This gem was buried in my twitter feed right before bedtime and was too good not to share immediately. Found, of course, through the tweet worthy Manish.
With a west coast sound and a music video on my favorite skating beach, I’m super surprised I haven’t heard of this cat before. Turns out his home base is the Bay Area and he went to SF State, which figures with Bay-ish lyrics like those. His name is Mandeep Sethi, and the above track was produced by Sikh Knowledge. I am diggin’ how in a world of hip-hop pseudonyms, Mandeep Sethi is keeping it real with his name. He’s keeping it real in other ways too.
Representing San Francisco Universal Zulu Nation as well as the global Hip-Hop scene, Mandeep Sethi is a young yet seasoned emcee/DJ from that has shown and proven his ability to rhyme and freestyle with the best. An Afrika Bambaataa appointed member of Zulu Nation, Mandeep was raised by the 5 elements of hip-hop: emceeing, djing, breakdancing, graffiti, and KNOWLEDGE. For Sethi, the microphone represents a catalyst of change, rhyming about social consciousness as well as cultural awarenesss while remaining true to the undefinable essence of hip hop’s versatility. [vivalahiphop]
Follow his twitter @mandeepsethi to get some of that knowledge. Check out the rest of his music too – you can download his latest digital EP The World’s Gone Mad for free (or for a donation.)
Here’s an Ultrabrown post on Mandeep. Good find, Vij. I feel like I’m hella late to the game and need to catch up. All the rest of you, what do you think?
The second audio link – Illusion off The World’s Gone Mad – has rhythmic and vocal elements similar to Massive Attack’s Blue Lines. Pretty cool. I feel most rap has a standard rhythm line and focuses on lyrics alone but Mandeep’s music is a little more creative on the rhythm and feels like something you can relax to. (sadly, rap lyrics move so fast I usully can’t parse it… a shame since rap is probably the closest we have today for cerebral/political music).
Dig the Punjabi overlays. A touch of Diggable Planets in there.
Agreed.
“Shift” Music Video featuring Afrika Bambaataa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyyK_Y9njgQ
hmmm…other than the fact he is brown..this is got nothing to do with being desi..surely one for a rappers’ forum?
http://punjabizm.com/forums-the-hornet-26356-5-1.html
we need more posts about south asian hip hop!!
Great beat by Sikhknowledge on this one, Mandeep’s great! Good find, Taz.
mmmmmm Digable Planets! Awesome artist.
mazhabaan dey puttar saarey ney, bandey da puttar koee nahi-Gurdas Maan’s poetry-incredible. (everyman is a son of some religion but none is the son of a human)