At just 19, Jack Styles aka Roshan Adams is already making waves as one of the most promising hip-hop/rap artists in the country today, with a steady fan base internationally as well. The second-year Visual Communications student at SRM University, Chennai has been performing as a rap artist for the last six years, collaborating with popular playback singers.
Jack first featured with playback singer Karthik for the movie, Pazhaya Vanarapettai in the year 2010 and will soon be featuring in Raghava Lawrence’s next film, Motta Siva Ketta Siva. When Jack first heard Eminem, he was taken aback, owing to the poetic beauty of his songs. That was his inspiration. It was the lyrical complexity of rap that drew him in. Later, he started listening to others like Kendrick Lamar, Tech N9ne and Machine Gun Kelly. “I’ve tried to study them, extract, understand what their music was all about and the message they were trying to convey,” he said. With about 15-20 tracks so far, Jack has been well appreciated by artists and producers, including Yogi B, the pioneer of Tamil Hip-Hop.
His first mixtape From Where It All Began, released on May 28, is a compilation of remix tracks and some originals. He is also working on his debut Extended Play with music producer Akash Shravan which also features Pakistani producer Lone Wolf (Shahraiz Mazhar). “This EP focuses on my life stories, the struggle I go through as an Independent artist, social issues and a tribute to engineering student Abinath who committed suicide. We’re also trying to fuse interesting Indian genres with Hip-Hop and Rap music and it’s coming out well,” he added.
It’s every artist’s dream to be approached by record labels. But Jack being Jack, said no to some of the biggest labels around, because he valued freedom above everything else. “I think I’m happy staying independent,” he said
Terming the hip-hop scene in South India weak. he said, “Gotta blame the ‘bling bling’ rappers with low lyrical skills. But I believe people here should look at us as poets with rhythm and not judge us by the t-shirts, shoes or the chains we wear,” he said, “Hip-hop is a beautiful culture and it really deserves to be exposed in a way it should be.”
Hip hop cause
Jack hopes to promote good music and local artists by organising rap battles, rap cyphers, graffiti displays and B-boying dance battles
Tuning into Extended play
Jack’s debut Extended Play will be with music producer Akash Shravan
The EP will focus on Jack’s life stories, social issues and tributes
It will also feature playback singer Nivin Bedford, producer Shahraiz Mazhar and EDM Producer Pillzax
Reach out: http://bit.ly/1rePFBv
