*Pappu can rap Saala* http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Pappu-can-rap-Saala/379833 ** *It's still an insert in the main song, but rap's a sound that's going mainstream in Bollywood *Snoop dogg has done Hollywood. But when he lounged alongside Akshay Kumar in a slim-fitted maroon kurta and a jewel-studded turban in this year's blockbuster Singh Is Kinng, you could say that rap, like the pizza, had not only arrived, but got itself a tandoori topping. A.R. Rahman agrees. "Five years ago, no one would've even thought that rap would ever become mainstream. But it has certainly been successful in bringing with it the trend of Hinglish lyrics," says Rahman, who had rapper Blaaze loose with that tongue-tripper Wenna-may-l-see you-when-you-dance-in-the-hall-and-a wenna-may-I-see you-when-you-dance … hey! in this year's hit track Pappu can't dance saala (Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na).
The masses might not always dig the barrage of words, but they are ready to dance with it. "Rap brings in a certain element of madness to the song and that's probably why people are enjoying it more than ever," says Shekhar Ravjiani of the Vishal-Shekhar duo, both of whom rap in several of their compositions, including the title track of this year's Bachna Ae Haseeno. Shekhar, who also got Abhishek Bachchan to debut as a rapper in Bluffmaster three years ago, now has Dad B rapping again in a forthcoming film, Aladin. There are more interesting acts ahead. Actor Om Puri will be heard letting it rip in Amol Palekar's next, a musical comedy which has Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy composing the track. Amitabh Sunil Ishq Bector has recently composed a "crazy song" for Sagar Ballary's film Kacha Nimbu while the only female rapper the country's known, Hard Kaur (more about her later), is composing for a film titled Chai Garam. As the trend grows, this small group of rappers is making its presence felt. Like Lakshminarasimha Vijaya Rajagopala Seshadri Sharma Rajesh Raman, who started as MC Blaze. When asked to put an accent on the "e" and add an "a" for some numerological magic, he became the rhythmic poet Blaaze—the man who had Amitabh Bachchan bopping in Bunty Aur Babli. Blaaze has just sung for Taxi-Taxi, a song by A.R. Rahman from the Tamil movie Sakkarakatti, which was aired 422 times in 30 hours on radio. He is also singing a full-fledged Tamil hip-hop song called Hey Salaa, from the movie Aegan. "There is a difference between a rapper and a playback singer. For a rapper, the... -- regards, Vithur
