(born February 1974), better known by his

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Petri Nygård, is a Finnish rapper and singer. He is also known under alias Dream (in rap duo Nuera) and as Travis Bicle. He has gained notoriety for his sexually explicit and misogynistic lyrics and his provocative stage shows (which often include nude women, pyrotechnics, drunk fans and giant inflatable vagina sculptures). His lyrical themes often focus on alcohol, parties, sex, women, pornography, hangover, masturbation, dissing Finnish celebrities and satirizing popculture and phenomena.

Early life

Laurila is of Sweden-Finnish origin: he was born in

Kristianstad Kristianstad ( , ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Kristianstad Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 41,198 inhabitants in 2023. Since the 1990s, the city has gone from being a garrison town to a developed commercial city, ...

, Sweden, to Finnish parents and spent his childhood in Sweden. After serving briefly in the army, he moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and eventually to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, residing in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

and

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. He found initial success in his online release ''Vitun Suomirokki'' in 2000 on

Poko Rekords Poko Rekords was a Finnish record label. It was established in 1977, but ceased operations in 2009. In the early years, Poko Rekords focused mainly on punk and rockabilly music and later expanded its artist range to heavier rock music. Poko Rek ...

going platinum with sales of 17,000 copies. The follow-up single entitled "Kanava Nolla (antakaa mun olla)" was also successful selling 9,000 copies. His debut studio album ''Mun levy!'' went gold with sale of 25,000 copies.

Nuera

Laurila started his career as part of the rap duo Nuera. He was known as an MC under the alias Dream whereas his partner in the band was Henry Kaprali known as Skem. They were active in the 1990s releasing several cassettes through Open Records. They also collaborated with other artists on the record label. In 2004, both Dream and Skem joined DJ K2 in

YleX YleX (formerly known as YLEX) is one of the major radio stations of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) featuring pop music and cultural programming. The station started as Radiomafia, and name changed to YleX in 2003. Programming targets the ...

weekly radio show featuring rap and R&B artists.

Travis Bicle

The duo disbanded as Henry Kaprali (Skem) moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

going into music production with Turnin' Records. As for Laurila (Dream), he took a new alias, Travis Bicle, and released an album in 2007 entitled ''Committed'' produced by Kapralin and Turnin' Records.

Solo as Petri Nygård

Laurila continued with a successful rap career taking the name Petri Nygård. After the successes of 2000 and 2001, he has had a considerable comeback starting 2009 with new download only releases. He also released in 2009 a full studio album entitled ''Kaikkee pitää olla''. His next album, ''Kaikki tai ei mitään'', was released in February 2011. The single from the album included the November 2010 single "Sarvet esiin" featuring Finnish thrash metal band

Mokoma Mokoma is a Finnish thrash metal band formed in Lappeenranta, Finland, in 1996. Their music also has grindcore and death metal influences with traditional Finnish melancholy. Mokoma started out as a creation of Marko Annala, who is the band' ...

. The second single entitled "Selvä päivä" featuring Lord Est has shot to #1 on , the official Finnish singles chart.

Discography

Albums

with Nuera *1992: ''Nuera'' (tape) *1993: ''Nuera demo'' *1993: ''Nuera Underground tape'' *1994: ''Breakfast'' *1996: ''Nuera'' (EP) *2000: ''Honesty'' *2003: ''Own World'' as Travis Bicle *2007: ''Committed'' Solo *2000: ''Pillumagneetti'' (EP) *2000: ''Mun levy!'' *2001: ''Petri presidentixi'' *2002: ''Hovinarrin paluu!'' *2009: ''Kaikkee pitää olla'' *2011: ''Kaikki tai ei mitään'' *2012: ''Mun mielestä'' *2012: ''29 Syntiä - Kaikki vitun hitit'' *2013: ''Valmis mihin vaan'' *2020: ''Alaston Suåmi''

Singles

with Nuera *2001: "Upsteps" *2003: "Upsteps Reprise" Solo *2000: "Vitun suomirokki" *2000: "Kanava nolla (Antakaa mun olla)" *2000: "Rääväsuu" *2000: "Hulluna tisseihin" *2001: "Petri hallitsee liigaa" *2001: "Riimini rupiset / Sika / Petri pelastaa joulun" *2009: "Sanon suoraan" (download only) *2009: "Onko sulla pokkaa?" (download only) *2009: "Mitävittuuvaan / Tuska" (download only) *2010: "Kippis kulaus" (download only) *2010: "Seopetriii" featuring Emel & Aajee (download only) *2010: "Sarvet esiin" featuring

*2010: "Selvä päivä" featuring Lord Est *2011: "Villi ja vitun vapaa" *2012: "Märkää" Featured in *2011: "Reggaerekka" (Lord Est feat. Petri Nygård)

References

External links

*
Artist bio at Poko RecordsJpop entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nygard, Petri 1974 births Living people Dirty rappers Finnish expatriates in the United States Finnish male rappers People from Kristianstad Swedish people of Finnish descent