Punjabi singer, Lekka, who is known for her rap style and husky voice, released a new hip-hop single Kingpin a few days ago. The groovy track features the singer in a fiery avatar and she is seen donning some fiery black outfits. Known for songs like Kaabil-E-Tareef and Ride, the singer has also done the music arrangement for this track. Written by Addy, the song is also directed by Nitish Raizada and produced by Dee Coy. We catch up with Lekka, who tells us more about this song.
What was the idea behind Kingpin?
Honestly, we as a team love the show Peaky Blinders, where the plot revolves around a criminal gang that is immensely loved by people. So, we wanted to do something around that, especially creating the central character around a woman gang leader. When one hears the word ‘kingpin’ one always thinks of a man, but we decided to play around with that idea. Here is the story of a woman who is a powerful badass leader of a mob and who is also ruthless.
It is a pure gangsta track with elements of hip-hop and rap. Besides lending vocals, I also helped with the lyrics, composition, and arranging the music.
The track isn’t purely rap, but also has bits of melody…
Yes, it does. A lot of people actually loved that part and it happens to be my favourite too. When you reach the melody part after continuous rap, it enhances the whole experience of the song.
Tell us about what inspired your styling for the music video.
For most of my looks, I prefer to style myself. For this video, we took bits and pieces from the kind of ensembles that Phoolan Devi (Bandit Queen) used to wear. After shooting for this track, I realised that I love being in front of the camera and would love to do all sorts of music videos, all my life.
That’s great! Where did you film the video though?
We shot it in Delhi at Kicksal, Chhatarpur. And I’ve got a shoutout for my friends who shared the space with my team, which helped us shoot the whole thing with ease.
How has the journey been so far?
I can say that it has been kind to me and I explored and discovered so much on my own. From not knowing how the music industry works to releasing my music with the top labels, I believe that I received only love — at each step.
What’s next?
A big surprise about which you’ll hear soon!
Kingpin is streaming on all music platforms.
— bsuchitra@newindianexpress.com