The Kidd

When most teenagers were imploring their parents to buy them a smartphone, Gagandeep Singh—who had been experimenting with music production software in school—was asking his parents for a mixing console. By the time he was in his early twenties, the prodigy from Punjab had adopted the production moniker The Kidd and was working with some of the most prominent names in his home state’s music industry. That included superstar Diljit Dosanjh and Singh’s mentor, the legendary Sidhu Moose Wala, whose street anthems such as “Legend” and “Levels” are built around his hard-hitting hip-hop beats. While those are the hits for which he’s best known, The Kidd—who has steadily been forging a career as a rapper and singer in his own right—boasts a discography of smashes that span dance-pop and delicate ballads as a producer (Prem Dhillon, Harnoor) and a lead artist.