Chennai-born rapper, Blaaze , wears many hats and has closely worked with music maestro AR Rahman. Expresso tunes in to his latest song dedicated to Namma Chennai.
Inspiration
The song is about the origin of my name, Lakshmi Narasimha Vijaya Rajagopala Sheshadri Sharma Rajesh Raman, and how its meaning is related in every aspect to Chennai. It is dedicated to my ancestors.
Composing
The tune and the lyrics happened simultaneously. I had a thought, a message and so I put it on paper and added a beat and recorded it. We have also shot a video for it, which has been directed by Yugander VV.
The song
The idea is to hold on to the identity of ‘Blaaze’, but in a sincere way. It’s actually the name Lakshmi Narasimha, which forms the foundation of the song. It reflects the beauty of Chennai from Mylapore to Anna Nagar. It is about my journey expressed in a reggae flow.
Working with AR Rahman
It’s always a magical experience working on songs with AR Rahman. It’s a new thought, a reinvention every time. We all must do our bit to give back to the society. For us it’s been through music. With rap and reggae, the original intent was always to bring awareness and sing about issues, and it’s a blessing to keep singing and writing about things that matter.
Chennai roots
I was born in Abhiramapuram, but grew up in Zambia and that made my longing for home much stronger. The Sivan temple in Triplicane, the bank of Anjanneyar temple, the Kodi Puliar Kovil, Devi Cinemas, Kaijayanthi Bhavan, to the butter biscuit guy at the corner of the street — everything is special. The Marina beach was my favourite holiday spot as a kid.
Would love to
Bring awareness to the world that this is the land of Thiruvalluvar’s greatest works relevant even today, and spread the Thirukurral everywhere, starting from this city which is my foundation, my birth, my future.
The song will break on Radio One on Madras Day. It has been performed in Tamil and English and is a fine blend of rap, reggae and hip-hop and goes up to about four minutes.