bohemia

Roger David, popularly known as Bohemia, is a California-based

Pakistan American rapper and music producer. Bohemia is best known for his contribution
in Desi Hiphop and for being among the few successful Punjabi rappers in the
USA.

Born in October 15th 1979 to a Punjabi, Christian

family in Karachi Sindh, Pakistan, Bohemia spent most of his childhood in Lahore
and Peshawar before moving and settling with his family in San Franciscos
Mission District. This is where Bohemia became conscious of the music talent in
him and started writing Urdu and Punjabi poems and songs which he occasionally
presented in local Desi events. Bohemia learnt closely from his father who was
also a musician and his success could be partly attributed to this.

At the age of 16, Bohemias mother succumbed to cancer and

he coincidentally got a job at a recording studio based in Sacramento. Bohemia immediately
dropped out of school, leaving his family, with the aim of becoming a
full-musician where he, together with other young musicians, did several gigs in
the USA and Canada. This did not pay very well, though, as Bohemia remained
homeless for quite some time, spending nights on studio floors and in cars
before finally moving in to live with his cousin in Oakland. His cousin, who
worked at a recording studio in West Oakland, introduced Bohemia to Sha One, a
young, female music producer in the studio who helped Bohemia develop his rap

skill and produce his debut album Vich Pardesan De. The album, released in
2002, was basically an autobiographic account of Bohemias life in the USA and
it ended up being just but the beginning of a new music genre presently known
as Desi Hiphop.

Ever since, Bohemia has been associated with big names such
as Glasses Malone, Sean Kingston, Mika Singh and Snoop Dogg besides releasing
more solo hit singles and albums with world-famous studios such as Universal
Music Group.

Bohemia started gaining success for his dedication and

passion for music right from his debut album which reached Top10 on BBC Radio
UK in 2002. In 2006, he released his 2nd album Pesa Nasha Pyar
subsequently committing to a multi-record deal with Universal Music Group which
was to run from 2006 to 2009. Later on in 2009, Bohemia released his 3rd
studio album, Da Rap Star, arguably marking the peak of his flourishing career
by receiving four nominations at Punjabi Music Awards and UK Asian Music Awards
for Best Music Director and Best Punjab Album, among other categories. His work
was included in a number of Indian films including Chandhi Chowk to China, Desi
Boys and 8 10 Taveer. Bohemia became among Universal Music Group Indias bestselling
artists of 2009 and this prepared him for the production of his fourth album,
Thousand Thoughts, in 2012.

Bohemia was the first rapper to appear in Coke Studios

season 5 where he performed 3 songs. In 2012, Sony Music India signed him

before eventually breaking to ride solo under his own record label known as
Kali Denali Music.