big brother to me, but somewhere down the line I felt
betrayed. But, leaving Mafia Mundeer made me more
determined to succeed.
You have a very interesting upbringing. A Kerala born
Malayali who grew up in Delhi. How was your childhood
like- inside and outside the house?
I was a very hyperactive kid. I still am. But, I’ve learned
to channelize my energy into productive tasks now. Both
my parents were working when I was a kid and I used to
be alone in the house until my parents came home late
from work. So, I learned self-sustenance very early in
my life. I was very good at studies. I ended up changing
a lot of schools too. But, I have beautiful memories of
my childhood. I have a lot of memorable anecdotes.
Give us a brief about your initial thought on becoming a
rapper and how it all started?
Ah. A friend gave me a MP3 C.D when I was in class
9. My father had just bought a new D.V.D player then.
So, I went home and played the C.D and there was a
lot of Linkin Park on it. I heard Mike Shinoda rapping
on ‘In The End’ and I was extremely fascinated by the
rhymes. I thought I could rap too and slowly I started
rhyming. After that I started listening to Eminem; got
influenced by him. Then ‘The Game’ blew up, and I fell
in love with his lyrics. That’s when I started getting
into rap and hip-hop and became a wannabee rapper.
You came out in support of the infamous Youtube rapper
Omprakash Mishra? Even though you disregard foul
language in your music, what compelled you to
support Omprakash?
See, I understand the struggle of coming out. I know
what it took for me to reach this level. That’s the reason
behind my humbleness. So, when I saw Omprakash
I understood that he made the song because he wanted
to be discovered. I feel we are responsible for his
actions. What we are doing is not just making music.
We are selling dreams. Me, Badshah, Honey Singh or
even Bollywood. These youngsters want to be rappers
because they idolise us. They see us in a fancy car,
wearing expensive clothes, and they aspire to be like
us. They see rapping as the easy way to achieve what
we have achieved. Omprakash had made other songs
prior to ‘Shot lagani hai’ (Bol na Aunty) but nobody
took notice. But, people noticed him when he made
‘Shot lagani hai.’ So, we should question the listeners
who made it a big deal and not Omprakash because they
proved the point that these are the kind of songs that
people listen to. Kids just copy what they see. They do
what people take notice of. That’s why we as listeners
need to change what we consume as music and the rest
will follow. We should people like Omprakash to make
them better, give them better advice instead of shunning
them. There’s no good in dismissing a person and going
after him because you don’t understand his intent.
You voiced your opinion against horrific rape
crimes in the country like the recent Asifa Bano
case. Where do you think we are failing as a
society in stopping such menacing crimes?
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We need to educate our kids better. Period. Sex is
repressed in our society. But, you can’t kill curiosity,
right? So, that curiosity leads people to make such