Saif Musaad (born 30 January 1997), professionally known as Safe (stylized as SAFE), is a singer, rapper, and songwriter from

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. As a member of the

Halal Gang Halal Gang is a Canadian hip hop collective based in Toronto, Ontario. The name stems from the preponderance of the group having Muslim origins with East African and Caribbean Canadian roots. The group was established in 2010 as a group of youth ...

collective, he has collaborated with artists such as

Bibi Bourelly Badriia Ines "Bibi" Bourelly (born July 14, 1994) is a German-American singer-songwriter signed to Def Jam Recordings. She has co-written several notable songs including Rihanna's "Bitch Better Have My Money" and "Higher", Demi Lovato's " Anyone" ...

, Ramriddlz,

Eric Dingus Eric Dingus (born March 27, 1995) is an electronic musician and producer from Austin, Texas. Early life Eric Dingus was born in 1995 in Austin, Texas. Eric began producing using software from Ableton at the age of 16. Career Eric Dingus has ...

, and

Smoke Dawg Jahvante Jahqwane Sheldon Smart ( – ), known professionally as Smoke Dawg, was a Canadian rapper, singer and songwriter from Toronto, Ontario. Smoke Dawg was a part of hip hop collective Halal Gang alongside Mustafa the Poet, Puffy L'z, Safe, ...

. In addition to releasing two studio albums, his song "Contagious" was featured on the Judas and the Black Messiah: The Inspired Album.

Early life

Saif Musaad was born on 30 January 1997 in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, and is of Eritrean descent. His father and mother are Eritreans. He immigrated with his family to Toronto when he was two months old, and grew up in the neighborhood of The Esplanade in eastern

downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Stre ...

Career

Musaad began to focus on writing lyrics and recording as early as the age of 10. When he was 18, he met Oliver El-Khatib at a video shoot for

Jimmy Prime Gordon Edward Phillips III (born ), better known by his stage name Jimmy Prime, is a rapper from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Jimmy is known for coining "The Six" as a nickname for Toronto and being the frontman of the hip hop group Prime Boys. Mu ...

. As the manager for

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 * ...

, El-Khatib helped Musaad get a job at the OVO store in Toronto. While at OVO, El-Khatib encoraged Musaad to write and record. As a member of the

, he collaborated with artists such as

, Ramriddlz,

, and

. In 2015 he released "Feel", his first single 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 ...

, receiving received 4.15 million plays over four years. The same year he released ''Stay Down'', his first EP which also contained his single "Feel", and was selling out shows in Toronto. Musaad moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2017. He continued to release singles and videos, mainly with the vibe of the Esplanade neighborhood where he grew up. His single "No Diamonds" criticized the ostentatious display of the trappings of wealth, while the video to his single "New Regime" depicted the seamy side of his hometown and his reasons for leaving. During the same period, Safe's vocals were featured on a number of other artists' tracks, including September 2018 single "Listen Closely" from fellow Canadians DVBBS, the track "Don't Pretend" from

Khalid Khalid (variants include Khaled and Kalid; Arabic: خالد) is a popular Arabic male given name meaning "eternal, everlasting, immortal", and it also appears as a surname.

's 2019 album '' Free Spirit'', and YG's track "Play Too Much" on his 2019 album '' 4Real 4Real''. Musaad released his debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

in 2019 on

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

. Titled ''

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tri ...

'', it contained 12 tracks that were characterized as cool R&B with elements of dancehall and afrobeat. QUIN and

Playboi Carti Jordan Terrell Carter (born September 13, 1996), known professionally as Playboi Carti, is an American rapper. Carter was initially signed to local underground label Awful Records prior to signing with ASAP Mob's AWGE Label under Interscope R ...

were the only featured artists on the album. In 2021 he released the single "Trap Smarter", and was featured on Judas and the Black Messiah: The Inspired Album with his single "Contagious" which he performed with

Kiana Ledé Kiana Ledé Brown (born April 3, 1997), known professionally as Kiana Ledé, is an American singer, songwriter, actress and pianist currently based in Los Angeles, California. She starred as Zoe Vaughn on the second season of MTV's horror series ...

. The following year he released ''Get Home SAFE (part 1)'', his second studio album through RCA Records.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Extended plays

References

{{Halal Gang RCA Records artists Sony Music artists Canadian male rappers Rappers from Toronto Canadian people of Eritrean descent 1997 births Living people 21st-century Canadian male musicians 21st-century Canadian rappers