AP Dhillon

Early Life

Amritpal Singh Dhillon was born on 10 January 1993 in Mullianwal village in Punjab, India. His grandmother raised him and his sister. Dhillon recounts that their financial situation was bad and the family struggled to make ends meet.

Dhillon attended the Little Flower Convent School. Later, he graduated from the Baba Kuma Singh Ji Engineering College with a degree in civil engineering.

In 2015, his father sent him to Canada to pursue a diploma in Business Administration and Management at Camosun College in British Columbia. In the documentary AP Dhillon: First of a Kind, Dhillon speaks of his struggles adjusting to life here — landing on Vancouver Island and not knowing anyone nor the language.

He wanted to leave, but he forced himself to stay and “make sense of it.”

Making of Run-Up Records

Amritpal Dhillon was always passionate about music. Growing up, he was heavily influenced by the Sufi music that his father listened to but also by Western music genres.

At school in British Columbia, he met fellow Punjabi students who also had an interest in music. Notably, Dhillon met Shinda Kahlon, a singer and songwriter, through a circle of friends.

Similarly, Dhillon met musician Gurinder Gill who had also moved to Canada as a student. Gill and Dhillon would sing together at parties. Before long, everyone was telling them to work on a track.

Dhillon also met producer Gminxr, or Gugundeep Singh Randhawa, in a communications class at school. In the docuseries, Gminxr says Dhillon’s voice struck a chord with him. He goes on to describe the singer as a charismatic personality with an energy that draws people in effortlessly.

Meanwhile, Dhillon worked at Best Buy as a sales associate. He put the money he earned toward his music. Soon, he had enough to buy some basic equipment to set up a small recording studio in his garage. Dhillon started learning everything that he could from YouTube.

In their group of musical creatives, Kahlon was passionate about writing and composing while Dhillon and Gill riffed on the beats. They started making music together — Gminxr played the beats while the others started freestyling. Over time, they got better and better.

In 2019, they started a YouTube channel called Run-Up Records and published their first song, “Fake.” Within two days, the video racked up 10,000 views.

In 2020, Herman Atwal and Kevin Buttar, who were from Toronto, came on board as the Run-Up Records management team.

Making It Big with “Brown Munde”

After “Fake,” the group continued to experiment with and create music. Some notable tracks from 2020 include: “Arrogant,” “Most Wanted,” “Deadly,” “Droptop,” “Majhail” and “Excuses.”

While their lyrics are in Punjabi and reference South Asian folklore, the production style appeals to international audiences. For instance, “Excuses” is a track about heartbreak and betrayal. The song features synths, R&B, funk and trap influences. Another distinctive feature of Dhillon’s music is his low-pitched, smooth vocals written in a conversational style.

Released in July 2020 without the backing of a major label, “Excuses” was the first track to break into India and Pakistan.

In September 2020, they released “Brown Munde” — a track that ranked number 72 on Apple Music’s Top 100: Canada and brought them into the mainstream. As of January 2025, the song has amassed 717 million views on YouTube.

“Brown Munde” skyrocketed them to global fame and became a cultural phenomenon that celebrates the resilience and achievements of the South Asian diaspora. Shinda Kahlon, the lyricist, describes it as “everybody’s story — you start from nothing and then you make something out of it.” For Shinda the collective experience of the South Asian diaspora — be it from India, Pakistan or Bangladesh — is the reason for its success. For AP Dhillon, the song “was to represent us…. We do the taxi jobs. We’re working in 7-Elevens, McDonald’s.”

Career Highlights

In 2021, the team went on their Over the Top — The Takeover Tour, performing live for the first time in India. AP Dhillon states that the success of their India tour gave them the motivation to work harder.

Shifting his attention, Dhillon set his eyes on a North American tour. In October 2022, after barely a month of preparation, Dhillon set out on the multicity Out of This World Tour. The tour started in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto. He sold out arenas with 20,000-person capacities — a career trajectory that Kevin Buttar, his manager, describes as “unheard of.” Indeed, most musicians take a more traditional path; by working with major record labels and playing at live events or clubs, before moving on to arenas and tours.

In 2023, Dhillon was also the first Punjabi Canadian to perform at the Juno Awards, in Edmonton. This milestone not only highlights his rising stardom in the Canadian music scene but also the growing influence of Punjabi music on mainstream platforms.

Bobby Friction, a British broadcaster and DJ, notes the reason Dhillon and Run-Up Records have done so well. According to him:

“They really do represent a generation in the Punjab who have grown up with social media, but they were also able to translate that to the diaspora of South Asians, as well.”

In December 2024, Dhillon returned to India for “The Brownprint India Tour.”