Hip hop’s new Raja

Singaporean rapper Yung Raja says he is grateful for all the success that has come his way

Yung Raja

If hip-hop was a language of its own, then Yung Raja is a scholar at it. But that is not all. The young Singaporean rapper is also flawless in his native Tamil language, and the effortless ease with which he switches between “speaking hip-hop” and speaking in Tamil stands out.

“I grew up in a South Indian household. At home, I’m the typical Tamil Nadu guy with my kaili madichu kattittu ukkanthu (folded lungi) eating vethala paaku (paan). When I step out the door, I’m an English-speaking Singaporean. These two worlds have always been with me. My music is the gel between these worlds,” he says.

Fun with rap

Raja was in Chennai on invitation from the Singapore Tourism Board to perform at Off The Record in Nungambakkam for a crowd out to revel and take in the “Singapore party experience”.

For those of you still wondering “who dis” — look up, ‘Poori gang’ and ‘Mustafa’, two tracks that have driven Raja into fame. ‘Poori gang’ was an inspired spin of Lil Pump’s ‘Gucci gang’, and Raja released it in January 2018. “I had fun writing it. I shared my ideas with family and so I was sitting next to my mom when writing

soru gang, moru gang, then I asked her... ‘ vera enna ma gang podalaam ?’ (what other gang can I include?). She said, ‘ vada gang... laddu gang’,” he says, laughing.

‘Poori gang’ caught the attention of hip-hop fans around the globe including noted Britist rapper, M.I.A. “When M.I.A hit me up on Instagram, saying ‘ Yo! I caught your video’... that is when I started realising that there is something valuable in all these reactions. There are so many rappers who use Tamil language. But I realised that nobody else was doing it the way that I was doing... none of them sound like me,” he adds. Soon enough, his popularity ensured a deal with Sony Music, which led to ‘Mustafa’.

Raja is now ready with his third single, which he is expected to release soon. “It is a song about blessings... of counting my blessings. I have been confounded by what has happened in the past one-and-a-half years. But I’m grateful, and that is what I talk about in the song.... about how these things didn’t change me... know what I mean?”

But why are we yet to see him in the Tamil film industry? “I think it will happen. If I had become super famous overnight... sing with AR Rahman, I wouldn’t have enough weight to hold on to... it will fail. I want to be more fulfilled as a hip-hop artiste before that happens,” he concludes.