Dax

Dax is a versatile rapper, alternating between a hyperspeed technical approach and slower-paced lyrical delivery, as well as a soulful and ruminative singer. The Canadian artist drew a huge following posting inventive videos for his original songs, freestyles, and remixes of other artist’s tracks. Bold visuals complimented Dax’s vocal skills, and within a few years he’d amassed millions of followers. After several years of independently releasing his music, Dax signed on with Living Legends Entertainment, his outlet for projects such as Pain Paints Paintings (2021). He has since linked with major label Columbia and achieved his first gold single with the candid Elle King collaboration “Dear Alcohol” (2022).
Dax was born Daniel Nwosu, Jr. in Ottawa in 1994. Throughout high school and college, Dax was a basketball player, and he worked part-time as a janitor while attending college in Wichita, Kansas. He transitioned from sports to poetry and motivational speaking and eventually to music, beginning to upload videos online around 2016. In addition to releasing videos in which he flowed over instrumentals from other artist’s hits, Dax also released original songs, breaking through with his 2017 track “Cash Me Outside.”
As time went on, Dax’s style grew more personal as it got more complex. His delivery got faster and more accurate, and he often referenced his days as a janitor or got into the intimate details of struggles with depression and betrayal. His 2018 EP, It’s Different Now, featured guest appearances from Futuristic and O.T. Genasis. He continued releasing stand-alone tracks and videos as his fan base grew, and a second EP, I'll Say It For You, arrived in 2020. Having teamed with Living Legends Entertainment, Dax’s videos were regularly attracting millions of streams. In late 2020, he shared a new version of his earlier track “i don’t want another sorry” with a newly added hook from Trippie Redd. A few weeks later, in January 2021, he released a remix of Eminem’s “Rap God” with new lyrics of his own, and the video surpassed two million views in less than a month. That October, Dax delivered deeply thoughtful first full-length, Pain Paints Paintings, all 16 tracks of which eclipsed a million streams within months. Subsequently signed to Columbia, Dax’s momentum increased in 2022 with his major-label debut single, “Dear Alcohol,” a duet with Elle King that went gold three months after its June arrival. Equally direct singles “Depression” and “To Be a Man” followed respectively in October 2022 and April 2023. ~ Fred Thomas & Andy Kellman