Armenian rapper Super Sako, who shot to fame for his 2016 hit song “Mi Gna”, enthralled the audiences with his power-packed performance on 31 March at Samrat Hotel, Delhi. The show that marked the rapper’s first ever performance in India was presented in association with Drama, an exclusive nightclub pop-up company in partnership with FFF and Stanley Communications.
As we caught up with him before the show, he told Guardian 20 how he would love to experience the culture and try different cuisines of India. He said, “India has always been on my list for places to visit. I love the culture, the music, and the dances. I am really thrilled to visit the country of love and a country full of people—all belonging to different cultures and backgrounds and yet are so loving and considerate for each other. I am really looking forward to experiencing all the well-known things here, especially the Indian cuisine.”
Luxury nightclub pop-ups are a fairly new concept in the country that are all about revolutionising the nightclub experience for the party lovers. On the novel concept, Super Sako said, “I like pop-ups. I think with today’s culture, pop-ups are something new and exciting. From pop-up shops by renowned designers to pop-up food places by food vendors, the pop-up culture is catching up everywhere. India is also growing at a really fast pace these days. Pop-ups are always interesting and fascinating in comparison to other clichéd concepts. The pop-up concept makes for a captivating experience.”
Having grown up with a passion for music and with a “musical family background”, the rapper had an early start to his music career. He told us, “As far as I can remember, I always had a love for music which helped me start my career on similar lines. When I decided to turn my passion into my career, great things started happening and I started doing my own songs. People even started liking those. I even come from a musical background, so that helped me in developing my career, too.”
Super Sako, whose early music influences have been 2pac, Spice1, DJ Quik, and Biggie, described his style of music as, “I am a rapper. That’s what my identity is and that’s what I want the world to recognise me as.”
The song “Mi Gna” that made waves internationally and got him global recognition in 2016 has been viewed more than 155 million times on YouTube. When we asked him if he expected that kind of reaction, he told us, “It has been an overwhelming response. This has been a milestone in my career. I am extremely grateful for the love I have received all over the world. The past month I have been on a world tour, exploring different cultures and it is amazing to see how the music that I made is on chartbusters everywhere.”
After the huge success of the track, Super Sako released the remix of his famous single “Mi Gna” in collaboration with Maître GIMS under the production of Sony Universal in January 2018. It clocked an incredible 38.8 million views in less than two months. The song became an unstoppable sensation in Europe, entering the French Singles Chart at #7, Belgian Ultratop Wallonia Chart at #38 and peaked at #8 on the Belgian Wallonia Urban Top 50 Chart. The song has won two platinums and is one of the most played soundtracks across the world.
The singer also talked about his love for all kinds of music. About his favourite genre of music, he said, “Being a musician, I love all kinds of music. It just basically depends on my mood, whichever music tune I would want to listen to at a particular time. I am even a really huge fan of Indian music and I am really impressed by how Indian musicians have also taken a step forward and are doing really well.”
During the interaction, the rapper also opened up about his wish to collaborate with some Indian musicians in the future. His personal favourites are Hard Kaur, Arko Mukherjee, and Neha Bhasin. He said, “Indian musicians are getting famous and renowned all over the world these days and I am really happy to see them growing and getting recognition internationally.”
The rapper also shared with us that he is looking forward to “exploring the music industry in India” and is hopeful to “make this tour count”.
Super Sako is overwhelmed by the growth of R&B and hip-hop genres. On the current trends among music lovers, he said, “People are moving away from pre-recorded music to live music, concerts etc., which gives R&B and hip-hop a strong push. People are now ready to explore new artistes and new genres
of music.”
Excited about his future projects, Super Sako told us, “I am working on a lot of new music, with different bands. And I am looking forward to working with an Indian artiste because Indian artistes are full of hidden talents and I would love to explore a different genre of music with an amazing Indian artiste.”