and TV shows.

Personal life

He has four children including three daughters. His wife Leonida died of cancer in 2004; they had one daughter together named, Bianca. Another daughter died during childbirth. He is the elder brother of the model Daphne Leon, and also the cousin of rapper El Primo. He is a Christian, born in the

Swedish Church The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden ...

, although he calls himself an

Orthodox Christian Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churche ...

. In 2006, he reportedly voted for the

Communist Party (Sweden) The Communist Party ( sv, Kommunistiska partiet, K) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Sweden started in 1970. From 1970 to 1977, it was known as the Communist League Marxist–Leninists (Revolutionaries) (, KFML(r)) and from 1977 to 200 ...

. He is a staunch advocate for

anti-Racism Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate a ...

, and has dismissed the Swedish immigrant policies. He has also said that "Even if you are Swedish-born, from the suburbs, you're not viewed as

". Apart from rap, he listens to Venezuelan salsa from the 70s. His favourite food is '' pabellón'', the Venezuelan national dish.

Discography

*2007 – Superclasico

Bibliography

*Förortsslang (2004) *Habib: på farligt vatten (2007) *Izzy & Gänget (2011) *Lata dagar (2011) *Shuno (2012)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doggelito, Dogge 1975 births Living people Swedish rappers Swedish male actors Swedish people of Venezuelan descent Musicians from Stockholm People from Alby, Botkyrka Melodifestivalen contestants of 2010