There’s a story behind nearly every name associated with these guys, stories that Hyderabadi rapper- musician Roll Rida and composer Syed Kamran are quite happy to share. For instance Roll Rida named himself after his rap idol Flo Rida. Then, the names of numbers he and Kamran have released have a distinct cultural connect with Hyderabad. The duo’s rap number ‘Dilkush’ is titled after the exclusive Hyderabadi stuffed snack. That it also translates to ‘heartfelt happiness’ is a big plus. Their claim to fame is their previous number ‘Patang’ that hit the one million mark on Youtube recently. Clearly that name reflects the city’s passion for kites. Both videos essentially celebrate the spirit of the city with dollops of nostalgia.
The duo are ‘responsibly enthusiastic’ about Dilkush. They’re quite aware of the expectations they’ve to live up to and not being called one-time wonders. Roll Rida says, “Rap is an element we consistently try to imbibe from the West. But our USP is the cultural connect we bring, to the neighbourhood, language; it is local at heart and contemporary in execution.” His effort, he states, is a reply to those who weren’t particularly sure that rap would work in Telugu.
Even Syed Kamran, who’s been a music producer, programmer and composer for a decade now, is equally particular about the unique folk culture that Hyderabad possesses. “Over the years, not many could showcase this dimension of our city well. We’ve been listening to it since childhood and have seen bands perform the ‘teen maar’, so we did a good study of music elements that represent the city.”
While their earlier video Patang dealt with kites, Dilkush is targeted at every Hyderabadi who’s witnessed the changing tastes and landscapes since his/her childhood. Kamran and Roll Rida, also lyricists for the same, promise the number is ideated around the fun-element. They spent many sleepless nights readying the final draft of the song, checking the opening and closing phrases, the rhyme factor to bring the rhythm and much more. Finalising the script and visual inputs with the Rolling Reel Entertainment staff, Kamran and Roll Rida had given it their all to ensure the best output.
The rapper also showed photographs of his college days to director Shaan Abdul Wahab to design the appearances of the characters in terms of hairstyles and dresses. “We wanted youngsters to connect with this significantly,” elaborates Roll Rida. To do that, Shaan and his team, who hail from Kerala had to undergo a process. “We made them sip Irani chai, eat street food, showed them how significant kites to the city’s spirit, well over 30 days. Given that they come from another region, it augured well for us to witness a fresh perspective of the city,” he explains.
Both Roll Rida and Kamran acknowledge that films are their bread and butter; their independent videos like these are only an effort to experiment and make music without boundaries. Roll Rida’s journey from working at a call centre to being a full-time musician rapping tracks of films has seen him work on projects of stars from the Telugu film industry. He is currently working on rap bits for Trivikram Srinivas’ film A ..Aa and Pawan Kalyan’s next (untitled) film. Syed Kamran has had films like Tripura, Hrudaya Kaleyam and Kobbari Matta to his credit. The two also voice plans of making an album out of the rap-series and have readied all the material to approach music labels for the same.
