Now is the best time to be an artiste in India, says Brodha V

Bengaluru-based rapper Brodha V’s latest single Hengaithe Maige is what he calls the beginning of many singles and collaborations that he has planned for the year. He talks to us about the growth of rappers in the country, as well as about his journey. Excerpts from the interview that you can also watch online:
‘My track shows that you don’t need to understand the lyrics to vibe to the music’
‘Hengaithe Maige’ is a Kannada phrase often used before a fight. I wanted to convey, ‘I’m confident, so what about you?’ I aimed for a chill, laid-back feel, using the phrase in that spirit. Even those who don’t fully understand the lyrics are vibing. I use relatable phrases; it’s a personal touch because many people automatically connect with them. I also like creating multilingual songs. I believe a different sound and tonality resonates with specific regions. If I have an idea, I go the extra mile to realise it. I speak and can write in a few languages. For those I’m less fluent in, I collaborate with people who can help me.
‘When I began, there was no such thing as a rap or hip-hop culture’
The video of Hengaithe Maige features the likes of Danish Sait, Raghu, Vickypedia, Rahul Ditto, and MC Bijju – all big names in the content creation space in Bengaluru. I just hit them up and asked if they would do that one line in my video and everybody was on board. That added so much more value to the video. Back in time when I began my career as a rapper, there was no such thing as rap or hip-hop culture. There was only rock and pop at that time. We started with a very small underground rap scene. We made demos and released them for free on the internet. Even 10k hits or views on a song or video was a big deal for us then. We slowly started getting a couple of shows, where we could perform for a few minutes before a corporate event or at small clubs. A couple of newspaper articles got people interested in this rap scene. I was then approached by movie and advertising people to write for them. That is when I began to get paid for it. While rap is still a small scene here, it is booming. Everybody wants to collaborate. It works out for a small scene to boom when more people come together to collaborate. India is doing great in this space, some so many artistes are getting into music today. The biggest challenge right now is for more people to be accepting of art and music, especially within households that continue to believe pursuing arts is not a good enough career move. Today, everybody is a content creator, everybody is an artiste, and everyone is making good money too.

'Hustling is the only way for you to get recognition’
As far as hustling is concerned, I think the message is the same today, yesterday, or even tomorrow. You’ve got to work hard, love what you do, be passionate about what you do, and always be very confident in the work that you put out, believe in yourself, and always be the biggest fan of what it is that you do. If you don’t like your stuff, and if you are not a fan of your own work, that energy kind of exudes, and people will see it and not be able to relate to you. Sure, there can be self-doubt, but you can’t live in doubt and expect to be an artiste. Artistes need to own that confidence. More creative things come out that way. The internet is a free market. And today, everybody has access to social media. The first step toward being successful is to give it a try.

‘This is the best time for artistes to create & connect’
Today, everybody is a fan of music; everybody is a fan of movies as well. People know when to pick what, how to look for a particular kind of music or a particular artiste; they know where to look for the music they like. For an artiste, it is therefore one of the best times to really be able to express yourself creatively, and also to be able to connect directly with an audience.
‘I knew that if I had to be known, I had to put my face out there’
Earlier, for an artiste to be a successful singer, you had to be a playback singer or a niche classical or folk singer. Playback singers would get recognition only if there was a big, popular actor mouthing those lyrics on screen — that is the only way a singer got his or her break. As a rap artiste, I knew that was not going to happen in movies, because rap isn’t mainstream. Not every song needs rap in it, and not every movie is going to have rap. So, my scope of work in the film industry is already very limited. I knew that if I had to be known and recognisable, I had to put my face out there; I had to make my music videos to connect with my own fan base or even create one. Just like an actor becomes a superstar by being seen over and over again, doing movies, ads, and everything, I felt I had to do the same thing with
music. But instead of TV or screen, I had to use the platforms accessible to me — like the internet and other social media platforms. That is what all independent musicians started doing.