Excerpts from a zoom tutorial on hip-hop from one of india’s biggest rap artists - Raftaar
From small pockets of the country to nationwide collaborations and record-breaking deals, the Hindi hip-hop scene continues to swell at a furious pace. Artists hungry to represent the next voice of their generation are met with voracious crowds demanding lyrics of truths and wars of words. The millennial genre of Latin beats-inspired Punjabi pop that contains two-minute autotuned solos with simplistic (and often empty) rhymes seems to be approaching its chapter 25. Even though 2019’s Gully Boy brought Hindi rap a bucket load of limelight, there is still a lot bubbling under the surface.
Raftaar was born Dilin Nair and christened himself Max during his days as a Delhi circuit dancer.Styling: Aviksha Shirtadi; make-up: Swapnil Haldankar; hair: Tejji and Waris Ali. On Raftaar: Sunglasses, The Monk(Rahul Jhangiani)
Raftaar is a hardcore fan of Eminem. Shirt, Versace (Rahul Jhangiani)
“I come from humble origins. My dad was a cleaner at train sheds and my mother was a typist.”
“If you give in to the ego, ‘diss tracks’ can divide the hip-hop and music fraternity”
An only child, Raftaar grew up dancing to Michael Jackson with his mother. Jacket and pants, Toffle; sunglasses, Louis Vuitton (Rahul Jhangiani )
“I want people to acknowledge the fact that I am a Malayali”
‘‘I would never ask someone else to write my lyrics for me”
“It’s very important that the emotion and the expression are both mine... rapper’s first point is about the truth”
Raftaar says, these days social media really helps musicians. Jacket, Vintage Store Collection (Rahul Jhangiani)
“I got into trouble once for not bringing my teachers a small gift for teachers’ day. My parents stood up for me, saying a true teacher doesn’t need a gift.”
