This story is from November 7, 2012

Homegrown Honey Singhs, on the beat

Dibyajyoti Chaudhuri / TNN / Updated: Nov 7, 2012, 11:07 IST

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From rock bands to rap stars, city college-goers are excited about the more aggressive and assertive kind of music. It’s all about the attitude, they say

They walk with a swagger and make hand movements that might seem bizarre to the uninitiated. But that’s only till they start singing. Or, should we say, stylized recitation. Welcome to the world of rap!
The Kolkata college circuit, popular for its rock bands, has finally waken up to rap. From Eminem to Mike Shinoda and our homegrown Honey Singh, rap has found its niche among the city’s youth — both boys and girls.As we went around, scanning colleges in the city, we came across Divya Chaturvedi of Lady Brabourne College. She says, “I love all kinds of music but rap has a rhythm that gives me a kick. Not many people like it, but I do. I write rap songs too.” A huge fan of Mike Shinoda, her favourite song is In the end by Linkin Park.
But don’t parents prefer kids walking the time-tested route of classical or more conventional music? “My mom gets irritated sometimes with this ‘monotonous’ kind of music! yet, my parents are pretty cool about it and never impose their views on me. I’m not sure if rap has a future in our country but right now, I’m content in just following my heart, says Divya.
Sidharth, of Bhawanipur Education Society, had initially started off with rock. From Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit he gradually moved to Eminem. “I have performed rap in a lot of college fests and people have really liked it. Depending on the song, it takes me as long as a week to pick up the rap elements. I listen to a particular song when I’m driving, walking, and even surfing the net to get the beat right,” he explains.

Engineering student Budhaditya had started rapping because he couldn’t sing and thought it would be easier to rap. “Rap has a specific beat pattern. There’s no tune as such and a lot depends on the vocal expressions and the texture of one’s voice. It’s not an easy ball game as I realized,” he says. The first year kid further explains, “There’s new-age metal where songs are coupled with rap elements with a rap core... something on the lines of what Eminem does. Tougher raps like In the end and Papercut takes from three days to a

week to pick up,” Budhaditya adds. The ambitious kid is also experimenting and says just like the grunge rock of Nirvana, he is trying his hand at grunge rap.
While western rap has its takers, with performers like Honey Singh coming in, perspectives are changing for the better. “Rap is something for the youth and Honey Singh is my idol. I can relate to numbers like Brown rang and Hai mera dil. I find people who listen to western rap hardly care about the lyrics and only go for the music and the beats. But my friends really love the desi raps that I try,” says Tanvir Singh Sidhu, a student of St Xavier’s College. Desi groups like Bohemia and D-Soldiers are favourites of Sarvesh, a student of Army Institute of Management. “It’s aggressive music, much like the way we carry our ‘attitude’. Punjabi raps by Bohemia like Fakir and Paisa bol da by D-soldiers are really impressive. You should see the girls cheering when I get going with my rap,” he laughs.

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