Biography

Abderraouf Derradji (Arabic: عبد الرؤوف درّاجي; born 10 December 1989), known professionally as Soolking, is an Algerian singer and rapper. He started his career under the pseudonym MC Sool until 2013 before adopting his new stage name. He incorporates reggae, soul, hip hop and Algerian raï in his music.

Derradji was born in Algeria in a northern suburb of the capital Algiers, also known as Stouali. His father was a percussionist and he started very young in a rock band incorporating music and dance. He arrived in France in 2008, but returned to Algeria to be included in the Algerian rap formation Africa Jungle. The band released two albums.

He started his solo career in 2016 and is signed to the label Affranchis Music launched by Sofiane. He had an initial success with "Milano" and "Guérilla" before a phenomenal success with "Dalida", an homage to the singer Dalida, sampling her hit "Paroles, paroles". On 2 November 2018, Soolking released his debut solo album Fruit du démon that was certified Gold in France. The singles "Guérilla" and "Dalida" were certified Platinum.

On August 22, 2019, Soolking held a large concert at Stade 20 Août 1955, accompanied by L'Algérino, Fianso, Alonzo and Dhurata Dora. During entering the stadium five people died due to the stampede. Soolking said after the concert that if he knew what happened he would have cancel the concert, and one of the reasons for the accident was that tickets were sold more than the stadium capacity.

According to Uganda's DJ Erycom, Rapper Soolking, whose real name is Abderraouf Derradji, previously worked as an acrobat and dancer before founding his own rap group. By 2017, he was releasing songs online when rapper “Sofiane” gave him a recording contract. He released his first album,“Fruit du demon,” in 2018, followed by “Vintage” in 2020.

In 2020, Soolking was the seventh most-streamed Arab artist on Deezer in MENA. His song, "Meleğim," was the seventeenth most-streamed song on Deezer last year, and "Vintage" was the seventeenth most-streamed album on Anghami. He has over 7.8 million subscribers on YouTube, with his videos viewed more than 1.5 billion times as of March 19, 2021. He had 8.3 million followers across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as of the end of 2020