Love creating content for kids: Badshah

Born Aditya Prateek Singh Sisodia, rap-music composer and rapper Badshah changed the course of Hindi rapping in the industry and came into reckoning with his song Saturday Saturday (Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania).  In the last few years, he has made a name of himself by penning foot-tapping songs such as Kala Chashma, The Breakup Song, Baby ko Bass Pasand Hai, and several others which have become a staple at nightclubs, where countless groove to the rhythms of his rap. When asked what makes his songs tick, Badshah says that rapping is all about writing and it comes quite easily to him. But, he insists that rapping is no walk in the park and that it takes a lot of hard work and intelligence to pen a good rap song. “For a rapper, lyrics are very important, so is  the meter and multiset. A rapper is essentially a writer who brings in lyrics in his own way. Eminem knows the whole dictionary by heart,” says the 33-year-old. Badshah shares how rhyming, which is intrinsic to rap, poses a unique set of challenges when he says, “If you see, there is no word that essentially rhymes with orange, but if you break words, like Torheng – Orange, you can do something. There definitely are ways to improve your writing as a rapper.”

When asked where he draws inspiration from for his songs, Badshah reveals that a lot of it comes from everyday conversations and life. “I write what I say in my day-to-day conversation. For instance, Abhi toh party shuru hui hai is something that’s said as part of a conversation,” he points out.

Though rapping comes effortlessly to him, the rapper confesses that the same cannot be said about acting. He will soom make his debut in debutante director Shilpi Dasgupta’s untitled film. “I had a good team. It is more like, once you get hold of the character, it becomes easy. And if you don’t get it, then you are lost and won’t know what to do. I had to work hard to get hold of my character. Plus there are a lot of technicalities involved.”

The rapper was also busy working on his latest song for children, which was inspired by the animated cartoon Kicko & Super Speedo. He reveals that the song came easily to him since he loves kids, and so, he was in his element when writing it. “I love creating content for kids. I naturally end up doing kids’ favourites. It is my way of giving back the love. Whenever I go on shows, I have seen the love showered on me by children,” he reveals with a smile. The rapper also shares that he understands a child’s mindset and this helps him create content that would appeal to children. “They like easy things and I don’t do difficult things. I make easy content.  So I am somewhere in the same territory. I think like a kid and I make stuff like a kid,” he adds.

Having come a long way in the field of rapping, Badshah feels that Indian rap has changed a lot and that it is in a great space right now. “There was no rapper when I started. I was the only one doing it in my city. People, back in the day, wanted to become singers and now children want to become rappers. This tells you about where rap culture is right now. It is beautiful. It is growing and will continue to. We had a film made on gully rap,” he says with pride.

Badshah is currently busy penning his next single, but he assures us that he has something to drop this year too. When asked about tips for budding rappers, he says that it is not important to please everybody; rather, the key lies in being honest to your work.

“If there is conviction and you have put your heart into your work, it will reach everyone. Just be yourself, keep doing what you are doing. Get inspired, don’t be someone else,” he concludes.