Kevin Pouya (born December 20, 1994), known

mononymously A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

as Pouya, is an American rapper from

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. Considered as a pioneer of the early underground rap scene that began on

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 ...

in 2012, along with discovering the well known hip-hop duo

Suicideboys Suicideboys (stylized as $uicideboy$) is an American hip hop duo from New Orleans, Louisiana, founded in 2014 by cousins Ruby da Cherry and Scrim (stylized as $crim). Via the music sharing platform SoundCloud, the duo rose to popularity for th ...

in their early career, Pouya has developed a long lasting core fanbase as an

independent artist Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

Early life

As a teenager, Pouya and his best friend Nicholas Voutsinas (known professionally as "

Fat Nick Nicholas Periclies Voutsinas (born September 6, 1994), known professionally as Fat Nick, is an American rapper from Miami, Florida. Initially rising to prominence alongside American rapper Pouya and their collective Buffet Boys, he is known for b ...

") had a

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 ...

comedy channel called ''NICK AND POUYA SHOW''. While mostly being

comedy sketches Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term origin ...

, the videos also served as mini vlogs for the friends. Travelling around the local neighborhoods in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, they would often feature other friends in the videos, including future rapper

Denzel Curry Denzel Rae Don Curry (born February 16, 1995) is an American rapper and singer. Born and raised in Carol City, Florida, Curry started rapping while in the sixth grade and began working on his first mixtape in 2011. Influenced by underground Flor ...

and the group RVIDXR KLVN. Pouya dropped out of

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in his sophomore year. He worked cleaning toilets at a restaurant for a year before finding success in music.

Career

Pouya started rapping seriously around 2011, and after debuting a freestyle with local Florida rapper Nell titled ''Shotz From The Double Glock'', began releasing music frequently. Again staying close with childhood friend

, the two formed the ''Buffet Boys'', a group that later became their record label. He gained notoriety after he released the song "Get Buck" in 2013, which as of June 2022 has over 13 million video views. On November 20, 2013, Pouya released a collaboration EP with

The Cool Kids The Cool Kids are an American hip hop duo composed of rappers Sir Michael Rocks and Chuck Inglish. The Cool Kids' music had been released primarily to the independent Chocolate Industries via their own label C.A.K.E. Recordings. Reed and Inger ...

Sir Michael Rocks Antoine Reed (born December 24, 1987) is an American rapper better known by his stage name Sir Michael Rocks (or Mikey Rocks). He started his music career in 2005 as a member of the hip hop duo The Cool Kids, and later joined the groups All City ...

titled ''Gookin. The two connected after Rocks had moved to Miami. His fifth solo mixtape ''Stunna'', would be released on May 5, 2014. ''Elevator Magazine'' would describe the mixtape as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony influenced, saying "he does a great job of molding their style into his own version with a twist of his own style thrown in there." His next mixtape would be released on March 25, 2015, entitled ''South Side Slugs''. The mixtape would contain guest appearances from Sir Michael Rocks,

, SDotBraddy,

, and new Buffet Boys member Germ. Pouya collaborated with

on an EP titled ''$outh $ide $uicide'', that was released on September 1, 2015. In 2016, he released his debut studio album ''Underground Underdog'' under the Buffet Boys label. The album peaked at #156 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

. In 2017, he was a featured artist in the song "On Her Mind" by

progressive metalcore Progressive metalcore (also called technical metalcore or ambient metalcore) is a fusion of progressive metal and metalcore characterized by highly technical lead guitar, " atmospheric" elements, and complex instrumentation. Some notable practi ...

band

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on their album

Different Animals ''Different Animals'' is the third studio album by American progressive metalcore band Volumes, released on June 9, 2017 through Fearless Records. It is the first album to feature former Bury Your Dead vocalist Myke Terry as co-vocalist, and the o ...

. That same year, he released a collaboration mixtape with

titled ''Drop Out of School''. In 2018 he released his second studio album, titled ''Five Five''. On June 30, 2019, Pouya released his third studio album titled, ''The South Got Something to Say.'' The album included guest appearances from

City Morgue City Morgue is an American hip hop group from New York City which consists of rappers ZillaKami (Junius Rogers) and SosMula (Vinicius Sosa). History Prior to the formation of City Morgue in 2017, Junius Rogers, professionally known as ZillaKam ...

Juicy J Jordan Michael Houston III (born April 5, 1975), known professionally as Juicy J, is an American rapper and record producer. Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, he is a founding member of the Southern hip hop group Three 6 Mafia, established i ...

and

Ghostemane Eric Whitney (born April 15, 1991), known professionally as Ghostemane or Eric Ghoste, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He has released eight solo albums and three collaborative albums under his Ghostemane moniker, primarily mer ...

. In December 2020, Pouya collaborated with

to release ''Drop Out of School 2''. Pouya's fourth studio album ''Blood Was Never Thick As Water'' was released on October 22, 2021. The title comes from a lyric in the closing song to the album, and features rapper

and singer Lu. In February 2022, he released the extended play ''dirt/hurt/pain/''. It would be the last project by Pouya to be released under ''Buffet Boys''. In March 2022, Pouya along with other ''Buffet Boys'' members, announced that the label would be disbanding indefinitely. Not long after, they announced their new label ''All But 6 Records''.

Personal life

Pouya is of

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a perso ...

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

heritage. Pouya has been in a longtime relationship with

internet personality An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

Courtney Neville (known professionally as "Young Baby Coco") since 2017.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

* ''Baby Bone'' (2013) * Gookin' (2013) (w/

) * ''$outh $ide $uicide'' (2015) (w/ $uicideboy$) *''Pouya x Germ x Shakewell EP'' (2015) (w/ Germ & Shakewell) * ''Pouya & Boobie Lootaveli: Greatest Hits, Vol. 1'' (2020) (w/ Boobie Lootaveli) * ''Drop Out of School 2'' (2020) (w/

) * ''Dirt/Hurt/Pain'' (2022)

Mixtapes

* ''Fuck It'' (2012) * ''Don't Sleep On Me Hoe'' (2012) * ''WarBucks'' (2013) (w/ SDotBraddy) * ''Stunna'' (2014) * ''South Side Slugs'' (2015) * ''Drop Out of School'' (2017) (w/ Fat Nick) * ''Pouya & Boobie Lootaveli: Greatest Hits, Vol. 3'' (2019) (w/ Boobie Lootaveli)

Singles

Guest appearances

References

{{Reflist 1994 births Living people American people of Cuban descent American people of Iranian descent American male rappers Rappers from Miami Hispanic and Latino American rappers