Petri Jukka Mikael Laurila, better known by his stage namePetri Nygård, is a Finnish rap artist. He is also known under alias Dream and as Travis Bicle. He has gained notoriety for his sexually explicit and misogynistic lyrics and his provocative stage shows. His lyrical themes often focus on alcohol, parties, sex, women, pornography, hangover, masturbation, dissing Finnish celebrities and satirizing popculture and phenomena.
Early life
Petri Laurila is of Sweden-Finnish origin: he was born in Kristianstad, Sweden, and spent his childhood in Sweden. After serving briefly in the army, he moved to Chicago and eventually to Finland, residing in Tampere and Helsinki. He found initial success in his online release Vitun Suomirokki in 2000 on "Poko Rekords" going platinum with sales of 17,000 copies. The follow-up single entitled "Kanava Nolla " was also successful selling 9,000 copies. His debut studio albumMun levy!went gold with sale of 25,000 copies.
Nuera
Petri Laurila started his career as part of the rap duo Nuera. He was known as an MC under the alias Dream whereas his partner in the band was Henry Kaprali known as Skem. They were active in the 1990s releasing several cassettes through Open Records. They also collaborated with other artists on the record label. In 2004-2004, both Dream and Skem joined DJ K2 in "YleX" weekly radio show featuring rap and R&B artists.
Travis Bicle
The duo disbanded as Henry Kapralin moved to New York City going into music production with "Turnin' Records". As for Petri Laurila he took a new alias Travis Bicle and released an album in 2007 entitled "Committed" produced by Kapralin and "Turnin' Records"
Solo as Petri Nygård
Petri Laurila continued with a successful rap career taking the name Petri Nygård. After the successes of 2000 and 2001, he has had a considerable comeback starting 2009 with new download only releases. He also released in 2009 a full studio album entitled Kaikkee pitää olla. His new album scheduled for February 2011 is entitled Kaikki tai ei mitään. The single from the new album include the November 2010 single "Sarvet esiin" featuring Finnish thrashmetal bandMokoma. The second single entitled "Selvä päivä" featuring Lord Est has shot to #1 on Suomen virallinenlista, the official Finnish singles chart.
