A young rapper is gaining popularity among his people in Kashmir. He has got voice, a penchant for music and a heart for his place and its people. Sumayyah Qureshi reports.
He might have got hooked to hip hop and rap at an early age but he is a regular guy with no idiosyncrasies. He speaks no slang, wears no jewelry and dresses modestly. Well, unlike a rapper.
Roshan Illahi aka MC Kash is the first rapper from Kashmir. His songs are mostly about the atrocities meted out to his fellow Kashmiris. The 21-year-old, born and brought up in Srinagar is a business management student. This tumultuous summer MC Kash came out with a hit number, I Protest, where he talked about people, who got killed in various stone pelting incidents across the valley.
“I just want to show the world what all is happening in Kashmir. I talk sense. I represent my people,” said MC Kash. Music in Kashmir is experiencing a change gradually, with Western music gaining popularity among the youth. Kash’s hip hop is fast catching up with the youth here. Besides MC Kash, many other youngsters are taking up hip hop in Kashmir. 
Another budding Kashmiri rapper Saqib Bhat aka The Revolutionary, is also aghast at the state and the system.
His yet to be released song the revolution starts with the line: “The problem with the system is the system itself.”
For Rapper MC hip hop was not a sudden affair. He didn’t wake up one day and decided to rap. “I am a poet before I am a rapper. Rap came much later. I have been reading different stuff and writing about things in daily life since my school,” he says.
The recognition however came with his solo song, I Protest, which was released this summer. He releases the songs on reverbnation besides social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook and Orkut.
It was in 2007 when he started to rap. Back then it was a group performance and our group was named 1 Crib, he says. The two member group parted ways and in 2009 MC Kash recorded his first solo number, Moment of Truth.
Roshan considers all genres of music, especially the one where singers talk about love, meaningless. “I listen to hip hop and rap. I don’t like cooking up a story, the song must have a real message,” he says.
For Roshan Illahi, singing hip hop is a passion, but he doesn’t know whether he will take it on a full time basis as his career. “I want to do what I want to do. I will continue making tracks as long as I can. I don’t live in future,” he said.
Having seen bloodshed and killings ever since he was born, Roshan believes his songs are inspired by what has been happening around him. “I don’t want people to forget the martyrs. I can’t forget them. I just love my people,” he asserts.
When asked who was the first person who listened to his song, he quickly says that it was his mother. “I made my mother listen to my song. When she heard the song she was smiling and right there I knew I was doing the correct thing,” he recalls.
Accolades pouring from his audience especially youth, his friends and relatives have helped him get better by the day. “When suddenly somebody recognizes me while I am walking somewhere, it gives me inspiration. When someone appreciates your work that’s the best thing…an everlasting satisfaction,” says MC Kash.
All his songs have been uploaded on a music website called reverbnation and have been chart busters. He has sung four songs which includes hit song I Protest-Remembrance, Moment of Truth, Feel It, and Beneath the Sky. “My songs have been appreciated all over the country. I Protest was ranked number one in Srinagar and has been on number two in India for quite some time.”
Now gaining so much of attention through his song, I Protest – Remembrance, Kash says he is soon going to launch his video. “I am thinking about making a video even if that means flushing money out of my own pocket. Friends, my class fellows and people say they are ready to help. They say they will contribute,” he added.
The most important thing for Roshan is truth. “If I don’t speak the truth then I am not a Kashmiri. I speak for my people. I did what every Kashmiri would want to do,” he clarifies. “When you know you are doing the right thing, it gives you energy and confidence.”
Roshan says he wants to go global, but there are constraints. The passion for his music is helping him sail through difficult circumstances. “I am not getting a sponsor in Kashmir or in India. Right now I am not even getting a studio where I could record. I might go abroad in future, so that I am globally able to produce my music and highlight the injustice in Kashmir,” he says.
Little glitches do not stop him from doing what he loves. He doesn’t feel scared by getting his message through to people. “I want to highlight the injustice people suffer from. Be that in Kashmir or somewhere else. I am here to rip the falsehood apart.”
Or did he say rap the falsehood apart.
