KOCHI: Pambaram kanakkinu karangi karangi njan
Pambaram kanakkinu kirungi kirungi njan...
If these lines make your head bob or bring a nostalgic smile, you’ve already been swept into the whirlwind of Pambaram, one of the popular creations by Street Academics — a name that existed long before hip-hop became a movement in Kerala.
In 2009, three rap lovers — Rajeev Maniyan (aka Rjv Ernesto aka Pakarcha Vyadhi), Haris Saleem (Maapla), and Amjad Nadeem Sharafath (Azuran) — connected through social media to form Kerala’s first bilingual hip-hop collective. What began as a passion for slam poetry quickly evolved into a music revolution. They were later joined by dynamic talents like Arjjun Menon (Imbachi), Shamnas Shajahan (Kalla Sha), and Akhil Joshy (Lucid), completing the powerhouse crew.
Street Academics blends politics, philosophy, and poetry with their signature folktronica style to craft music that communicates to the Malayali audience. Their tracks feature a mix of Malayalam, Tamil, and English.
The collective made their mark in the underground scene with Loop, their debut album, and gained recognition for iconic tracks like Pathiye, Vandi Puncture, Kalapila, Chatha Kakka, and Pambaram.
Team TNIE sat down for a chat with Street Academics on the sidelines of the recent International Independent Music Festival in Kovalam.
Excerpts
You entered the alternative hip-hop scene much before the genre exploded in Kerala. How was the journey?
Amjad (aka Azuran): We started off as an online group. The ecosystem back then was not conducive for meet-ups… there was no notable hip-hop scene. We began collaborating via online platforms such as Orkut and MySpace.
Arjjun (aka Imbachi): I joined them as a fanboy. [Rapper] Divine was part of the group before he became popular. There used to be online battle rap. Instead of battling with vocal rapping, guys used to send two-line texts. That’s how it all started.
Who were the oldest members?
Amjad: Dr Haris Saleem (aka Maapla)... Rajeevan (aka Pakarcha Vyadhi). Rajeevan [Rjv] is the one who started Street Academics. It’s been a 14-year-long journey of making music and it has been a good one. The scene right now is vastly different.
Did you guys expect hip-hop to become big here?
Amjad: There was no such thought. We didn’t start making music because we thought this would eventually catch up with the masses. The idea was to just make music and have fun with it.
What was the public reception initially? Especially considering that Kerala is a place where music is dominated by traditional forms such as Carnatic…
Amjad: That is the reason the genre took over 15 years to get recognised. Had it been a different setup, it would have just taken a year or two before people realised that this [rapping] was a legit artform.
It’s slowly picking up pace, getting the attention it deserves. And we are able to make a livelihood out of this! It is not something we could have thought of saying 10 years ago. Hip-hop is being considered as a happening genre right now. It is getting recognition via cinema as well. Earlier hip-hop tracks were viewed as an oddity; now, adding one has become a norm for films.
We had to sacrifice some years for it, but we are happy that the upcoming generations can capitalise on the genre’s acceptance and success.
Did you guys face opposition while starting off?
Amjad: Our first video that garnered attention was ‘Vandi Puncture’. It was a silly song. Harris and I made the song while sitting on the beach and having peanuts. When we recorded it on the same day and put it out, we were showered with abuses.
Today, I watched a rapper’s video on Instagram, and I saw the same sort of comments under it. There are still people who do not really understand what this artform is about. But there is progress.
Amjad: We noticed disdain from people when we sang in a conversational style. It took some time for them to realise our style.
We later came out with lyrical songs. But that did not get much attention. It was a paradoxical situation.
We tried to embrace the conservative mindset, and not break away from it. We focused on building something on top of it. That is the spirit of hip-hop. That is how something beautiful is created.
Does this line of thinking rest somewhere hidden in the Kerala psyche?
Amjad: I strongly believe that all art forms should come from a place called humanity. There has to be a reason for it to happen. The catalyst could be a need for change. Africans have a rhythm of their own, they are very groovy. Malayalis also have it.
Could you elaborate?
Amjad: Hip-hop/rap is very close to Kunjan Nambiar’s social commentary/satire. It [rap] may have become more colloquial. But the spirit has not changed much.
Does rap have a disciplinary structure?
Amjad: To a layperson, rap is just words over a beat. But there are technicalities. It has a flow. If I write a flow anybody can mimic it. The talent lies in writing the flow. Flow, delivery, rhyme schemes, internal rhymes, multi rhymes… all these matter. People abroad discuss these things. We have not reached that stage.
How does one come up with poetry metaphors, double entendre…?
Amjad: It is more of a feeling, which can’t be taught. But there is a method to madness; it is not just chaos.
Rap, standup comedy are things that can’t be taught…
Akhil: Yes, absolutely right. Standup comedy is a good comparison.
The history of rap shows that it was primarily used as a form of protests, like the Black Americans…
Amjad: It might appear that we don’t have much to protest against. Yet, we do have problems. We were enslaved once and still are to certain assumptions and behaviour patterns. So, the rebellion could be against that as well. Rap is an artform coming from that state of mind. I think our expression is more about freedom and the right to be. There will be rebellion; rap does have a ground.
Besides protest, what else fuels the rap’s popularity?
Amjad: I think talking about unique perspectives. Take for example Sha. He has coloured his hair. I have tattoos . In fact, all of us have tattoos. We are heavily tattooed. These are all things that are still frowned upon. When we think in that angle, this is a form of protest. We are embodying our life or living through our songs. We talk about all of this. We have heavily spoken about social matters. We do have problems. We have a caste system, religious issues, and some other problems peculiar to India.
Speaking of social criticism, is deviating mandatory for artists?
Amjad: Birds of the same feather flock together. There is a reason we are together. It is not that we deliberately deviated from a mainstream path. We found each other on that path. We see our music as a mode of self-expression. We share the same vision and so ganged up. That does not mean each one is not unique.
Arjjun: For instance, we have Haris, who has no tattoos; he’s a very religious person. Also, Rjv [who does not have a single tattoo].
Is this ‘deviation’ reducing the value of music?
Amjad: The answer to this is multilayered. At the surface level, who decides what is acceptable and what is not? It is a matter of perspective. Second, in the current scenario, some rappers are getting more money than playback singers. If rap has less value, we won’t be getting much money. Actually, there should be some research to find out how much money is invested in this, and how much people are making. Right now, hip-hop has a lot of value in Malayalam music.
So, you believe Kerala society has evolved to celebrate hip-hop?
Amjad: Half of the people now think they should be on the bandwagon. They think they would be mocked if they don’t fall in line. Hip-hop is all about expression and rhythm, which has got a primal nature to it. So, people relate to it. You don’t need to learn the ragas to rap. But you need to do it authentically.
How is the making process of hip-hop?
Amjad: Countless ways. One can write lyrics randomly and make a song. Or, make a beat and write lyrics to match it. Then there is an ‘automatic’ process where you don’t go looking for it – it just happens. This is the process behind all the good songs. It’s something organic, and stands out.
Pambaram was such an organic track. We jam at least once a week. We put together everyone’s inputs. Each of us brings their own flavour. The hip-hop process is different from band culture. There is no cover rapper and we write our own lyrics.
Akhil (aka Lucid): I always look for the feeling, the authenticity. Be real. If you’re not real, it shows.
Arjjun: It’s interesting because sometimes you force yourself to write, and sometimes something organic just comes out. Both approaches can produce good results. As said, Pambaram was made very organically. In hip-hop, the focus is always on the words and lyrics. You can’t just catch the rhythm and sing like you would in conventional music. (Sings a bit of the song)
‘Sampling is an art, it is not copying’
What’s the story behind Pambaram?
Arjjun: Actually, the lyrics for Pambaram were randomly scribbled in a book. We sang it to a beat. We later worked with Karikku on the video.
Do your individual styles or political views clash?
Amjad: Yes, but not in a disruptive way. While we might have different thought processes, we are all left-leaning, so we align on most things.
Is left-leaning ideology common among rappers?
Amjad: If you look at art in general, a good percentage of artists lean left. As you go right, there are more constraints – you are boxed in. But even if you go too far left, there’s another kind of box. It’s about finding the nuance.
If you ask me, I am not a communist supporter. But I am a leftist. This is a very dicey situation, especially when you live in Kerala. This is a controversial take. And we enjoy capitalism! Socialist capitalism is something.
Arjjun: Everyone does, in some way. That’s why we make money.
Amjad: However, all our songs reflect the common man’s life. Take Chatha Kakka, for example. It’s about someone who doesn’t have enough money to eat. We are basically talking about the social divide. This is an anti-capitalistic song. In some songs, we are pro-capitalists. Basically, we are opportunists (chuckles)!
Pro-capitalist?
Amjad: In some songs, we celebrate a lavish lifestyle, something people aspire for. Our approach is to reflect the conflicted mindset of the common man. Everyone is conflicted. Anyone who says they are completely aligned and have unwavering beliefs is probably lying.
Do you improvise when you perform?
Amjad: We don’t do it that way. Freestyle, as an art form, is something different. A skilled freestyle artist — which I am not — can create flows and come up with words on the spot. That’s a whole different skill set. A good freestyle artist can take random words and turn them into full bars. A ‘bar’ is a line in hip-hop.
Do you have any plans to remake traditional works?
Amjad: No.
Arjjun: However, there are a lot of folk influences in hip-hop. Malabar songs are now a part of hip-hop. People tend to remember the rap as much as the hooks, and if the hook incorporates traditional sounds, it usually connects with them more. Many artists are doing this, and they are doing really well in the industry.
Pambaram was inspired by Grammatik’s Just Jammin’, right?
Amjad: Yes, definitely. Just Jammin’ was a song in my playlist.
Is this common in hip-hop?
Sampling is an art form, but not many people know about it. In Kerala, there’s this concept of ‘copying’; sampling is different. It’s a legitimate practice. Rajeevan is one of the greatest samplers I know. I could tell you about the many songs we have sampled — from Ilayaraja to Bob James. We are not just replicating; we are inventing something new out of it.
To clarify, when it comes to Just Jammin’, we only took four chords from it. Everything else — the groove, the production, the improvisation — is entirely our own.
Amjad: When hip-hop started, people didn’t have access to instruments or the privilege of formal music education. So, what they did was sample music from existing records. Sampling is when you take a part of a song and reinvent it. Does it sound like the original? Yes. But is it still original? Absolutely. This is an integral part of hip-hop culture.
Could you give us some more examples?
Our song Walayar has an Ilayaraja sample. For Atmasphere, we took samples from Anoushka Shankar....
Akhil: We might get into trouble for saying this... (laughs).
Amjad: Sampling is something that cannot be fought with legally…
Copyright issues?
Amjad: World over, sampling is something that is heavily done.
Arjjun: And now, there are websites that sell you loops. You can buy these samples for money.
There were allegations against Sushin [Shyam], too… that he copied. He didn’t copy, he paid for it and took the loops. Anyone can buy and use them.
You guys are from different professions… one is a doctor, another an agri officer....
Amjad: He is an engineer (pointing to Arjjun).
Presumably, you people don’t pursue those professions and are full-time into music…
Amjad: Others, to a large extent, yes. But in my case, I do both. I am a business consultant, basically a facilitator. Haris still practises as a doctor.
Arjjun: The one who started this, Rjv Ernesto, is an agricultural officer. I think we were doing this [music] before we became a doctor or engineer.
Amjad: And we never stopped.
It appears hip-hop is a well-paying field…
Amjad: I don’t stick to this for monetary reasons. For me, both business consultancy and music are soul food.
Arjjun: I definitely make more than what I used to make in a month with just one show now. I used to work in Bengaluru, where pay scales are high, so you can imagine. It [music] definitely pays more.
TNIE Team: Anil S, Aparna Nair, Parvana K B, Varsha Somaraj Photo: Vincent Pulickal