Music
The New Delhi fire-breathing rapper holds nothing back on his track for season 2 of Red Bull 64 Bars.
I hadn’t thought of a song name when I started working on this project.
For the first time after many years, I was going to write 64 bars straight with no hook, so I just let it flow.
It was about taking you from the starting point – of where I came from – right up to where I’m right now. It’s about who I am now and the character I’ve built.
The title came from the final bars of the song: “Main deta udhaar jo diss kardu, main leta udhaar jo diss karde. Soot samet.”
I’ve not had any beef with anyone in the industry; so there’s no reason for anyone to be afraid of me. But there is still a perception of what I’ll say or how I’ll react if someone says something about me; at least that’s what I’ve heard. So when I say “Soot samet” in the final bar of the song, I’m telling people that if anyone messes with me, I’ll give it back to them with interest added. It’s like a warning, even though I’m not dissing anyone directly.
I start the song off with “Jab main ghar se nikla to dekhe kharche, khachre sadke.” I’m describing scenes from my school days. I went from attending a private school to a government school. I saw so many odd antics there for the first time in my life. At such a young age I was seeing people break pots on kids’ heads. That’s where the lyric “Dekhe hai sar pe padte gamle, har din complaint” comes from.
“Har din tha same, fir bhi hope thi” is me saying that I was going into this dark side, getting mixed up in that sort of bad company but then rap saved my life and brought me out of all that negativity.
In the bars that go, “Jeans thi dheeli lambi t-shirt, cypher karte broskis,” I’m describing a photo that I have from a cypher in Dwarka in 2014, where AFKAP and Yungsta are in the photo with me. From school days, I used to travel to Indian Coffee House, with Yungi (Yungsta) and others, and we used to cypher.
Rap was more than just music; it was a lifestyle. We used our own slang terms in our songs because we didn’t want to just lift the culture from what’s happening internationally. When we shifted to rapping in Hindi, we also used the local slang of where we were from. People would say, “Woah, you sound so Jamnapaar, bro.” That’s when we started repping where we are from.
I don’t write very literally. “Jaake apni bhais charaye, hum jise ni pasand, waapis apne khet mein jaye, hum ni denge phasal” is an example of that. There’s this thing I’ve been doing, where I call my songs phasal (crops). I’ve been exploited by labels here and there in my early days.
There are and were artists who are fine with giving away their songs for free. I’m not like that; I’m not giving away any of my songs. I didn’t want to diss anyone about this, but wanted to express where I stand on this issue. In this industry, we rappers are the farmers and our songs are the crops. I’m expressing that the industry is looking to exploit us, in a way.
I shoutout where I come from in this song – ward number 221. But before that, I say, “Maa ke dupatte mein baithja, beta gar city mein teri ni setting hai.” I’m basically telling people that it is brutal in the Delhi rap scene, so either come prepared or stay at home. I’ve seen fights breaking out at cyphers and rap battles. People bring their backup; that’s how prepared folks are in Delhi. With “Ye Dilli ki city hai peeth mein, dete ni dilo mein dete machete,” I’m saying that if your rap hurts anyone’s feelings in Delhi cyphers, they will come at you straight; there’s no bitching behind your back.
“Heal karu soul teri soul, du soul ka daam laga jaise Baphomet, Swaad dilaadu ye bar ka fest, food for thought main masterchef,” are bars where I reference two totally different things. I’m saying that if my rap connects with you deeply, you will never leave my music. I’ve had kids come and tell me, “I needed your music as an outlet for my aggression,” and in a way our souls are connected because of the music. So my music is healing people, just like Baphomet heals people by making deals that don’t allow them to leave. I also dropped a MasterChef reference to compare how food for thought is also healing for the soul.
The lyric “Life ne diye the test, main behtar stronger harder faster ab,” is a reference to songs by Kanye West and Daft Punk. Plus, in an earlier bar, I speak about exploitation and getting out of that phase. So this lyric is about getting past that and becoming better, stronger and faster.
When I say, “Inko log bulaaye diggaj, Inki yahape izzat ni”, I’m referring to the big names in the industry with the term “diggaj”. I’m shedding light on the fact that not everyone who respect as a “big brother” in the industry will help you. They’ll blackball you secretly but then come to you and say “I pray for you”. In this rap, I’m talking about sniffing these kind of people out. I also say “Hai intaqaam ye rap ka intercom, There ain’t no latency.” By this I mean everyone can hear everything when there is no latency, and I can hear whatever people are talking about me even if it is in closed rooms.
The lyric “Jo sunne wale mere wo wait bhi karte patiently,” and the reference to Late Lateef are about how I haven’t released an album in many years. I’m the Late Lateef; those who know will know. But I can’t just put out an album, not unless I’m in that state of mind. I will never give my fans garbage just because I have to release something.
This song has references to Che Guevara and The Godfather, because I learnt a lot from these personalities. I learnt how to be a rebel by looking at Che Guevara – when commercial hip-hop was popular, we still ran our own stuff, and it blew up. Now that our original kind of music is blowing up, we’ll run something else. Andre 3000 once said something like, when the industry is chasing your sound, that’s when you’ve got to leave it behind.
The “dobara” part where I repeat the bars, that idea came to me from Eminem’s song ‘Armageddon’. It had such a crazy flow and he says, “Let’s do this again.” I always wanted to do that in one of my tracks, since I’m an Eminem fan.
“Delhi sheher ke ab Gurgaon khade, karu sound jaise gun round chale pade ilaam gale” is a reference to how people say my bars sound like a machine gun going off.
I also talk about some of the dangers that I feel around me with “Encounter hai lagi fielding hai khade bouncer hai, time na waste kare ye londe pehle pao pade”. I need to have people around me, because sometimes people pop up as fans but try to do some crazy shit. So I need to have security around me.
“Ab jaake ukhaadlo, UP ka khoon hai, tumni ho UP ki guestlist mein,” is a reference to how, living in Jamnapaar, the next border to exit Delhi is Uttar Pradesh 14, so I’m very interconnected to UP. My family is from there.