Indian rapper BADSHAH has some of the most popular Bollywood anthems of the past six years to his name. His style of songwriting has influenced young rappers and set a new template for veteran music directors to follow. He speaks to PRIYA SINGH about how he found his way into the world of hip-hop.
Aditya Prateek Singh Sisodia, the 32-year-old rapper known by his stage name Badshah, grew up in Chandigarh and started his rap career back in 2006, when there wasn’t much of a hip-hop scene in any Indian city, least of all in Chandigarh. He started out rapping in English, like everyone does, following in the footsteps of his American heroes from New York and California. But soon, he felt the need to make music that was more personal and more rooted to his immediate setting. So Badshah started writing lyrics in Punjabi and Hindi, and made songs that had instant appeal for young listeners.
It was in 2012 that he got his first Bollywood song, “Saturday Saturday”, for Humpty Sharma Ki Dhulania. This song mainstreamed Badshah like never before, escalating his popularity to a whole new level. It also provided the template for the kind of songs that Badshah would become known for in the future: party anthems like “DJ Wale Babu” and “Abhi Toh Party Shuru Hui Hai” that have attained the status of classics in Indian film music.
The singer believes that it was his childhood passion for music that guided him to this stage in his career. Badshah tells Guardian 20, “While growing up, I was always inclined towards music, but no one in my family was involved in music professionally. We all just loved listening to it. Then I was introduced to this new form of storytelling called rapping. It was being practiced in the West and a lot of black people were using it as a medium to voice their opinion, to entertain, to express themselves and to tell their stories to everyone. I loved it and I instantly thought of doing it in my own way. Though I initially started as an English rapper, I soon realised that if I wanted to connect with people of my country and tell my story, then it needed to be done in Hindi.”
As a young man, Badshah completed his graduation in civil engineering for his family’s sake, knowing all the while that he wanted to be a professional musician. “My family,” he says, “wasn’t supportive at that time. The reason being, I belong to a middle-class family. They expected me to become an engineer or a doctor. Another thing was, there was no rapper in the industry for any sort of reference who could set a benchmark. There were singers but I wanted to do something that was completely unheard of.”
His early days in the industry were full of challenges. Yet the virtual lack of competition was the silver lining. He says, “In a way it was easy because I had no competition, and difficult because I had no idea how it was going to be like. But apparently, it all turned out to be very well for me.”
Following his Bollywood success, the rapper recently launched his first independent album, O.N.E. (Original Never Ends), in August this year—an album he had been working on since the last three years. Badshah says, “Working on this album was very overwhelming but exhausting at the same time. It is something that I’d been working on for the past three years. The title says ‘Original Never Ends’ and I believe in that. It has 17 songs and I don’t see anyone making that many songs in today’s time. The best part is that none of them [the songs] are remakes, all of them are originals. It is something that is very close to my heart.”
It’s thanks to artistes like Badshah that hip-hop culture has now begun to flourish in India. Scores of homegrown rappers have shot to fame in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and indeed Chandigarh, Badshah’s home turf. Moreover, Badshah’s style of making music has influenced music directors in Bollywood as well. “I think it is artistes like us who have gone out there and did our own thing without being told what to do and without being influenced by Bollywood,” he says. “These are artistes who want to make independent music, in their own way, and blend their music with folk tunes and melodies.”
As a songwriter and lyricist, Badshah is quite spontaneous. The rapper says, “There is no particular flow to my creative process. Sometimes it is the beat that comes first in my songs, sometimes it is the lyrics. I don’t stick to one thing and I like to go with whatever comes to my mind.” And most importantly, he doesn’t have to bother with keeping up with contemporary music trends because, in his own words, “I make those trends”.
With songs like “Tere Naal Nachna” and “Kala Chashma” to his name, Badshah has become the go-to rapper for top music directors in Bollywood. In his most recent hit—“Tareefan” from Veere Di Wedding—he even tried his hand at a more conventional style of singing. He says, “I knew ‘Tareefan’ was a good song but I never imagined it to travel so far so soon. I was a bit nervous since this was the first time that I was actually singing. I didn’t know how people were going to take it. But surprisingly it turned out to be a great song.”
Talking about how different is film music from making independent tracks, he says, “When you are working on some Bollywood song, you have to be very careful about many things. But in my case Bollywood has been really kind to me. They [the filmmakers] have actually created situations [in the plot] so that my song could fit in. The producers and makers have been really supportive of me and have put their trust in me. Whereas in independent music you are free to do whatever you feel like, whether it is the situation, any particular thing I want to sing about, it is all up to me. It is like I am making the song for myself.”
Of late, the trend of remaking old songs has taken the industry by storm. Badshah himself has created many remakes, which became huge hits in no time. “I have made remakes of songs that I really believed in, like ‘Kala Chashma’, because I really liked that song. ‘Humma Humma’ was done because the director told me to. When I remake songs, it is not just a remix but is like creating an entirely new song. In ‘Humma Humma’ you can make out a drop in music. There is a new-age vibe to it, the vocals are mellowed down. This is my version of that old song. I became a part of ‘Tamma Tamma’ only because of nostalgia. It was because Shashank Khaitan [director of Badrinath Ki Dulhania and Humpty Sharma Ki Dhulania], Alia [Bhatt] and Varun [Dhawan] were coming together again. All four of us did Humpty Sharma Ki Dhulania together for the first time as a team—a film which had ‘Saturday Saturday’. As for remakes, artistes are apprehensive at times when they think whether the audience is going to appreciate these songs or not. But I think the day you start thinking that way is the day you start dying as an artiste. You should trust your instincts and go ahead with it. You are not here to do a job. You are a creative person. At the same time, I think the saddest day for Bollywood music would be the day when an album releases on which every song is a remake.”
Any piece of advice that he would like to share with young independent artistes? Badshah responds, “You know, when I made my first song, it was meant for me, as I had no audience and expectations. I just made it and put it out of my system. But it was after that song that people started liking my music. After that, I had an image, I had to live up to the expectations of people. That was when I found my constraints, even came across haters. But in no time I was working for Bollywood and this all started 12 years ago… What I want to tell budding musicians is: do what you feel like, but give it your best. Do it for yourself and not for anyone else.”