Tokischa Dominican Rapper Born 1996 in Puerto Plata

Early life

Tokischa Altagracia Peralta Juarez, known mononymously as Tokischa, is a Dominican rapper and model. She was born on 17 March 1996 in Puerto Plata. Before she worked in music she was employed by the photographer Raymi Paulus, who encouraged her to enter the industry.

Career

Tokischa signed a recording contract with Paulus Music and released her debut single, "Picala". Her style draws on trap, hip hop, rap and urbano, and she works mostly within reggaeton and Dominican dembow. She has said in several interviews that no single genre defines her, and that she took up trap because it is the closest present-day form to rock, a genre she has always liked. Her lyrics are described as personal and direct, and they deal largely with sex. One artist she names as an early influence is DJ Scuff.

In October 2020 she released "Desacato Escolar" with Yomel El Meloso and Leo RD. The lyrics referred to prostitution, the track was taken down from YouTube, and she defended it in an interview with the Spanish broadcaster RTVE, arguing that urban music describes the life of the neighbourhoods it comes from. In January 2021 she issued "Yo No Me Voy Acostar" with Yailin La Mas Viral and La Perversa, and the same month "Bellaca Putona" with Quimico Ultra Mega, which reached the top of the charts in the Dominican Republic. She continued to release songs in urbano styles and to work with regional artists through the year.

Her international profile rose in the summer of 2021 through collaborations with J Balvin and Rosalia, with both videos filmed in Santo Domingo. "Linda", with Rosalia and produced by Leo RD, came out on 1 September 2021. The two worked together again the following year on "La Combi Versace" from Rosalia's album Motomami, released a week after "Perra", the song with Balvin. Tokischa and Paulus Music had earlier signed a distribution agreement with Equity Distribution, the independent distribution company of Roc Nation. In September 2022 she appeared on "Hung Up on Tokischa", a version of Madonna's 2005 song "Hung Up" that uses dembow rhythms. Her list of collaborators also includes Anuel AA and Ozuna, and her 2023 single is "Ride or Die". Her YouTube channel had about 2.2 million subscribers in January 2025.

Public roles

Media outlets have often called her work controversial. In August 2021 she posed partly undressed at the sanctuary of the Virgin of Altagracia in La Vega, a decision that the town's mayor, Kelvin Cruz, publicly condemned. She wrote online that she had not meant to offend anyone and wanted to show that anybody can pray, wherever they come from. After the mayor filed a complaint, the local prosecutor's office barred her from visiting the sanctuaries of the province for one year.