Common Man’s getting popular!

Amarjot Kaur

Stuck in the nine-to-five grind, Kamesh Chawla works for an online food-delivery service company Swiggy. Rob C is his alter ego. A Panchkula-based rapper with 73 songs on his YouTube channel, 27-year-old Rob is a working-class hero with a key in his hand and he might just be closer to finding the lock. For now, he has garnered recognition for his new song titled, Common Man, with Punjabi rapper Badshah and singers Mika and Aastha Gill rooting for it on their social media accounts. In about a couple of weeks of its release on YouTube, the song has received 24,000 views.

Rob’s raps are anecdotal records of his personal experiences. With Common Man, he reflects on the morbid existence of people belonging to city’s middle class, highlighting their pressures, worries and concerns. Influenced by rappers like 50 Cent, Nas, Tupac, and Bohemia, he feels rap music is a powerful medium that reflects society as it is. 

A part of Chandigarh-based rap group Kala Kurta Gang (KKG), Rob has worked with labels like Sony Music India in 2015 when he released his single Shehar Vall Nu. His song Tere Baare was featured on Pepsi MTV Indies. In fact, in 2013, he worked with Mika Singh and Monali Thakur for a Bollywood movie titled, I Don’t Luv U. “I was doing my bachelor’s course in Delhi when I participated in BITS-Pilani rap battle and won the second spot. The judges, music director duo Aman Pant and Benson offered the song to me,” he says. Though the song wasn’t a success, it introduced him to Delhi and Mumbai’s rap circuits. “Among many other rappers in Delhi and Mumbai, I collaborated with Broada V in his album Death Punch, Mumbai’s Finest, FBI, and G-Grip,” he shares.

Once back in Chandigarh, he started releasing music on YouTube. Rob started rapping in English first and then in Punjabi. “I’ve been rapping in Hindi for a year and the response has been good. I get more views now,” he says.

Rob is working on an untitled solo project and a KKG album with his crew. He has dropped six mixtapes along with numerous singles in nine years of his rapping career. He says he was mentored by former RDB lead vocalist Manj Musik. “After releasing four albums, Outlandish, Above The Rest, Peerless, and How to Rob, Manj Musik noticed KKG and we met him in 2015. He has been mentoring us since,” he adds. Like most other indie rappers, Rob too wants to reach out to the mainstream masses. “Labels will only do what sells, that’s how the market works. Maybe if I get signed to a label, I’ll bargain for equal space for my music,” he says.