Just like her music, Hard Kaur is very in-your-face. But as we get talking to one of India’s top female music artists, we found a fiercely independent person, who has beaten some pretty daunting odds. Born in India as Taran Kaur Dhillon, Hard Kaur struggled in the male dominated world of Hip Hop, before finally exploding onto the scene with the hit single Glassy in 2007. That’s the momentum that has carried her since, as she quickly released her debut solo album Supawoman followed by a barrage of hit songs like Bas Ek Kinng (Singh Is Kinng), Taali (Ugly Aur Pagli), Move Your Body (Johnny Gaddaar), Ga Ga Ga Ganapathy (ABCD), Aashiq Mizaaj (The Shaukeens) and Zaalim Dilli (Dilliwali Zaalim Girlfriend). As she puts the finishing touches on her new single, Aise Karte Hai Party, releasing January 2016, she lets us in on some of her best kept secrets...
Where did it all begin? We’ve heard your Mom has been a pillar
My mother has always been my personal mentor and idol. She has achieved so much now and is always experimenting with new things. After the ’84 riots happened and my father died, my mum wanted a better future for me and my brother, and as a single parent she couldn’t handle it alone so she remarried and we moved to the UK. Within ten years, she achieved things that people living in England couldn’t achieve in forty years. I think that if she can do it with everything that she had to deal with, I can do it too.
So hip hop happened along the way?
I just fell in love with music. After I shifted to UK I could not speak English like others. So I was bullied and called names. People used to laugh at me because I had two plaits. I never used to argue back or stand up for myself. I wanted to do something to change the way I was getting bullied because I didn’t have an English accent. So I used to hang around at school with the black girls because they liked my dancing skills. They used to say, “Hey you can move for an Indian girl!” So I started sitting at their table and that’s when I started to discover hip hop and reggae. I chose to hang around with black people because they liked me for who I was and they didn’t judge me because I was from India.
And your Mom was cool with it?
She never stopped me from anything. She just asked me to make sure that I am successful, and that I don’t use my body to make it big, nor hurt anyone to become successful and not to give up. She was supportive and modern thinking. Even as a child when I used to dance, my relatives used to ridicule me and call me Nachanwalli (dancer)...but my mom was quick to retort back and ask them, can your kid dance this good?
But you did end up in college, despite the pull of the stage?
I studied Fine Arts and Design from the University of Birmingham. Earlier, we only had MTV, now we have a varied platform available including reality TV, music albums and independent releases. I said to myself, right, I really want to do this. It wasn’t just because the music gave me confidence and I could say what I wanted and wear what I wanted, but I felt that this was my way out, this was my way of having a voice. There were so many things I had to prove like people from India aren’t stupid and I wanted to show the boys that girls can also rap.
How did your first album Ik Glassy Do... happen?
I’d been in the music industry from 1995 but was not visible in the Asian market until 2007. Glassy made it big but I thought it was gonna be banned or something because of the lyrics. But it became my number one anthem and I started going to India to perform and next thing I knew was that I’m getting calls from big Bollywood music producers who want me to do a Bollywood song for Johnny Gaddaar. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh I’m gonna do a Bollywood movie’.
You’ve helped quite a few rappers find their way?
I made the right choices. I did Jhalak Dhiklaa Jaa but not Bigg Boss. Yeah I guide people and that’s what I have been doing for the past twenty years. I develop them, write for them, make their videos, show them record labels, get them signed and set a career for everybody. The so called rappers like Honey Singh are not hip hop artists, they are entertainers, they entertain you with music and it works for them.
Where does the Indian music industry stand now?
We need to really stop being sheep. People should stop following each other and use their brains to reach success. I have always been a one-woman army. Do what you are talented at and let the rest follow.
How’d the name Hard Kaur happen?
My voice was rough unlike other girls so they used to call me that and I thought, why not. That’s how Hard Kaur (HK) happened. Twenty years back they used to raise fingers at me and used to ridicule me for everything from my dress to singing style and now twenty years later, I have become a point of reference. I don’t follow fashion, fashion follows me.
Recently, in Tamil Nadu, actor Simbu has been in the news for the ‘Beep’ song.Do you think the singers have to watch their content?
The beep song issue has been blown out of proportion. I heard it online and it was not that bad. You should really let an artist be an artist. We have our responsibility while writing and producing music. If you limit it and impose restrictions on every line, how can he be creative.
Your take on dating and marriage?
(Smiles). I am single. Really, I don’t have any plans or hopes on that side. If you meet someone nice and marriage happens then thats a different thing. But, if you are happy alone then that’s a different thing. I know a lot of married and unhappy people and a lot of unmarried and happy people. The grass is always greener on the other side.
Is there a big scene with women in rap?
Women in India tend to quit too soon. Either they have to listen to their parents and quit the industry and get married and have babies or their boyfriends don’t want them to do it! It is extremely difficult for women and you cannot take it to heart for the wrong reasons. Sexism is prevalent in many industries. A few girls had approached me, back in the UK, but they quit very soon, so I sign mostly boys. It is ridiculous how people cannot stop aping the West and keep rapping on cars, guns and girls. These are the topics that sells the most, but this is not what hip hop music is about. I never made vulgar music, the kind that you can’t listen to with your family.
What was it like working with Anirudh?
I love the Kollywood style of dancing. It is so difficult, hats off to the choreographers. Even the singers are so amazing. Anirudh is really fun. He seems like this little kid, wearing simple t-shirts and pyjamas but making great music. No pretentions, no show-off. I like to call him the mad scientist.
Fact File
Lost her dad during the 84’ Punjab Riots
Was bullied at school
Studied Fashion Designing at University of Birmingham
Only female hip hop singer in India
Got the name Hard Kaur because her voice was rough
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