Abhi the Nomad

An alternative rapper shaped by the likes of N.E.R.D. and Beck, Abhi the Nomad channels both his nomadic upbringing and ordinary experiences into projects including the 2015 Where Are My Friends? EP and the 2018 full-length Marbled, which arrived via Tommy Boy.

Abhi Sridharan Vaidehi did not select the Nomad moniker himself. Born in India to a diplomat father, he divided his childhood between various regions of that country, China, and Fiji. He independently relocated to the United States in 2011, enrolling in music-production studies at California Lutheran University. Three years later he issued his first release, the EP titled The Beginning. Where Are My Friends? served as his culminating 2015 project and gained traction through streaming platforms, with the woozy, energetic single “Floors” alone surpassing one million plays. After failing to win the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program lottery, he relocated to France, where isolation and monetary struggles informed new recordings. A subsequent Tommy Boy contract prompted him to secure a student visa and attend Austin Community College in Texas. Months after returning stateside, he delivered Marbled in 2018 as his first official Tommy Boy album. Additional non-album singles appeared on the label through 2019, the same period when he finally earned a talent visa permitting continued U.S. residency.