M.C. Sid’s skill lies in engaging with his audience, whether it’s on a beach, five star hotel or on the lawns of a private manor. As a wedding singer who only raps, he recently performed in Brussels at a grand palace, for a jeweller. “I have to be humble. Once in Delhi a client got upset because I called him monkey. So I made up by describing him as Hanuman, the monkey God.” This was in the early days of his career. Chandigarh-born, Delhi-based Siddharth Sood says he’s the only wedding rapper in the country. The now-suit-clad 33-year-old says the journey to destination weddings (he's done over 700 shows now in 27 countries), was not so easy.
Back in 2004, night-club owners shut their doors on him. “They'd say, ' Yeh drug wali cheez hai'. They were convinced that rap would get them the wrong kind of crowd,” he says. In his struggling days, he remembers being paid a pittance: “I was paid ₹1,500 for each visit (to a nightclub in Mumbai). I would travel from Pune to Mumbai in the Deccan Queen at a ₹400 ticket. Since the show was from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. I’d spend the night at the railway station. The only silver lining was the kulkar ki chai.”
In 2007, Sid bumped into a Hyderabad-based night club owner who asked him his fee. “I said ₹10,000. He replied his budget allowed him to pay only ₹7,000 but an additional airlines ticket would be given to me. Those days, a free ticket was a big deal. So I got to fly from Pune to Hyderabad. This was my first flight as a professional.”
Today, when a client calls, he spends time talking to them, asking them what they want, and gauging their personalities, to make sure he strikes the right note. “I ask whether they want Punjabi or English music or Bollywood so that I give that kind of vibe. However, all my raps are made up on the spot. I get a full download on what the functions are.” Usually, he performs at one function, but if the couple wants him at several locations, he gives them a package deal.
His music is computer generated, and is in the rap meets hip-hop style, often with cheeky one-liners. It can be a remake of Madhuri Dixit’s ’80s chartbuster Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai with references to the couple . His only complaint about his job is the food (he’s 120 kg, at 5'8"). “Doing big fat Indian weddings in Phuket, Bali, and virtually every continent, means eating oily butter chicken and getting myself bloated,” says the rapper. A fan of Jay-Z, he says, “I have had the fortune of watching him perform live in the U.S." In fact, it was the singer who motivated him to become a rapper despite studying MBA. Sid is now all set to fly to New York where he will launch his first video albums Gold Digger and Bewafa . He hopes to have Beyonce featured, but does admit to "budget constraints".
Sample his style:
This man in the white pants
Standing looking funny ok
Hands in his pocket constantly
From the beginning of my rap
He has been keeping his hand a secret
Hidden from me.
Finally I asked kya hua sirji
He says Thodi si khujali
