sbcltr caught up with the music producer to talk about his music and all things ahead

He was all of 15 when he hit the underground hip-hop scene in Delhi and 10 years later, it is impossible to talk about the evolution of India hip-hop without mentioning Sez on the beat aka Sajeel Kapoor. At only 25, he is the man behind some of the biggest breakout hits of the desi hip-hop movement. From, Yeh Mera Bombay which he co-produced with Rjv, to Meri Gully Main, to Class Sikh by Prabhdeep and most recently the debut of, Bayaan by Seedhe Maut. Until very recently, he preferred to keep things low-key and let his music speak for itself, “but later you realise that the name needs a face to it.” Fresh off completing the 2^nd anniversary tours for Azadi Records with the rest of the crew, sbcltr caught up with him to talk about music, the scene and the significant but often underrated role of a hip-hop music producer.

Excerpts below.

What got you interested in desi hip-hop, at 25, you’re at the centre of this movement, in a way, holding it all together, you’ve produced beats for both, the Delhi boys and the Bombay crew of rappers, but can you tell us, how did it all begin for you?
I was a legit text battler at a forum on Orkut called Insignia. That’s where everything started for me. Since I was also interested in computers and software, I discovered Virtual DJ through an old school friend and started dash ups on the side (which were shit). Then later discovered that I could create my own music using softwares (geek!) and the rest is history. Even when it came to production, hip-hop wasn’t my first genre of choice, electronic music was. I discovered hip-hop through Insignia first. I can say that, I never heard eminem or 50 cent or Tupac when I started producing hip hop. I listened to this song called Clown by a homegrown rapper named Shrugg, which got me hooked to it. Then the producer in me started discovering other hip-hop producers. Okay, so now, the rest is history, haha.

Sez and Prabhdeep in concert

Can you give us a background into the scene and how you think it’s evolved over the years?
The scene is going great, I have been fortunate enough to see it grow from the very scratch, not like the 0% scratch but say 10-11% scratch. Things evolved so quickly, it’s been a rapid growth, some of it is positive growth and some of it is negative. There are essentially two scenes in our hip-hop, one before Meri Gully Mei dropped and one after that. The scene before it was super pure, no egos-nothing. Everyone helped everyone. I can’t say the same about the scene after that, after accounting my own personal experiences as well. Plus when a big giant of an industry steps in and takes your thing from you—you can’t do anything.

I am sort of happy for everyone. Quality has increased (not by a lot, not counting myself in as well, lol), the pen game is MAD now, S/O to my boy Encore from Seedhe Maut—he made me realise what madness you can do your with your mother tongue. All in all, progress has been there. Yeah.

Tell us a bit about StunnahSezBeatz
It’s my producer duo with none other than Stunnah Beatz from Guwahati. We are two brothers working our asses off to make and sell beats consistently. We run a beat store, where we sell beats to any and every rapper and have been fortunate enough to sell some to some of the biggest names in the international hip-hop scene.

A lot of people don’t understand the imperative role a producer plays on tracks, it’s often reduced to the label of a “beat-maker”. Could you elaborate on this a little, so that it’s simpler for people to understand.
This is very important. The reason producers never get their due credit is due to the lack of knowledge. I’d even say some of our rappers don’t understand it either. A beat-maker just makes the beat and he’s done. A producer sits with the artist throughout a single project and works his ass off along with that artist to deliver the project. E.g. Classsikh and Bayaan are two albums that I’ve produced. I didn’t just give away beats and say “bye bye fam”, I was with the artists throughout the writing, recording, production and mixing and mastering process. I was even involved in the art work process to an extent.

So that should simplify it. Do not call a producer a beat maker, it’s offensive fam.

As a part of Azadi Records, tell us a bit about your crew, do you all get along, out of all the artists who do you like to collaborate with the most?
The whole crew is like family, all of us artists get along very well and are on a same page always. We chill, eat, play fifa and nowadays Brawlhalla, share our shit with each other and give each other advice. I love to work with everyone yo, we lit, FAM!

It came to light that some mainstream Bollywood producers used your material and didn’t get in touch with you or pay royalties, how does an artist ensure that his material isn’t plagiarised, did you eventually get your due?
Shit happened, let it be. I really don’t wanna comment on this. But, to protect your stuff, DROP THAT TAG IN FAM! you need that. Even if the recording artist nags, you nag more, they wanted to use your beat in the first place, so they have to agree to that. If they don’t, come to me, I’ll sort that for you.

Which artists inspire you? What are you currently listening to?
So, there’s this thing with me, I can never list down my inspiration—like if I were to drop the names, I’d say Dr Dre, 40, Timbo etc, but in all honesty, everything that is good and dope inspires me to be better. My current playlist is suggestions from Calm (Seedhe Maut), what Siri has added to our apple account recently and everything new that comes in the hip-hop section or just general playlists. Good music inspires me and it is what I listen to.

What is your music making process like?
I sit, then this thought of me making a beat hits me—then I make that beat. It’s automatic now. How a song happens, let’s say I am working with Seedhe Maut, we chill-we eat food -we kick each others butt in games and then we think about making a song and then we make that song. Simple.

What Next?
Ahmer’s debut album LKBD—It’s madnessss! Siri’s Beda Beda and a couple of other projects. To be precise, more madness is coming your way and four beats every week on StunnahSez’s Youtube channel, we lit and consistent like that fam.