Relja Popović is a Serbian rapper, singer-songwriter and actor. Born in Belgrade, his musical career started in 2005 when he co-founded the pop-rap duo Elitni Odredi alongside his childhood friend Vlada Matović. After the duo's hiatus in 2015, Popović pursued a solo career with the single Beograd još živi. He is currently working on his debut album. In March 2020, Popović established the record label imprint Made in Blkn Records. He has also collaborated with numerous artists, such as Coby, Rasta, Nikolija, Boban Rajović and Stoja, among others. In addition to his music career, Popović has also worked as an actor and made his on screen debut in Vladimir Perišić's short film, titled Dremano oko, in 2003. He also collaborated with the director on his existentialistfeature filmOrdinary People, for which he received the Heart of Sarajevo award for the best male actor at the Sarajevo Film Festival. Popović also appeared in the box office success The Parade by Srđan Dragojević.
Personal life
Relja Popović was born on August 2, 1989 in Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia and raised in the Paviljoni neighborhood of New Belgrade. After their father, Srđan Popović, died when he was only two years old, Relja and his brother were raised by their mother, Zoja Bergoli, who was the primaballerina at the National Theatre in Belgrade. Popovović stated that his mother was financially struggling while raising them. According to Relja, he found his passion for music during middle school through his brother who would expose him to hip-hop artists such as Eminem, Jay-Z and Juice. In seventh grade, Popović started writing his own songs together with his classmate Vladimir Matović. Before graduating high school he was injured in a gunfire and had his kidney and spleen removed. Popović graduated from the Faculty of Media and Communications at the Singidunum University. He also attended the Academy of Arts, but claims to have couple of exams left to graduate. He started dating singer Nikolija Jovanović in 2014 after Elitni Odredi collaborated with her on the single "Alkohola litar". The couple welcomed a daughter, named Rea, on 26 September 2016.
Music
In 2005, him and his childhood friend, Vladimir Matović, formed the turbo folk group Elitni Odredi. In 2009, Relja received the Heart of Sarajevo award for his performance in the movie Ordinary People. The subsequent year, Elitni Odredi released their debut album Oko svet, after which they acquired mainstream success with their following singles. In 2015, Elitni Odredi took a permanent hiatus to focus on their solo projects. In April, Relja released his first solo single "Beograd još živi". Same year he released three more singles "Samo hoću da se napijem", "Opet te nema" featuring Boban Rajović and "Pakao od žene". The following year he collaborated with Cvija and Coby on "Crni sine" in May, but also released "Trošim pare" in October. In 2017, Popović released "Lom" in February, "Samo jako" with Coby and turbo-folk singer Stoja in April and latino influenced "Adrenalina" in December. He released "Latino Evropa", "Dolce Vita" and "Mi Amor" in May, June and December 2018, respectively.
