Wahlgren debuted in 1988 with the single "Funky Raggamuffin/Let the Music Play", a mixture of dancehall and hip hop. He then joined the Stonefunkers and became the group's rapper. This was followed by a few years of cooperation with Rob'n'Raz. Wahlgren then went solo, and had his breakthrough in 1990 with the albumLettin' Off Steam, which was predominantly hip hop and dancehall. His next album, One Step Ahead, had elements of soul and reggae, mixing song and rap. His 1994 release, Original Master, produced by Denniz Pop at Cheiron Studio, incorporated Euro disco into his music. During the 1990s and 2000s, he released several albums, often in cooperation with Desmond Foster and a couple with Soundism. 2001, Soundism also produced the Papa Dee song "Hottie Hottie Girls" featuring Lady Saw, Jamaica's prime female dancehall star. Kent Isaacs also produced a couple of Papa Dee's more daring and innovative albums. One of the albums they did together was the cover album, recorded in Jamaica, with reggae musicians including Horse-Mouth, Flabba Holt and Chinna Smith. He is also a member of The Brooklyn Funk Essentials and of Dubchek with David Barratt. His songs have been featured in several feature films including Predator 2, starring Danny Glover. In 1997 Dubchek made music for the critically acclaimed Two Girls and a Guy featuring Robert Downey, Jr. and Heather Graham. In the Swedish feature film/comedy Smala Sussie Papa Dee was credited both featuring as himself onscreen and as songwriter. PD composed music for the stage Due to his prolific yet flexible imprint Papa Dee has enjoyed a successful career as one of Sweden's most sought after voice artists dubbing cartoons and movies alike.
Mad Professor compilation DJ’ s Choice Tribute to MLK
Diana King's album Respect in the duet Keep It On The Downlow
In 2001 Chrysler used his track ”Ispy” for its worldwide commercial. Between 2000-2008 Papa Dee hosted his own radio show, P3 Rytm for SR, the Swedish National Radio Network 2012: Back on the move Papa Dee's currently working on his book Was Jean Baptiste Bernadotte a blackman? and his upcoming album Fall From Grace is in the final stages.
Personal life
Wahlgren was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, to a Swedish mother and a Ghanaian father. His father left the family when he was a small child. On 14 September 2008, Wahlgren was arrested and charged with grave assault with bodily harm to his wife Andrea on a street and in their apartment. His wife categorically denied that maltreatment had taken place and later wrote a book, En Fjärils Kamp, about how she was not heard in the trial. Despite this, a Swedish lower court found him guilty of a lesser charge of assault on 20 October 2008 based on testimony from multiple witnesses and he was fined SEK 8,700. In 2010, the Swedish High Court acquitted him of the other charges of assaulting his wife in their apartment after she denied the assault. Papa Dee was awarded SEK 25,000 for the suffering as a result of the prosecution and SEK 18,045 for lost income and costs. Papa Dee and Andrea Wahlgren divorced in 2012.
