Keeping pace with Raftaar

Amarjot Kaur

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In a transient fit of passion, anticipating a pithy comment about his career’s debut with Yo Yo Honey Singh, Raftaar starts justifying the lyrics of his newly released songs from the album Zero to Infinity. This year, he belted out four singles, Baby Marvake Manegi, Jean, and Gal Goriye, including a video of the song Saare Karo Dab. He has also introduced four underground rappers in the album. 

Kerala-born Dilin Nair aka Raftaar is based in Delhi and had earlier released a mixtape, called WTF Mixtape, in 2013. A lot has changed since then. He is no longer associated with Honey Singh’s crew Mafia Mundeer and financially, having rapped and composed music for Bollywood, YouTube channels, and Coke Studio, he’s more comfortable now. Stuck somewhere in between Honey Singh’s fall and Badshah’s massive success this other member of Mafia Mundeer longs for acceptance. He’s signed with Zee Music for three years now. 

His story, his words

He says, “I started off in 2009. I got noticed by Honey Singh. We (Golu, Ikka, and I) started making music together and I learnt a lot about commercial music from him. In the process, I started writing a lot. We would record stuff and he would overdub it with his vocals, giving us abject excuses like, ‘the singer really wants me and I’ll get you in on the next song’.”

Sharing that he wrote the lyrics for the song Dope, Raftaar adds, “Honey overdubbed that song too and didn’t take me along for its video recording. He told me that there were no tickets for me. My father worked as a janitor in the Indian Railways, and I somehow managed to get to Goa. So, I made it to the video, for two seconds, alongside Honey’s cousin. This happened with almost every song.” 

Raftaar and Honey’s tiff pronounced itself more vociferously in 2014 over the credits of Fugly’s three songs. “I wrote those songs. I wrote Dhup Chik in 2011. Honey said that he met me only once. Can you believe that? I guess success comes with its fair share of Alzheimer’s,” he laughs it off. No wonder, Raftaar rose to fame on the front-burner of Swag Mera Desi in which he dissed Honey Singh.

Sold his soul

While Raftaar makes no pretence about writing most of Honey Singh’s songs, he shares that he sold his soul to commercial music. “My mother would travel long distances for her job. My father didn’t have a very fancy designation. All my life, I saw my parents slog for us and I was using my talent to make money. There are a few songs I may not like being associated with, but people wanted that. Even Honey rapped some inspirational songs in the beginning, but there were no takers for it. I was desperate to give to my parents a comfortable life,” he says. 

“For three years or so, I haven’t written a notorious song. I have written a song called Allah Ve about India-Pakistan ties and it was featured on Coke Studio. If an artiste manages to get three of their own songs and others that cater to label’s demands, he’s sealed a winning deal. But in my new album, I have been given a free hand,” he shares. 

Sharing that he is not just a rapper, but also a composer and songwriter, Raftaar says, “I am gunning for an album in this era of digital download because I want to give my listeners options to choose from and determine what they like the most.” 

Well, Godspeed Raftaar!

amarjot@tribunemail.com