Music
Story behind the song: ‘Minnal Pinar’ by MC Couper x Parimal Shais
The Kerala firepower duo reunite to show a fiercer side for Red Bull 64 Bars
When Parimal and I decided to do a song together the last time, we took the chill route. We took a trip down memory lane; the song was called ‘Sharjah Shake’. It was a very mellow track and an anomaly in our body of work. The song didn’t do well, despite the fact that we loved it and our fans loved it.
So with ‘Minnal Pinar’, we said, “We need to go back to the shit that we do, where we just pop off from the top.” It had to be brutal.
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I heard the track from Parimal and this [“minnal pinar”] was the first words that came to mind. It’s like a thunderbolt. When I'm tackling a theme or something which is serious, I usually try to stick to one language, because that’s how it is in the streets. You need to sound like you’re from these parts.
The first bar is like we’re touching down and it’s a warning shot. Stay out of the way, watch from the sides or get destroyed in the process. That's the kind of mindset I think… it’s such an integral part of hip-hop, right? Like, you hype yourself up to the point where you have to feel like you're unassailable.
Hip-hop, in a lot of ways, is pick-me-up music, right? Whatever lines that you deliver needs to come from this place of conviction.
Then I say, “Pazhayathu puthukki, Puthan chilathetherakki/chelathokke kadathi, nerathilu velasum njaan.” So it’s like, what's different this time? It's just that I've understood that some of the shit that I had in my bag that I needed to refresh and renew and I'm also coming with a lot of fresh stuff and I’ve also sent some stuff across the border. I'm covering all aspects of the wisdom.
After that, I’m saying now that I'm taking care of all that stuff, I'm also preparing a funeral pyre for you, because that's about the best chance that you got. Most of my songs are me as a visual storyteller. A lot of my verses are descriptive in nature. I'm taking the story, or whatever I'm saying, even if it's just a vibe, I have these images in my head that I sort of stitch together. I think this has a lot to do with the fact I’m also an avid movie buff.
From the funeral pyre bar – “Arappatta murukkaam, ennakku pattayadikkaam” to when I say, “ninte kalli velichathaakkeettu palliyurakkaam” we just go to this place where I say we’re dropping a creeper into the funeral pyre, dropping a funeral through a creeper. Once someone is faced with adversity, they reveal their true colors. So I say while I’m doing this, I will expose you. It’s about death to the haters and doubters.
Then it’s also about rallying together, plant seeds for our growth, so it’s about finding an oasis to find ways for things to flourish as well.
Then I say, “Vachaaraadhikkaan njan aaraada? Muthappantappaappano?/Kottippaadana bhakthikkoottam kashtappaadinte bhaagamo?” – we take things to a violent level in the previous bars, but I also want people to know that it’s kind of silly. It’s lyrical flexing and I bring that down a notch and bring a little self-awareness into it.
For the first time in my career that I've actually had to deal with some sort of craziness from the side of fans and stuff. But I'm also seeing it happen to a lot of my peers, who are way more out there.
What I'm talking about here is that my biggest aim would be as if I am the character that I’m being describing in these bars, then it's about getting the bag and then I dip. It’s kind of a sinister character, so why would you worship me?
MC Couper
© Focus Sports
The second I get access to anything that I abuse or exploit, I might just do that, because that is where the game is going to drive me and it's Capitalism 101. So I’m not your deities or your grandfather to worship me. I’m just a normal dude, who, when presented with these opportunities, is how I’ll act. It’s a critique of the game as well at this point. I still find it difficult to wrap my head around the fact that hip-hop artists are expected to be role models or act like role models. I don’t feel like that’s where the way our world is geared. That’s not the way the people are being shaped by this game.
The English part comes in when there’s a beat switch – I was just thinking about where to take the song up to that. I thought it’s the last eight bars of the first beat and how do I go out of the bag?
I've always had this inhibition. Whenever I switch to English, I'm always thinking if I can't keep it authentic, I don't want to do it. I was just scribbling and I came up with these perfect rhymes and they’re almost like homonyms. “If you're rash and flexing on da master blessed with/cat reflexes, that’s your last adventure.” I felt it was exactly in sync with what I was saying in the track.
I’ve always been a huge fan of Eminem’s rap, especially ‘Renegade’ with Jay-Z. Em almost makes entire phrases rhyme in that. I always wanted to do that. I was like, Okay, this gets the point across and this sounds pretty cool. I also wanted to throw it out there that I can rap in English as well. Hopefully better stuff in the future!
Then I say, “Ee mannil naam ellaarum onnalli” – it’s about looking across the studio to Parimal – we’ve been friends for close to a decade at this point. For the first half of our friendship, we never thought we’d have something like this happen for us. It’s about looking across to this guy, we’ve had our separate journeys and we’re here and doing this now. We look at all the things we’ve done, in this scene, but ultimately it’s this soil, this place that ties us together. Because we were equals when we started out, we’ll remain equals no matter what, that’s the best thing about friendship.
MC Couper and Parimal Shais making adjustments to the beat
© Focus Sports
After the beat switch, there’s this rebellious nature of people like me and Parimal that’s taken us to places like these. The bars there are a shoutout to the place where we’re from and the values that maintain the bond and keeps us together. Where I say, “Venthittum chenthengu maathiri ponthaathe” – it’s about how, despite facing adversities, you never crashed and burned.
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If it was easy, more people would do it right? It’s not easy, that’s why we’re doing it. Then I say, “Ippo njan vettayil Vaarunni, theettayil Rappaayi/Pankaali, pankaali, chankinte kannaadi” – it’s a shoutout to friendship and partnership and staying authentic means you’ll find your people along the way and we’ll all get to eat.
Where I say, “Vattokke nulli perukki perappaayi/Netteele verpittirangi tharippaayi” – it gets more visual and intense. Until then, it was more talking about the things that are around you, but this is more introspective. It’s like looking at the man in the mirror and realizing what you’ve become and the reasons why you’ve become – like, understanding self-awareness. It’s about knowing you need to heal from the past wounds and how you’re the product of all of that. It’s empowering, but only if you are taking it in the right direction, or at least you believe that you're going in the right direction, otherwise you're just going to be confused, I feel.
Parimal Shais and MC Couper jam in the booth
© Focus Sports
When you had nothing, you fought for scraps amid beasts and had to sweat it out. Now it’s become part of you, where you need to sweat it out to feel like you’re in control. All the wounds of the past become your strengths.
The last bars that start with “Themmaadi pilleru chemmaanathengaandu” is a throwback. The bunch of us who started together… I have a specific memory of Parimal and I after we had recorded our first professional track together, after years of jamming. This was on his debut album Kumari Kandam Traps, Vol. 1. After recording ‘Nerchapaattu’ we were on his terrace and I remember we were just listening to some songs or something, and we heard our song. At that time, there was no industry for this, just a few Malayalam rappers. We asked, ‘Do you think it’ll work out?’ and thought, who knows? Maybe it will.
We were building castles in the sky at the time. The first line is a reference to that. It’s about rowdy boys building castles in the sky, back in the day. Then “Kombante vambinnu ellaarum paadumbo/thattum njan ettu koottam anthikkathaazham” – Kombu is like a tusker, an elephant. Those days have given way to people singing our praises, we’re sitting out here feasting. It’s an acknowledgment to that.