Abhi The Nomad

An alternative rap artist whose inspirations include N.E.R.D. and Beck, Abhi the Nomad also draws from his globetrotting background and everyday life, heard on releases such as the Where Are My Friends? EP (2015) and Marbled (2018), the latter of which was issued through Tommy Boy.
It’s not by choice that Abhi Sridharan Vaidehi earned the right to call himself the Nomad. The son of a diplomat, he was born in India and spent parts of his upbringing in multiple locations within his native country and China, and also lived in Fiji. On his own volition, he headed to the U.S. in 2011 to study music production at California Lutheran University. He debuted three years later with an EP entitled The Beginning. Another extended play, Where Are My Friends?, became his capstone project in 2015, and caught on with commercial streams for the dazed, rollicking “Floors” eventually exceeding seven figures alone. Another move, this time to France, was necessitated by losing out on the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program lottery. During his European stay, Abhi worked on material inspired by solitude and financial hardship, and signed a deal with Tommy Boy, motivating him to obtain a U.S. student visa and enroll at Austin Community College in Texas. Marbled, released months after his return to the States, became his proper label debut in 2018. Non-album Tommy Boy singles followed into 2019, by which point Abhi had obtained a hard-fought talent visa to remain in the U.S. ~ Andy Kellman