Born in Puri, raised in Darjeeling and hustling in Bengaluru – that kind of journey seems inspirational enough just on paper, but Samir Rishu Mohanty has more than that going for him. The 25-year-old rapper, who performs under the fairly self-appraising moniker Big Deal, was also born to an Indian father and a Japanese mother.
He commiserates rightly on the opening track “One Kid”, rapping: “Growing up in Puri, I felt so confused/ Why do I look like no one else in the school? I mean I got small eyes, also a flat nose/ Which is why all guys happened to crack jokes/ Even the teachers treated me like a foreigner/While all I ever wanted to be was an Oriya.” This is set to the Indian melody of a shehnai and thumping beats and shout-alongs, not extraordinary knowing today’s flavour for desi bass and Indian-influenced EDM.
But it’s catchy all right, and it sets Big Deal on his way to engage an audience that’s just been hooked by a four-minute song. While One Kid With a Dream ticks all the boxes of new-age, theatrical hip-hop in the vein of Eminem – dramatic intro and all – Big Deal shows his affinity for singing about being a headstrong indie artist. On ‘Look Up To’, he’s more or less targeting rappers, and while that sounds a bit veiled, he’s at his explicit best on ‘I Hate You’, his flow and enunciation matching Eminem, with the right kind of comic timing between a catchy refrain.
A ballad kicks in just in time, with his archetypical song about heartbreak coming in on the soft ‘Wrong This Time’, featuring Mar Jamir with a hook. ‘Not Chinese’, which also features fellow rap star Borkung Hrangkhawl from Tripura and Nagaland singer Alobo Naga, is pretty impassioned, combating racism against North East Indians.
Even if he’s young, Big Deal does want to say he’s not inexperienced. The wisdom-spouting, advice-led ‘One Dream’, featuring a soaring hook by June Neelu, wants to be inspirational.
It’s tough to agree with the way Big Deal makes himself look like… well, a big deal, but sonically, the artist is on his way to making a lot of fans with his real-talk rap.
