*http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/09/20/stories/2008092052611400.htm* ** *Rappin' on... *
The name's BlaaZe. Rapper, songwriter and now music director — his film "Saas Bahu Aur Sensex" hit the screens on Friday. Born and raised as Lakshminarasimhavijayarajagopalaseshadrisharmarajeshraman in Zambia, he is today Indi a's best known rapper. BlaaZe can't contain his excitement talking about working with British filmmaker Danny Boyle — he wrote a song for Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire — and about being part of the Globalonemusic initiative helmed by producer Rob Hoffman (who has done records with Michael Jackson and Christina Aguilera). However, what he does not want to talk about much is his Thirukkural project with A.R. Rahman. I got him to open up a little about what keeps him going and discovered how spiritual he has become over the years, during a chat in his Kotturpuram apartment. BlaaZe, who came up with a rap for a film called "99.9 FM," has written, sung and composed 'What's up India' for Shona Urvashi's "Saas Bahu aur Sensex" with the B team. "There's no me, me, me, I, I, I. It's not just Blaaze's team, it's the B team… the blessed team, you believe in God, come let's do the thing… You got to collaborate," he emphasises. BlaaZe attributes his success to prayer and blessings. "I pray a lot. When I started out, I wanted to be like Snoop Dogg. But now, Snoop Dogg has already come to India, chilled with Akshay Kumar and gone back. So today, you can't do a track thinking you are going to be the next Snoop Dogg because if they want a rapper they will get the best. They'll get Will Smith if they want. Abhishek Bachchan has recorded with Wyclef Jean… it's not about money any more. It's about what's original." What made him turn spiritual, which is so anti-thetical of the typical rapper? "I loved rapping, I wanted to rap, I wanted to be a rapper on tour. I started off in 1991 in Zambia and till 2002 it was a struggle. When I finally got a chance with Rahman and I did a lot of work, it went straight to my head. I was snobbish, I was egoistic. In July 2003, I got a call in the middle of the night saying my dad had had a heart attack and died. He had supported me all along, but when finally I had material with my name released he hadn't seen it." In Zambia for his father's last rites, he sat afterwards and played his music. "I sat and played 'Warriors of Heaven and Earth', 'Boys', 'Baba rap…' I am not playing bhajans, I'm playing my work thinking maybe your spirit can hear it, you are still around. For me, work is worship. Anyway, in the beginning, it was the glamour but the minute it came, something more important was taken away. Nothing after that has gone to my head. I treat it like a job." It changed his life forever. "When I saw the African guys crying for my dad, that's when I thought what have I ever given back? My father gave back through work to a country that gave him a life. I am here and India has given me food and life and I believe I have to give something back." >From then on, BlaaZe has been doing his bit to raising awareness and helping social causes. He recently started blogging at therealblaaze.blogspot.com. It is not about what I'm recording next. It is stuff that's me and what occupies my mind space." On the family front, he says he is a contented man. "My wife works till three. So I babysit and have fun. It's a blessing, man. I know so many people who don't get time with kids. For me it's just babies, babies, babies and now, let's go do some work and come back to babies." *The Kural as inspiration* BlaaZe is consumed with the idea of taking the Thirukkural to the masses. "I read the Kural a lot. In some way or the other, you can relate to it. "In Singapore, I picked up the *Thirukkural* in Tamil and English and even the translation is difficult to comprehend because it can be interpreted in many ways. I thought if I could take those lines and simplify them, it may capture only 10 per cent of the meaning but it will take the *Thirukkural*to a whole new generation. It's not easy. "When I took 'Agara Muthala Ezhuthellam Aathi Bagavan Muthatrey Ulagu' and looked up the meaning, it was still complicated. You have to internalise the lines and live with them and then see how you can demystify them for non-Tamils." "For me, the meaning of that kural can be rapped with: 'Like the starting of the alphabet/ With the letter A-ah/ Praise be to God/ for he is first always.' When I took it to Rahman, he simply loved the idea."
