P Reign

Early life

P Reign was born on January 8, 1986, in Little Burgundy, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. P Reign is of Guyanese descent. He later moved and grew up in the Kingston-Galloway neighborhood in the West Hill section of Scarborough, Toronto, Canada. His rap name stems from two sources. "P" stands for Preme (Supreme) which was the alias of notorious drug trafficker Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff. "Reign" was borrowed from his given name Raynford (although for many years P Reign was known as Avery).

Career

P Reign, also known as The King, the King of Da North and the Canadian Dream, released his debut solo single in 2008 entitled "You Know I'm Fly", which topped the PunchMuch Canadian interactive music channel. His follow-up singles are "Money in My Pocket" (2009) and "In My Hood" (2010), produced by T-Minus.

Francis and the Lights, k-os, and Reign all toured with Drake on his Away from Home Tour across North America. Reign performed as an opening act and a hype man. Due to legal troubles at the time, Reign was not able to cross into the United States and thus toured only in Canadian cities.

Alyssa Reid's big international hit "Alone Again" features P Reign. The single was a hit in Canada and many European charts and reached number 2 on UK Singles Chart. Canadian band Hedley's hit "Invincible" taken from their album Storms features P Reign. The single released August 23, 2011 reached number 9 on Canadian Hot 100 and was certified double platinum.

The Canadian Dream is his debut mixtape and was released in early 2008. His sophomore mixtape is called When It Reigns It Pours and was released on November 1, 2010. His third mixtape was to be called True Kings Don't Die but was changed to Dear America and its release date was scheduled for July 4, 2013 but was postponed. In an interview with Matte Babel, Reign stated that the album was postponed because Jay-Z's album Magna Carta Holy Grail was released the same day and would overshadow his album. Billboard magazine reported in March 2013 that P Reign is collaborating with rapper A$AP Rocky for the next release "We Them Niggas" that will be part of P Reign's Dear America EP. P Reign is also collaborating with artists such as French Montana, Waka Flocka Flame and Drake. The EP was finally released on September 9, 2014. His song "Realest in the City" featuring Meek Mill and PartyNextDoor reached #1 on Billboard's "Emerging Artists" chart.

Personal life

Reign has a son who was born in 2006.

In 2008, Reign was charged with nine counts of weapons possession charges after Toronto Police found three loaded handguns in the backseat of his leased Cadillac. He was acquitted of all charges on May 30, 2011. Reign referenced this on the unofficial remix to the song "Us" by Lil Reese rapping, "Drizzy dropped a hundred on my lawyer and I beat the case!"

Reign is close friends with fellow Torontonian rapper Drake and both have alluded to this on respective tracks. In the song "Intro" of his second mixtape, Reign raps "Shout out to Drizzy Drake, yeah that's my lil' bro / before the deal, we gettin' change like the corner store." Drake raps in the remake to Big Page's single "I'm Still Fly", "My brother P Reign knows we fuck with the same hoes / Plus he taught me how to spot an officer in plain clothes." Most recently, the two would collaborate (along with Southern rapper Future) on the single "DnF" from Reign's Dear America EP.

P Reign is engaged to Natashadiamonds, ex-stripper and escort. He also has a daughter, rumours have it, with an unknown woman, but his fiancée who has a daughter of her own, is raising her as her own as well.

Extended plays

Mixtapes