Navraj Singh Goraya was born on November 3, 1989 in Toronto, Ontario and was raised in the city's Rexdale neighbourhood. He is of Punjabi descent; his parents were born in Punjab, India. His mother was a computer manufacturer and his father was a forklift driver. Goraya first became interested in music after his mother bought him a boombox in the third grade. His uncle, who was a popular singer in India, also brought him to a studio. He began making mash-ups in high school and producing beats for local underground Toronto artists, and became popular on SoundCloud. Goraya first started producing using Sony's ACID Pro software.
In September 2015, Nav released one of his earliest songs to his SoundCloud account, called "Take Me Simple", which has been listened to over ten million times. In July 2015, Nav contributed production and writing to Drake's diss of Meek Mill, "Back to Back". In 2016, "Take Me Simple" and "The Man" were featured on Drake's OVO Sound Radio on Beats 1.
In September 2016, Nav collaborated with American rapper Travis Scott on Scott's song "Beibs in the Trap" from his album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight, which Nav also co-wrote and co-produced. It peaked at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100,and by July 2017, had been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after selling over a million copies domestically.In February 2017, after signing to the XO label and Republic Records Nav produced and co-produced his debut commercial self-titled mixtape, which included by the lead single, "Some Way" featuring The Weeknd. The mixtape included "Myself".
Nav released the collaboration mixtape, Perfect Timing with producer Metro Boomin on July 21, 2017. The lead single from the album, "Call Me", peaked at 89 on the Canadian Hot 100. Nav released the single "Wanted You" featuring Lil Uzi Vert on November 3, 2017. The single is Nav's first as a lead artist to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.He received a Juno Award nomination for Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2018
