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Meet Fat Papi, the little-known NZ rapper catapulted to Billboard 100 fame

The Guardian UK · 22 August 2026 at 01:00

Meet Fat Papi, the little-known NZ rapper catapulted to Billboard 100 fame

How Baban Hussain’s online hit, remixed by Australian producer, launched the Kurdish New Zealander to global fame Two months ago, Baban Hussain, a 22-year-old Kurdish New Zealander, was working from a self-run studio in Auckland, putting out music to a few thousand followers as little-known rapper Fat Papi.

Then, as modern fairytales go, he made a viral hit that has amassed over 7.5bn views across YouTube, gained him nearly 10m new monthly listeners on Spotify, and catapulted him on to global charts – including the US Billboard Hot 100.

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Meet Fat Papi, the little-known NZ rapper catapulted to Billboard 100 fame

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