Boef
Sofiane Youssef Samir Boussaadia, commonly known as Boef, is a French-Dutch rapper and vlogger of Algerian origin.
Within a year of his start in 2015, he became one of the most popular rappers in the Netherlands after Lil' Kleine and Ronnie Flex. He released an album and various singles. His vlog and rap videos were viewed many millions of times on the internet.
His first EP Gewoon Boef was released in February 2016 and his first album Slaaptekort came out in March 2017. "Slaaptekort" is the album with the most streams on release date in the Netherlands, a record that was previously held by Ed Sheeran's ÷. Many of his songs have made it on the charts in the Netherlands and Belgian Flanders.
During the New Year's night of 2017–18, Boef had a flat tire after a performance. After three women gave him a lift when coming back from a party, he called them "hookers" on social media. The following day, he defended himself by saying that girls who are drunk, wear "slutty" clothes and are in clubs until eight in the morning, are "hookers" compared to girls who listen to their parents and study and sit at home. As a result, Dutch and Belgian radio stations boycotted his music for a time. He apologized for his statements the following day and also on 20 January 2018.
Biography
Youth and start career
Boef was born in Aubervilliers in Île-de-France. He has Algerian parents and a French nationality. At the age of four he came to his uncle in Eindhoven. He also lived with him for two years in Houston, Texas, and at the age of thirteen he moved to Alkmaar. He told newspaper De Volkskrant that he was in juvenile detention for six months at the age of sixteen and one and a half years from the age of eighteen for a criminal offense and then six months for refusing to cooperate with the probation service.Since his release from prison, he started focussing on rap music. He contacted Zonamo Underground through his friend and rapper Otie, after contacting Zonamo Underground they invited Boef for a session in February 2015. This was very well received and gained over a million views on YouTube in no time.
2015-16: Zonamo Underground and breakthrough
After his first zonamo session in 2015, Boef signed a contract with Zonamo Underground. His success grew beyond expectations of both himself and his management. BNN presenter Rotjoch said about his breakthrough: "In 2015 Boef suddenly arrived; nobody knew him. After his Zonamo session he is indispensable in the scene."He released several songs that reached the Single Top 100. His EP Gewoon BOEF came in at number 4 in February 2016 in the Dutch Album Top 100, in which it is recorded around thirty weeks. The album was also in the Flemish Album Top 200 for a few weeks.
In April 2016 Boef released his breakthrough hit Lauw which gained millions of views on youtube and on streaming services, He recorded the whole video clip in Dubai together with the producer Harun B. He started a vlogchannel on YouTube where he lets his fans watch and follow him in his life, for example during exotic trips to Dubai, Morocco, Suriname and Thailand; within a few months the vlog channel had gained over 185,000 subscribers and in some cases the vlogs were viewed more than 600,000 times, which is more than the average number of viewers of a program on NPO 2. Altogether Boefs videos have now been viewed more than 150 million times, including in addition to various sessions, the video clips of Lauw thirteen times, Hosselen eight times, Gewoon BOEF five times and Jaar Geleden was viewed over three million times. He is also active on other social media platforms, such as Instagram on which he gained over 1 million followers on and also on Twitter.
Discography
Albums
EPs
Singles
- Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather in the bubbling under Ultratip charts.
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Certification | Album |
| Year | Single | NED | Certification | Album |
| 2016 | "Niet eens zo" | 78 | Gewoon Boef | |
| 2016 | "Gevangenis" | 86 | Gewoon Boef | |
| 2016 | "Sinds toen" | 95 | Gewoon Boef | |
| 2016 | "Niks" | 70 | ||
| 2016 | "Drugs" | 91 | ||
| 2017 | "Slapend rijk" | 3 | Platinum | Slaaptekort |
| 2017 | "Ik ga weg" | 5 | Gold | Slaaptekort |
| 2017 | "Wejooh" | 6 | Gold | Slaaptekort |
| 2017 | "Kangoeroe" | 9 | Gold | Slaaptekort |
| 2017 | "Werken" | 10 | Gold | Slaaptekort |
| 2017 | "Speciaal" | 11 | Gold | Slaaptekort |
| 2017 | "Beckham" | 12 | Slaaptekort | |
| 2017 | "Fetty Wap" | 13 | Gold | Slaaptekort |
| 2017 | "Cocaïne" | 14 | Slaaptekort | |
| 2017 | "Zeg mij" | 22 | Slaaptekort | |
| 2017 | "Aslan" | 23 | Slaaptekort | |
| 2017 | "Kopzorgen" | 24 | Slaaptekort | |
| 2017 | "Slecht blijft" | 25 | Slaaptekort |
Featured in
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album |
| Year | Single | NED | Album |
| 2016 | "Een klein beetje geluk" | 58 | Ali B album Een klein beetje geluk |
| 2016 | "Niet van mij alleen" | 69 | |
| 2016 | "Salut" | 76 | |
| 2016 | "Overal" | 7 | |
| 2016 | "Muhammad Ali" | 95 | |
| 2017 | "Tempo" | 2 | |
| 2017 | "Come Again" | 2 | |
| 2017 | "Voy a bailar" | 13 |