Goan rapper, hip-hop artist, producer and singer-songwriter, Nathan Joseph Mendes aka Tsumyoki, can’t believe how his life has changed after winning the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Indian Local Act in November last year, beating the likes of Divine, Mali, When Chai Met Toast and Dee MC. He won the award for his song It’s Alright featuring Prophet Joegus. It would have been a proud moment for Tsumyoki to be at the 2023 MTV EMAs on 5th November in Paris, France, but due to the Israel-Hamas war, the event was cancelled.

From White Tee in 2019 to Daboij in 2021, an album from which the single Jackets made waves and got a great response from his growing fan base, to 2021 with his debut EP Way Too Messy, it is apparent that Tsumyoki (pronounced sue-ma-yoki), or simply Yoki, is an artist who is manifesting good music. Apart from his solo music, Tsumyoki is also one of the founding members of Goa Trap Culture (GTC) or GTC Crew. The band, best known for the album Daboij, includes artists Elttwo, 2jaym and Kidd Mange.

In June 2023, the 22-year-old released his fourth project A Message from The Moon. Tsumyoki was featured on Goan Insider’s 50 Most Influential People list two years ago. The Margao lad, who also plays the piano, guitar and ukulele, has been performing all over the country and has made a name for himself on the music circuit, gaining fans wherever he goes.

VERUS FERREIRA spoke with Tsumyoki about his new album, A Message From The Moon, and his musical journey.

How does it feel to win an MTV EMA?
It’s an indescribable feeling and a sign that my hard work is paying off. My mom started crying, and the fact that I was able to make her so proud of me will be one of my greatest achievements. It feels really good.

What qualities do you think put you on the top of other Indian rappers/hip-hop artists and made you what you are today?
My sound is very different and I’m very versatile. I go to very different genres and don’t hold myself back with regards to anything.

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Singaporean breakthrough artiste Yung Raja has been dubbed as Southeast Asia’s next avant-garde bilingual hip hop artiste. He is known for his tasteful unification of Western and Tamil culture in his lyrics.

Yung Raja migrated from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu to Singapore in 1992 where he did his Diploma in Mass Communications. His father, Rajid Ahamed, is a recognised poet in the Tamil diaspora community in Singapore and also taught Maths and Science as a college professor for 17 years in Chennai.

Rajnikanth was a pivotal influence in Yung Raja’s formative years which made him pursue a career in acting and feature in advertisements, TV series and movies. But it was because of the insistence of his friend and fellow Singaporean rapper Fariz Jabba that he got into music.

Yung Raja’s debut single was a remix of Gucci Gang by Lil Pump titled Poori Gang. But it was only when he was featured in an episode of the Malaysian hip-hop web series 16 Baris in 2018 that his career took off following the release of his debut single Mustafa. His second single, Mad Blessings, received commendation from Lupe Fiasco and M.I.A. and was the first English-Tamil song to be played on Malaysia’s leading Malay radio station, Era.

With two tracks in hand the rapper had already amassed over 3 million streams on Spotify and more than 3 million views on YouTube. Yung Raja has been lauded for his formidable command of English-Tamil rap. He began singing when he was just 20 years and today has worked with many brands, from BVLGARI and Gucci to Louis Vuitton, among others.

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Like many young girls, Svetha Yellapragada Rao’s life wasn’t in the strata she thought she was in. She wanted to do many things like any normal teen in the 2000’s, but it was difficult for a South Indian girl growing up in America.

Hip-hop queen Raja Kumari’s life story is as interesting as the singer. Trained in Indian classical dance, Bollywood was her window to learning about Indian culture in America. It’s no wonder that she did a cameo in the hit music drama Gully Boy. With numerous songs to her credit, albums, collaboration with various artists, movies, she recently released her latest song Made In India.

Verus Ferreira got chatting with the Grammy-nominated Indian-American singer-songwriter and rapper for her take on Made In India and on her musical journey from America to India.

You started off making hip-hop music infused with a classical Carnatic touch. Tell us more about this.
My entire childhood was spent studying classical Indian dance, so I was immersed in Carnatic music. I got to travel with an eight-piece Carnatic band; the veena player, flute, violin and a Carnatic singer. So, I think it forms the foundation of how I perceive rhythm, sound, and even art itself. So, yes, my music has a Carnatic touch.

While in America your music represented the Indian-American people. Who influenced you in doing this and what was your goal?
What influenced me to do this was the lack of representation. I think now you’re seeing so many Indian-American artists come to the forefront and I think they all came at the same time as me. The idea of beauty was blonde hair, blue eyes and everything. I think that the idea of beauty has shifted a lot. I always credit Kim Kardashian for making curvy brown, dark skin, dark hair, dark features for redefining beauty to accept that, because I think in part of that experience, I was able to see myself in things now, and more people that look like me are being cast. I wanted to see an Indian pop star who didn’t reject her culture and rather celebrated it.

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“I can’t touch you, so I had to wheel it out,” joked singer and host Kelly Clarkson at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards, while pushing a cart towards Post Malone that carried eight trophies. Post Malone was the big winner at the awards, taking home nine trophies including Top Artiste. The three-hour ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. While many artistes performed in person, there was no live audience due to Covid-19 restrictions. Malone also won Top Rap Artist, Top Male Artist and Top Rap Album.

The hip-hop star was born Austin Richard Post on 4 July 1995 and started playing guitar at the age of 14 because of the popular video game Guitar Hero. Malone was raised by his father, Rich, and his stepmother, Jodie. His father, a DJ in his youth, introduced Malone to different genres of music. When Malone was 9, the family moved from Syracuse, New York to Grapevine, Texas.

His first foray into professional music began when he was in a heavy metal band, later transitioning to soft rock as well as hip-hop, remembering the music his father had played to him as a youngster. Around this time, Malone decided to drop his long name and adopt a shorter more expressive one that many would remember. The name Post Malone was rumoured to be a reference to professional basketball player Karl Malone. While ‘Post’ was his last name he used a “rap name generator” to get ‘Malone’.

Malone cites American folk musician Bob Dylan as one of his musical influences in whom he became interested around the age of 15. Though what Malone raps and sings is totally different from what Dylan actually does. But Malone could be a Dylan fan as he has a tattoo of Dylan.

While at Grapevine High School, Malone created his mixtape Young And After Them Riches, which was well-received by his peers who voted him the “Most Likely to Become Famous”, a tag he initially dismissed, not knowing that a few years later, this would come true.

After moving to L.A., Post, Probst, and several other producers and artistes formed the music group BLCKVRD and recorded music together. With expenses mounting, the duo moved in with a few others to a small house in San Fernando Valley. Learning the ropes, Malone began to produce music through FL Studio. He started recording his own mixtape on Audacity when he was 16 years old and earned positive feedback from his classmates. After leaving college, he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he met the duo FK 1st (Trocon Markous Roberts, Jr., better known by his stage name 1st) and Raye Rich from FKi Music.

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Jaden Smith, the youngest son of Hollywood actor Will Smith, lives life a little differently, and so does his popular family. After all, when it comes to living the high life, no one does it better than Hollywood’s elite. Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, also known by the mononym Jaden, was thrust into the spotlight at a young age, and experienced fame and glamour from birth itself. Given that his parents are reportedly worth a combined $320 million, according to media reports, it’s no surprise Jaden has experienced all the finer things in life at a very young age and enjoyed it.

Born in Malibu, California, to actors Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, Jaden attended New Village Leadership Academy before being home-schooled by his parents. Jaden has an older half-brother, Trey Smith and a younger sister, Willow Smith. Growing up, he was fascinated by his parents’ film career and showed interest at a very young age to pursue it. But soon he realized that this took a toll on him when he was left all by himself when his actor parents were on work. He has spoken about this loneliness widely in the media.

Before fame could catch up with the Smith siblings, Jaden, his brother and sister were youth ambassadors for Project Zambi, which provides assistance in conjunction with Hasbro for Zambian children orphaned by the life-threatening disease AIDS.

Smitten by the film bug, Jaden made his major role debut in the 2006 film, The Pursuit of Happyness, for which he won an MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance in 2007. The same time along with Abigail Breslin, he presented two awards at the 2007 Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. In 2008, he appeared in the remake of the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still alongside Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly. In 2010, he starred in The Karate Kid opposite the legendary Jackie Chan.

With his father not only an actor but a singer and rapper, was music a career choice for Jaden to take up? Jaden knew only better as he considered his father, Will Smith, as an inspiration. He stated in an interview, “He started in music and transitioned to movies. I started with movies, and transitioned into making music, I look at him and use it as a blueprint of how good of a person he is, but not necessarily the success that he reached.” Will Smith is famous for the 1997 song Men In Black from the film of the same name and the funky up-tempo track Getting’ Jiggy With It. Thereafter Will Smith released four solo albums and almost a dozen albums with DJ Jazzy Jeff and other musicians.

In 2010, Jaden made a name for himself when he rapped alongside Justin Bieber on the song Never Say Never, a song that peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified 5× platinum in the U.S. on 1 October 2012, Jaden released his debut mixtape, The Cool Café, and a sequel to The Cool Café on 8 November 2014, titled CTV 2.

With a lot of music in his kitty, Jaden started work on his debut studio album in 2014, which finally saw a release to much fanfare. He named it Syre (taken from his middle name) with a lead single of the same name, followed by three more singles, Batman, Watch Me and Falcon.

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Bespectacled rapper Emiway Bantai, whose original name is Bilal Shaikh (born 13 November 1995), is one of the very few music artists in India to have catapulted into superstardom solely with the use of social media. His stage name is a combination of the names of rappers Eminem and Lil Wayne, i.e., Emi + Way.

The story goes that one day when Emiway was in class 10, he heard a classmate singing Eminem’s 2010 track Not Afraid. Emiway liked the song, but didn’t know anything about the artist and the music. Back home, he looked up the song and within a matter of days got to know more about rap music and about Eminem. Ever since then Emiway has considered Eminem as his idol and started singing the songs of the American rapper. His friends liked what he was doing and were surprised that he had mastered Not Afraid verbatim. From school to college, his singing was appreciated by his friends who encouraged him to write his own songs. He released his first English song Glint Lock (2013) that has licks of Eminem in it which was well received. With time he was advised to rap in Hindi and from then on it’s been his success story.

Bantai rose to fame with his first hit single Aur Bantai in 2014. Bantai’s singles have crossed millions of views on YouTube garnering fans from all across the country. His packed gigs continue to generate hysteria among attendees every single time. His streaming numbers are shooting through the roof and he is the only artist to have won the Best Hip-Hop Artist (People’s Choice) Award at Radio City Freedom Awards three years in a row (2017-2019), this year winning for Jump Kar. He also has a fab music video shot in the beautiful countryside of the North East titled Dhyan De (where he fits in as many words as he could) and Skrrt Karenge, where the rapper showcases his versatility as an artist.

The 24-year-old hip-hop YouTube sensation and independent rap artist is also seen alongside Ranveer Singh in the movie Gully Boy celebrating the real rappers of our country.

Rising starlet Celina Sharma teamed up with Bantai for her debut single Lean On, a track that weaves Celina’s taste for house-influenced pop with Emiway’s unique lyrical stylings to create a song that mixes influences from both Western music and Celina’s Indian heritage.

Emiway’s latest single Machayenge is an anthem for those who want to have the time of their lives. Equipped with his signature wit and quirkiness, Machayenge is a fun song with a pleasant, beachy vibe. Enjoying more than 2 million followers across social media platforms, its quirky beat carries the local flavours of the Indian rap community.

When rap superstar Wiz Khalifa brought his thunderous two-city Sunburn Arena showcase to India in September 2019, Emiway had the audience in Mumbai on its feet before Khalifa took to the stage.

With his lyrical dominance, dynamic flow and organic reach, the Bengaluru-born native, now based in Mumbai, is ready to make a global impact.

VERUS FERREIRA spoke with Emiway about his zooming career graph, his music and his recent win at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

How did you get into music?
I first heard Eminem’s track Not Afraid when I was in 10th grade and was immediately hooked. Music is my fuel.

What have you done academically?
I have studied till 12th standard. Flunked it. I was always a backbencher and an introvert. My initial plan was to become a doctor, but today I’m glad that it didn’t work out.

Is anyone in your family into music?
No. But they appreciate good music; have listened to a lot of Hindi music. They now follow hip-hop too.

One rapper you would like to collaborate with.
There are many. But collaboration with Eminem would go to insane levels.

Would you agree that Eminem is the rap god across the world?
Without a doubt.

What’s the inspiration behind Machayenge?
My songs are inspired from real life, real words, feelings and quirks. Machayenge came about as a fun track. It calls out to all the listeners who want to have a blast of a time. It is Bantai’s way of partying and having a gala time.

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One of the many songs trending in India is Maroon 5’s Girl Like You, a song that makes you dizzy, not only for its melodic tone, but for its video with its rotating motion featuring over a dozen women including our very own Lilly Singh and Cardi B, our artiste this month.

Although we know her as Cardi B, she was born Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar on 11 October 1992. The names are Spanish translations of Arabic words. Belcalis is thought to reference the Queen of Sheba, while Almanzar from the Arabic “al mandhar”, translates to “lookout point” or “watchtower.”

When a talk show host asked where she got her professional name from, Cardi B responded with “Bacardi” (a famous rum brand). But that was not the only reason; her sister is named Hennessy Carolina, referencing the famous cognac (French brandy) brand. The name Bacardi stuck and was finally shortened to Cardi B.

The rapper’s mother and father come from Trinidad and the Dominican Republic, respectively. Being raised by two working parents in Highbridge, South Bronx, a predominantly Latino neighborhood, she grew up surrounded by multicultural influences. Cardi B is Catholic and claims to have a strong relationship with God, often saying that she directly communicates with God in times of trouble and when she needs guidance.

As a youth, Cardi attended Renaissance High School for Musical Theater & Technology, a vocational high school. During her teenage years she was employed as a cashier at a supermarket and later on as a bar girl at the age of 19. She took up the job due to her poor financial state; it gave her the satisfaction that she could fend for herself. But with that, her college life suffered. Her idea to join college was to achieve something bigger and better in life. But a change in plan was in order and she dropped out of college in search of fame.

In November 2015, Cardi B made her musical debut on Jamaican reggae fusion singer Shaggy’s single Boom Boom, alongside Jamaican dancehall singer Popcaan. She also appeared in Farruko’s music video ChapiChapi alongside Messiah. Soon, she was invited to co-host Uncommon Sense, a MTV2 production with famous RJ Charlamagne the God. She landed a special appearance on Revolt TV, wherein the audience got a glimpse of her personal life. She was also applauded for her DVD I Am: Cardi B. Since then, Cardi headed in just one direction — towards fame and fortune.

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SONY DADC (CD + DVD), Rs 699

Beyoncé’s sixth studio album and her second visual album features 12 new songs and a short film Lemonade that has music videos of her songs. The lyrics, contributed by many guest writers, make bold lyrical statements in the audio version as well as in the accompanying DVD. The album booklet has colour and black and white photographs from the music videos and a few personal photographs. This conceptual project has lyrics that dwell on the black community, and in particular black feminism, besides also focusing on every woman’s journey of self knowledge and healing.

The R&B sound laced with a bit of soul is well orchestrated, lyrically and musically. The album opens on a slow tone with Pray You Catch Me. “I can taste the dishonesty, it’s all over your breath…” sings Beyoncé as she deals with an unfaithful lover. Hit of the year, Hold Up, a reggae-tinged number, sees Beyoncé as a woman possessed, marking the territory around her lover, the music video would reveal more about what she does on a street with her baseball bat. With a heavy bass beat, the effect is hallucinogenic, with a deep baseline. The melodic Jack White collaboration, Don’t Hurt Yourself, is pop-laced with a few foul lyrics spoken in a moment of rage. Sorry gets up-tempo and then suddenly drops back and jumps back to keep the flow of the song. It could become one of the better club anthems on the party circuit. Daddy Lessons has a brass edge to it, with Beyoncé talking about how her father brought her up, helping her fight for justice for the men in her life. The acoustic guitar playing country style is neat and plucky, shadowing her roots from her homeland. The pitch slows down slightly on Love Drought and the fantastic piano-laced Sandcastles, both of which are fine ballads, with Sandcastles in particular bringing out Beyonce’s rich vocal capability. It has a raw feeling to it, very emotional and personal.

After an 80 second break on Forward, we get Freedom, featuring Kendrick Lamar, which speaks of a cry for liberation. Bey goes ballistic on this piece with a shout for freedom.

Lemonade closes with Formation, a funky piece that has kinky lyrics, a heavy baseline and an unforgettable beat. It is very infectious and surely a tune that might never get out of your head.

At her most benevolent and most unadulterated, the album presents Bey at her most skilled and orchestral mode creating a mix of crazy anthems which all goes to make a great album.

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UNIVERSAL MUSIC, Rs 395

This is the 22nd installment of the best-selling series of Grammy nominees. This set features 21 hits from Grammy-nominated superstars and the hottest emerging talent. The line-up might include a few toppers which you might chill out with to a few not-so-happening tracks by new artists, but it’s worth listening to all for who knows where these same artists would be in a few years’ time. By now you already know who won, but let’s rundown the ones who matter.

Uptown Funk, Blank Space, Thinking Out Loud and Lips Are Moving represent the best in pop music from artists like Mark Ronson, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Meghan Trainor who all won in their respective categories.

Wiz Khalifa rap on See You Again is impressive on this beautiful tribute to the late Paul Walker. Can’t Feel My Face is the best dance song of the year and The Weeknd certainly deserves a pat on the back for bringing such a heavy groove to it. With his soft vocals, James Bay had stiff competition from his peers in Best New Artist, but sadly lost out even though his song Hold Back The River is the most uplifting song playing on the channels now. His album has good moments that fit well in the sentis category. Girl Crush by Little Big Town is what it says and is a pretty neat piece to rewind to. Newcomer to the industry Sam Hunt’s Take Your Time is a topper and has very infectious lyrics to go with it.

The other artists that make an appearance on this CD include Alabama Shakes, Maroon 5, Florence + The Machine, D’Angelo and the Vanguard, Kendrick Lamar, Chris Stapleton, Tori Kelly, Courtney Barnett, Carrie Underwood, Cam, Lee Ann Womack and Keith Urban.

This compilation brings together the best in the music industry from all music labels, but it would be wise to release this type of a compilation a month before the awards ceremony so that those who want a copy can lay their hands on it before the awards are announced. As for this CD, the release was three days before the 58th Grammy Awards. Production or copyright issues, music lovers should get the release in their hands early, that’s the only way to keep everyone guessing which artist is going to take the Grammy home in each of the main categories.

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