Music is my favourite thing in the world. All kinds! Rock n’ roll, Metal, Pop, not so much Rap, except of course Eminem. Everyone listens to the Slim Shady as a kid, and really, that’s as little as I know about rap.

I met an interesting Jaipur Rapper, Ritansh, who is, thankfully, very different from the kinda rap I come across on the radio.

“Excuse me Miss, kis kis kis kiss se tu bhaagi gi
Hun bach bach ke, tenu rab ne husn ditta rajj rajj ke”

“Excuse me miss, how many kisses are you going to run from,
Trying to escape. God has been generous in granting you beauty.”

“Urre aa tenu ik gal samjhawan, maade purje nu kade hath main na paawan
Vaise taan mitran da bahut vadda score but white chicks na
I don’t like them anymore, bann mitran di whore
I mean mitran di ho”

“Come here, let me explain something to you, I never touch anything sub-standard.
By the way, I’ve scored many times, but only with white chicks.
I don’t like them anymore, come be my whore.
I mean be mine, ho^^^”

Ritansh recently released his song “Holi hai” together with band “Motorcycle Shayaries”. Through the song, he stresses on the hypocrisy and social evils of our country. He talks of inequality, our obsession with fairness, the taboos. Here are a few lines from his song:

Rooh ka Nikhaar hum bhool gaye, bas pot te apna face hain,
Yahaan rang bhed ka craze hai, ye Fair & Lovely ka des hai,

Sex nahi humari sanskriti, kehta hai dharm ka rakhwaala,
To Americans ne likhi thi kya Bharat me aake Kamasutra?
Kabhi Ban karte sex education, kabhi ban karte sex tape hain.
Haan Sex nahi humaari sanskriti, humari sanskriti to Rape hai.

To khoon se bani rangoli hai, par bura na maano Holi hai!

Wow. Mind = Blown

Fun fact. Ritansh has voluntarily picked his last name. He calls himself Ritansh Azad.

Me: You chose the genre, rap. Any specific reasons?

Ritansh: Long story! For starters, you can call me the Angry Young Man. I flunked my 12th standard, which somewhat pushed me towards depression. My Psychiatrist told me to write how I feel. And then I discovered that I was a poet, and having a heavy influence of Rage Against The Machines, Eminem (of course), Atmosphere, and others, I decided that I wanted to rap.

Me: Rap is infamous for foul mouthing women. How did you not fall into that trap?

Ritansh: I’ve been raised by strong women, and that enforced my mentality positively. So the thought of writing such lyrics didn’t come naturally. I was reading about rape, and did you know, science says that 90% of rapists have been sexually harassed as children?

Me: In the Indian society, men have the mental pressure of being the ‘breadwinner’ of the family. And a struggling artist doesn’t pay off well in the beginning. Am I right?

Ritansh: It was hard. Subsequently, we’ve started earning through gigs. Fortunately, my family have been supporting me since the very beginning. On the other hand, I don’t bother myself listening to the demoralizing comments. I can choose what I wish to hear.

Me: You call your band ‘Motorcycle Shayaries’. What does it mean?

Ritansh: The revolutionist Che Guevera of Cuba wrote a book about his journey called “Motorcycle Diaries”. It inspired us immensely, and my lyrics are always written in a shayari format. So, Motorcycle Shayaries.

Me: Tell me a little about the song “Holi Hai”.

Ritansh: I’ve been writing social issue based raps for a long time now. My previous songs reflect a great amount of anger. However, seeing a (slow) positive change in the society has inspired me to write a satire this time.

Me: Interesting. Tell me more about your band and its members.

Ritansh: Siddharth Rathore makes the music, earlier my brother, Ritagya, who passed away two years ago, used to compose the music.

Me: What had happened?

Ritansh: He was only eighteen, and he met with an accident. There are a few songs that he’s written with me, and he’ll continue to live on forever in my inspiration. *smiles*

Me: Are you receiving a good response on your song?

Ritansh: Yes, it’s also letting us know that people can relate to our music. Now, we want to add the element of Rock music to the rap. In fact, our upcoming song Bachpan versus Internet has an Old School feel to it. We’re calling the genre Rap n Roll.

Me: Already interested! Let’s hear it?

Ritansh made us listen to his song, and we heard him sing ‘Holi hai’ LIVE! You can check it out below. The song is going viral already!