The name suits him. Perhaps, there is no other title that would define him better than ‘Badshah’. He is the badshah (king) of rap, someone who has put Indian rap on the world map. Much before youngsters could even fathom making a career in rap, something that wasn’t considered a mainstream profession; Badshah was already paving the way to make this dream come true. Today, he is not only an inspiration to many but an artiste par excellence, who has this immensely rare skill of surprising you every time, with the tunes he churns out, the lyrics he swears by, making you groove along no matter what mood you are in; or for that matter, wherever you are — at a party, or chilling at home, Badshah sets the tone. And how can we miss the famous line — ‘Bad boy Badshah’ — in every song he makes!
Badshah recently performed at the Royal Stag BoomBox which he says “is a platform that is quite unique, where the typical Bollywood film sound joins hands with the new age sound and upcoming artistes, not only sonically but also on a stage. ”
When we get to speak to him, we start by asking what has been playing on our mind for a very long time — what made him change his name from Aditya Prateek Singh Sisodia to Badshah, and his reply says it all, “I’m a huge Shah Rukh Khan fan and I live like a badshah!”
True to that confession, Badshah actually managed to get the “badshah of Bollywood”, SRK, to lend his voice for his recent album Ek Tha Raja. Letting us in on how it all fell into place, Badshah says, “I messaged Pooja ma’am who manages Shah Rukh sir. I sent the trailer, which had my voiceover, and I said, “Sir, please, say the lines that I have said.” Pooja asked me, “When do you need it?” I replied, “Tomorrow.” And she was like, “Why do you always come last minute? You know how big minds work!” But then she was like, “Can you push it?” I said, “Yeah, I can push it. You tell me.” And then, I get this WAV file, half an hour long WAV file! And that day, I realised why Shah Rukh sir is Shah Rukh sir because those seven-eight lines, he voiced in like 10 different emotions, and then also added, ‘If you need anything else, just let me know.’”
We could feel the excitement in Badshah’s voice and see his eyes sparkle as he spoke about SRK, which also clearly stated how important this album is to him. “The album reflects a decade of my experiences and emotions as an artiste. It was a lot of fun creating it. There is much hard work involved as well. It was fun because I got to collaborate with my friends and artistes that I really respect and look up to; but it was a challenge for me to move out of my zone and attempt to make them (other artistes) come out of their zones too, meet at a middle ground and create a new sound,” the artiste shares.
As he celebrates a decade in the industry, bringing the rap scene alive in India, with lyrics, music, beats clicking with the masses almost instantly, we ask him what the secret behind this instant connection is, and pat comes the reply, “Because I worked hard for it and because I was true to what I was doing.”
We couldn’t agree more, but it is at this juncture that we mention to him about the evolution and growth of rap in India. However, what is undeniable is the stigma still attached to this genre, with a lot of people assuming rap is just for some free time. Would he want to educate people who do not know what rap is and are quick to judge? Badshah answers, “A lot of people still think that rap is all about cars! But it’s actually about everything. Rap is poetry, it’s expressing yourself. It’s about all the emotions that a person has inside of them. If you think that you can probably stereotype rap, I think you need to listen to more of it because there are all sorts of artistes who are doing all sorts of raps.”
This king of rap didn’t have it easy. The path he chose was unknown, but something he believed in, and hence, kept walking — we mean rapping!
Badshah was studying at Punjab Engineering College and says he doesn’t know “if the transition from there was easy or difficult but it was inevitable, because I was always in love with music. This is what I always say: In India, you’re born, you go to school, you do your engineering (course) and then you decide what you have to do in life. So that’s when I decided that I need to be a musician. It wasn’t difficult but you have to play your cards smartly. I come from a very orthodox middle-class family, so I just had to work twice as hard. I had to do my engineering (course) and also put in work when it comes to music and I did it. It’s all hard work.”
Hard work and more hard work, Badshah couldn’t harp enough on the importance of it. Even today, when there are platforms that have opened doors to artistes who didn’t even know they were good at rapping, Badshah insists that nothing is ever achieved without putting that extra effort. “These platforms help because they create more competition and competition brings champions. Sometimes you don’t realise that you compete so much with yourself that you surpass the scenes of other countries. I think the race should be within yourselves. There should be healthy competition; and rap and hip-hop by nature is a genre which is a very competitive one.”
As our conversation veers to inspirations and collaborations, Badshah tells us that a lot of his writing has been inspired by Drake. “He’s the artiste who I connected with most because he was someone who was talking about emotions. Of course, there was also Eminem and 50 Cent. When you delve deeper, it’s a bottomless pit. You come across artistes like Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Lupe Fiasco, all sorts of MCs writing about different subjects and playing with words, which just fascinates you and makes you want to work harder on your craft. So I don’t think there’s any artiste I’ve heard who hasn’t inspired me; there’s a little bit of inspiration from everyone who I’ve heard,” he says, adding, “Collaborations, on the other hand, have to be organic. I’ve worked with people I vibe really well with. If I can’t chill with you, I can’t work with you. That’s the only criteria.”
We now try to understand his process of composition. “I think I’m like a reservoir when it comes to this. I’ve grown up listening to all sorts of music — Punjabi, Hindi, French, South Indian, K-pop, Turkish. I haven’t studied music; I’ve probably learned music and I subconsciously compose what I’ve heard. It’s all a mixture of everything that I’ve consumed and absorbed. I just let things flow. I don’t force myself and the best compositions are the ones that you hum subconsciously. And then suddenly you realise, ‘okay wow, this is really good’.”
Beat it with Badshah
You have rapped in Hindi, Bhojpuri, also included lyrics in Bengali, which is the next language that you want to rap in?
Maybe Russian.
When things get rough, who do you reach out to?
I reach out to shopping.
How would you define your aesthetic as a rapper — your stage persona?
I’m that cousin who you wait for at a party. A person who turns up the volume!
Email: rupam@newindianexpress.com
X: @rupsjain
