AP Dhillon was in 8th grade when he started playing basketball in Gurdaspur, Punjab after school. In fact, if things had turned out differently, we could’ve had AP Dhillon, the athlete, instead of AP Dhillon, the singer. “I always wanted to play sports, specifically basketball, and become an athlete be it for the NBA or India,” confesses the pop star. “I had a rough childhood, so those two hours every day were an escape from my life. I didn’t think about the good or bad things on the court, just that I needed to score those baskets. I hated losing,” he smiles.
So, what diverted his path towards music instead?—not that we’re complaining. “My village is 25 minutes from the Pakistan border, so resources were limited. If we broke anything on the court, like the ring or net, repairs would take forever. We’d also have to borrow money from our parents to pay for them ourselves,” he recalls. Due to infrastructural and financial reasons, the dream never made it past the court in his hometown.
When Dhillon moved to Canada in 2015, between his studies and working odd jobs at gas stations and convenience stores, he went from daily basketball sessions to daily to only playing on weekends. “When you’re working 12 hours a day, you don’t think about what you want to do. It’s like being in survival mode, I had expenses to take care of,” he reveals. And when his singing career took off, basketball took a backseat entirely.
Now, he is collaborating with the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the 22nd edition of the Ruffles All-Star Celebrity Game, which will air in India on Saturday, February 15th. The Indian rapper joins the star-studded lineup alongside comedian and creator Druski, Grammy-nominated artists Noah Kahan, Shaboozey, Mickey Guyton and Tucker Halpern, Olympic track and field stars Masai Russell and Shelby McEwen, actors Rome Flynn and Danny Ramirez, and many others. “This association is personal for me, it’s like being closer to my childhood dream. I want to push basketball for the love of the sport and create opportunities that my friends and I didn’t receive,” he adds. It’s as much for his peers who “played much better than him” but went on to work in shipping and offices due to a lack of coaching centres and facilities.
As someone who grew up playing the sport, he recognises the lack of support children feel. “When I went back to Gurdaspur in 2019, I remember shooting some hoops and accidentally breaking the ring because I couldn’t dunk. I had it fixed before I left so the kids could keep playing,” he laughs. With this collaboration, he also wants to draw attention back to India beyond cricket and set up systems that encourage learning and excelling in basketball.
When I ask what he’s looking forward to at the game this weekend in San Francisco, he takes a beat to think, then smiles and says, “Everything, really. When I first moved to Canada, people didn’t think that Indians could play basketball. It’s about time that we broke the stereotype,” he says.
As part of a campaign leading up to the game on Saturday, Dhillon was kitted out in bright streetwear including varsity jackets, vests and shorts that can be worn on and off the court. “I love fashion. How I look and present myself is very important to me,” he exclaims. So much so, that he even decides his looks based on the kind of stage—open-air or indoor club. “Like music, fashion and sport also bring people together,” he declares. And Dhillon is determined to score full marks on all three counts.
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