Hip-hop community needs to be self-reliant: RaOol
Music director, rapper and lyricist RaOol enjoys the status of being the only Gujarati rapper to have forayed into the Indian music industry. Raised in Australia, the UK-based artiste of Indian descent has contributed in films such as Housefull 3 (2016) and Tum Bin 2 (2016), but says that’s not something he wants to focus on.
“I loved working on both the films, and teaching Dwayne ‘DJ’ Bravo how to rap a Hindi verse I wrote for him was super dope,” he says and continues, “But I write from my personal experiences and thrive on that freedom creatively. So, working on specific scenes or narrations is something I can do, but it’s not something I prioritise.”
On how he looks at the present Indian music scene, RaOol, whose singles include Thoda Bing Thoda Bang, Kem Cho, Desi Girls Do It Better and Swag Beta Swag, says, “The re-emergence of the Indian independent scene is exciting, especially for hip-hop. Wherever you look, there are already signs of a thriving hip-hop community, incorporating all three pillars — rap, graffiti and street dancing.”
The singer, who recently launched his debut, fourtracked Gujarati EP titled Gujarat Stand Up, goes on to add,
“Waiting for Bollywood bigwigs to pay us some attention is a mistake, they treat all music like a fad and it belongs to no one. As a hip-hop community, we need to be self-reliant with our content creation and be a business on our own. It’s most rewarding because ultimately you build a direct relationship with the fans cutting out the middlemen.”