Country: Canada
Darrin Kenneth O’Brien, born October 30, 1969, in North York, Toronto, is a Canadian rapper and musician best known by his stage name Snow. Raised in public housing after his parents’ divorce, he grew up surrounded by violence and crime, dropped out of school in ninth grade, and struggled with literacy. Initially influenced by rock music, his musical direction shifted in the early 1980s after exposure to Jamaican immigrants in his neighbourhood, leading him to master Jamaican patois and blend reggae, dancehall, pop, and rock. His early life included several run-ins with the law, including time spent in prison, where he began writing music—most notably the song that would later make him famous, “Informer.” Snow’s breakthrough came in 1992 with the release of his debut album 12 Inches of Snow, produced after he was introduced to MC Shan in New York. The album spawned “Informer,” which spent seven consecutive weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and sold over eight million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling reggae singles in history. The album’s success made Snow an international star, earning awards and chart success across North America and Asia. Despite later legal disputes over songwriting and production credits, Snow followed up with albums such as Murder Love and Justuss, finding especially strong success in Japan and other parts of Asia, where several singles topped charts and earned award nominations. From the late 1990s onward, Snow continued recording, touring, and reinventing himself, returning to Canadian charts in the 2000s and collaborating with major artists across reggae, pop, and Latin music. His career experienced a major revival in 2019 when he collaborated with Daddy Yankee on “Con Calma,” a reimagining of “Informer,” which became a global hit and earned multiple international awards. Beyond music, Snow has appeared in…
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