Hello #steemians !
I have successfully posted my intro post on this marvelous platform and it’s great to get engaged with all of you. Your support was tremendous and as usual YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!
Today I would love to share my opinion on connecting Tamizh Poetry with RAP.
Malaysia were already familiar with RAP music for a very long time before late 90’s. We obviously were listening and also making RAP songs in English Language until some Malaysian Tamizh Artiste starts making attempts on producing Tamizh Rap songs and it was very new to the scene and we were having hard time blending the culture with the community. Acceptance was rare and it took some time for the community to get used to what they see and listen. As usual, that’s how trends are set right? There were only very few Tamizh Rappers when we first started. Then we were able to see new groups and individuals started making their move in to the scene. A great journey until Malaysia made history for being one the pioneer in Tamizh Hip Hop.
Writing lyrics were the most passionate and important weapon for the Rappers back then (and still is for some who still keeps it real) so allot of research and study was done precisely on Tamizh language. Okay, most of you might start thinking, why need “special” research and study since as an Indian, we should already know about it right? Well, as we all know Tamizh language is the oldest language and not every ancestor’s knowledge were brought down to generation these days. Its initiative and willingness of learning that guide certain individuals to earn the gift (knowledge). For example, I grew up in an environment where I was surrounded with Malays and Chinese more than Indians so I’m very use to speak English and Malay language. So, guess what, I didn’t know how to speak Tamizh until the age of 10 and my “wonderful” Indian friends was too nice to me to teach me Tamizh and end up getting me into troubles in school by teaching me all the wrong words for fun.
Okay let’s get back to topic, RAP made me invest more time in learning the language and I was very obsessed with how Indian ancestors value the language. Digging through deeper, I also found out that being a Poet those days has a dignity by itself during the ruling of the Kings and Poets were the main source that protect the pride and respect of language. Poets were also hired by the Kings to sing Poetry about the pride of their ruling state and the kingdom itself. It’s talent, practices & seriousness that drive a Poet to stand better than each other. To prove that, they frequently have battles among Poets which I personally relate it to RAP Battle. Indian Poets do also contribute lessons to the younger generation and some even end up being a respectful author that we still adore until these days. Before I forget, Poets were one of the main reason why civilization took place as the society were feed with knowledge and useful information via their poetry. This shows how much choice of words plays a very important role in crafting a poetry and to stand as a respected Poet.
My source of knowledge comes in from everywhere and in all forms. I don’t restrict myself to one source as I am always open for knowledge adoption. I read & watch videos allot from the internet, old collective books, speak and share information with anyone that I think has great knowledge on Tamizh ancestor’s history and the respected language itself. Pronunciation is very much important when comes to Tamizh language as one wrong pronunciation may cause the whole sentences to sound wrong. All this information’s boosted me to venture more and I always give priority to the creativity of crafting my bars and makes it meaningful and mostly importantly to provide positive messages to my listeners.
As I grew up listening to RAP Music, I find a lot of similarity on how legends like Rakim, NAS and many others utilize valuable words on crafting their art. To me RAP music is a tool for me to express myself. So no matter how much my Tamizh lyrics writing was practiced, I always focus on the delivery as well. This is to make sure my contents are delivered to the listeners in a creative and impressive method. Blending the Hip Hop culture and Tamizh Poetry has always been a wonderful venture for me. I still don’t stop learning. As much as I practice on Tamizh Poem, I do give the same importance to English and Malay language as well and I manage to blend any of these two or all three language in my RAP verse to make it sound Malaysian. Faking accent is something I totally don’t encourage. RAP should drive you to represent who you are not who you listen to and that’s the reason why I am still very careful when I deliver my content. I obviously wouldn’t want to sound wrong and deliver unwanted / unnecessary content to my listeners. I always pray and hope at least one individual would gain something positive listening to my content (leaving aside DISS tracks I made and intent to make in future hands)
I hope I didn’t get you bored and at least have contributed a little bit of information I have. Besides that, revealing a tiny part of my style on how I craft my bars. Inspiration and the support from you guys are definitely the main reason why I am still doing it right on this music journey.
Once again YOU GUYS ARE GREAT !
I have linked my social media contacts below as you will be able to follow my updates closely. That's all for now, till we get in touch again.
Peace!