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

The last feat made history: Hussain is the first Kurdish artist to land on the Billboard Hot 100, and only the second New Zealand rapper to do so.

“It’s a whirlwind,” Hussain tells the Guardian on a video call from a hotel in New York City where he has been promoting his music and meeting with industry. “My life is completely different. It’s a very intense time and honestly amazing and everything we have ever wanted.”

Hussain seems candid and relaxed despite having only spoken to media a handful of times. He is joined on the call by producer Owen Omen, an Australian-based artist known as Prodshushy, who is beaming in from Perth.

Their now-viral song Freaked Out was released in May and initially got little attention.

“It was doing terrible numbers,” Hussain says. After various attempts at promoting it online, Prodshushy released a short dance video, backed by a clip of the song where Fat Papi raps “Get that bag, you ain’t ever comin’ last.”

It quickly clocked up 1.5m views and a couple of days later caught the attention of a UK-based TikTok influencer, Jocelyn Meiere, or Miss Diva Bob, who posted a video to her 3.1m followers of her slick bob haircut, using the song as a backing track.

“We look back a week later and its growing and growing,” Hussain says. “From that point, it was over, it was everywhere, it was insane.”

TikTok has been flooded with copycat videos of people shaking their haircuts to Freaked Out, including British artist Raye. US rapper Megan Thee Stallion posted a video of her making enchiladas as she mouths the words.

The song became number one on Shazam globally; hit the UK, Australia and US charts; and then debuted at 88 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Omen, who is of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands descent, says it was “a surreal moment”.

“No one where I’m from has ever reached this point in their career, like music producing-wise. It was such a big moment for me and also my people back home.”

The song’s success has been similarly moving for Hussain, whose parents fled Iraq as refugees in 1999. He grew up within a tiny Kurdish community in Auckland, and was the only Kurdish student at his school.

“It’s history, it’s insane,” he says. “I think that’s a big thing – actually just representing people and our home towns. Being able to do that for my people was insane. I still struggle to find the words to show love for that.”

The duo only began working together four months ago, and met in person for the first time in July. Their collaboration came about after Hussain rapped over one of Prodshushy’s beats and sent it back to him.

“I didn’t expect him to reply – he had 20,000 followers at the time, I had 800,” Hussain says. “But I was like, OK, I’m going to shoot my shot … and he really liked it.”

The pair say they have an incredible “flow state” when working together, with Hussain praising Prodshushy’s mixing skills and wide array of influences – including hip-hop, trap and afro-beat – and Prodshushy lauding Fat Papi’s ability “to flow over any beat”.

Hussain is drawn to the sounds of 2015 club music, US rapper Kid Ink, US record producer Mustard, as well as west coast, New York and New Jersey hip-hop. He believes growing up listening exclusively to Kurdish music shaped his ear for different styles.

Gaining viral fame means every door is now open, Hussain says. “There is nothing too far away or anything we won’t reach for.”

They have management and record deals, a new single dropping in September, and are scheduled to play at Australia’s four-date Spilt Milk festival in December. They aspire to one day play at Coachella, and to collaborate with other artists.

To make this viral moment into something “bigger, forever” will require hard work, Hussain says. “Even if it doesn’t happen, we’ll definitely give it our best go, and we’ve got that confidence with us.”