About
Also known as: Tom Maas, Tom Maas, Sofiane Boussaadia
Born in Aubervilliers near Paris to Algerian parents, Sofiane Boussaadia spent his childhood bouncing between Eindhoven, Houston, and Alkmaar before landing on a career in rap. He goes by Boef, and his rise was genuinely startling: a Zonamo Underground session in February 2015 racked up a million YouTube views almost immediately, and within a year he was spoken of alongside Lil' Kleine and Ronnie Flex as one of the biggest rappers in the Netherlands. His EP Gewoon BOEF debuted at number four in the Dutch Album Top 100 and stuck around for roughly thirty weeks. Beyond the music, his vlog channel pulled in 185,000 subscribers within months, with individual videos clocking more than 600,000 views. By the time those numbers were counted, his videos had passed 150 million total views. He has racked up sixteen number one hits in the Dutch Single Top 100, including Habiba, Krantenwijk, and Miljonair. Producers close to him point to a vast vocabulary and a perfectionist streak as the engine behind all of it.