As an artiste, I still haven’t done much: Badshah

By Durga Chakravarty

New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS) With a discography full of hits like "Dhup Chik", "Abhi toh party shuru hui hai", "Selfie le le re", "Kar gai chull" and "Tamma tamma again" among many others, rapper Badshah, who has been in the Bollywood music industry for over four years, says as an artiste he still feels he hasn't done much.

Badshah has crooned for films starring celebrities like Salman Khan, Varun Dhawan, Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kapoor among many others.

Does he feel he has achieved it all, Badshah told IANS over phone from Mumbai: "I don't think I have (even) started yet. I think people have just been very kind to me by putting my songs in their films... I think I have a bigger picture in mind. I think that as an artiste I still haven't done much... I don't think I have even begun."

Badshah, whose real name is Aditya Singh, started out with singles but it was in 2014 he ventured into Bollywood with "Dhup chik" from the film "Fugly".

Does he find his music more evolved since 2014?

"I think it has evolved and I think it keeps on evolving everyday. I think with experience comes the evolution and I have been blessed to have experienced a lot of things...I have learnt a lot and that's what I try to implement in my sound," said the rapper.

Badshah will collaborate with American electronic music trio Major Lazer as part of a new campaign -- Tuborg OPEN, a global collaborative music platform, which will see the star producers travel on a journey of musical and cultural discovery.

Several international talents like Akon, Diplo, Snoop Dogg, Big Mountain and The Vamps among many others have collaborated with Indian talents.

The rapper says collaborations are exciting and necessary for the current music scene in the country.

"It's always exciting to see different talents coming together. It's like a 'jugalbandi' on stage...I bring my own sound, style and Major Lazer brings their own sound and style. It's an experiment. Also it's necessary because music is being consumed at such a pace these days because of easy availability of the internet -- whether it's streaming sites or YouTube," he said.

Badshah feels it is an opportunity to bring out a new sound altogether.

He also agrees that such collaborations give mileage to the music and a wider audience to the artiste.

Badshah describes his upcoming untitled song with Major Lazer as "fun and young".

Will the song have an Indian touch to it?

"What I have done is entirely Indian. Even my verses are in Hindi. I was very careful not to give into the English and international thing. I really wanted to represent India and it was an opportunity for me to represent my creative identity," said the "Proper patola" rapper.

(Durga Chakravarty can be contacted at durga.c@ians.in)