PAV4N
by Mister Mime
16th May 2021
International hip-hop superstar PAV4N of 'Foreign Beggars' fame dons his new “rap god” avatar by fusing Hindu mythology with hip hop, continues to ceremoniously announce himself in a larger than life fashion in the relatively new field of Indian hip hop with his single “DOOM” which is produced by Sukh Knight with vocals from Ishani.
A dramatically intoxicating vocal hook in Hindi from Ishani catapults the track forward, with Sukh Knight’s unique and hard-hitting beat setting the arena for poetic destruction by Pav, as he lyrically meanders over the bars with his verses elevating the track to a whole new level. He spits his venom in the face of his ‘frenemies' so artfully that it would make the co-starring snake in the music video envious of his ability. However, beneath the brash assertion of his verses, there is deep-rooted respect and groundedness that makes the message hit even harder. The maverick is only getting started in what seems will be new ground in the force of world hip hop and music.
MM: What is the track "DOOM" about?
PAV4N: In the first 15 years of Foreign Beggars, the rap scene (in India) wasn’t at the level it is now. In the last 8 years, we’ve witnessed the making of a proper scene. Doom was one of the first tracks I recorded. Karma was THE first. I finally felt like the rap scene in India is ready for me to be as hard and crazy as I wanted to be. I wouldn’t have to tone it down. There’s a bit of flexing on there, but the overall track is just me stating my presence and what I do.
The beat is hard, it’s not exactly trappy, it’s not a hip hop beat, it’s got a heavy influence from the early days of dubstep. So it kind of represents my journey as an artist. If you look at it on the surface it’s just a rap track, but if you start to dissect it a little more you see it’s Sukh Knight on the production. Then you see who Sukh Knight is and you check out what he’s done. This sound is kind of specific to a certain sound that was popular in grime in 2010. He made legendary tracks like P Money - Slang Like This. So there’s some lineage there with the production style. For me, the way that the track is, I try and stay as free and open as possible when I make the track so I just put the beat on and if I’m in a comfortable enough zone, then I let it come to me. Usually what happens is the first line comes and then I just channel the rest of the track. I let it come out. So that was it here. I just let myself be known as an MC, a rapper and an individual who loves his culture.
MM: What do you feel is the most positive thing about about hip hop in India?
PAV4N:I think it’s way more important that hip-hop has blown up in the native languages, whether it’s Telugu, Tamil, or Hindi, whatever it is. It’s authentic and I think the main thing about hip hop is authenticity, representing who you are, where you’re from, and your environment. Hip hop is just a medium as an art form, and it's the respect and understanding that you show for it through your individualism and your authenticity and what you’re talking about. And The gift that it gives you back is that you’re able to take that music as far and wide and spread the message you want to spread through respecting the art form.
Finding an authentic English speaking voice in India seems to be a challenge cause most rappers put on an American rap accent, it’s not the way they normally speak.
MM: How did your whole persona and avatar come together?
PAV4N: Towards the end of Foreign Beggars, I could have gone in any direction, an underground boom bap artist, in a drill direction or towards EDM or Dubstep. I love all of those things, so I could have just gone straight into drum and bass. Foreign Beggars was the context I was happiest in, but then as a solo artist, there were a few things that made me do what I did. So firstly, we had been coming to India and I always had my eye on it. My brother was living in Bombay about 10 years ago and throwing DnB parties. I remember meeting Bandish Projekt about 15-16 years ago, and from then on seeing things open up, and they were bringing a lot of electronic artists to India. We did the Major Lazer Tour, the Skrillex Tour where we put on Nucleya. Watching Nucleya’s trajectory was one thing as he did it in his own sort of way. And everyone else who had been grinding and putting in the work for the last decade started coming into their own. And then of course meeting guys like Yung Raj blew my mind. So knowing that there are loads of kids there who are doing good was one kind of inspiration. There were a lot of rappers doing things but I hadn’t been too impressed. But when I met Divine, I saw that he was legit and he was doing it in Hindi. He’s come from the same era of hip hop that I came from. I didn’t come to India before with my music cause I didn’t want to boil down my music. I didn’t want to get some Bollywood singer on. I just want to be raw.
PAV4N: So we have always tried to push the boundaries with the aesthetics. And we live in such a visual world now and we’ve got the tools to make incredible stuff visually, it just clicked in my head one day. When we were doing a freestyle on the DJ Limelight and Kan D Man Show in 2018 and he sent us some beats with Indian samples. It really made sense to me cause I didn’t have to stick to genres. I can rap on anything as long as I have an Indian instrumentation and samples in there, that would be the common thread. That means something to me because I’m Indian, and I can talk my talk and actually be representing and have a context as an Indian rapper in India. Having a strong Indian thread also means that growing up as an Indian/Hindu person I have my own set of values, things that I've learned, family values, and my perspective on everything is shaped by those values. So when I rap, I can kind of bring out those values more due to the fact that it contextualises with the Indian samples and sounds in the rap track. So those are the two things that I relate with. I’m not necessarily very devout, but I know what my religion means for me. I have my principles. Also for me, hip-hop, electronic and underground music are what have given me my whole life. Hip hop is a religion that I follow. So, fusing those two things is what created the whole persona.
PAV4N: The fact that about 11 years ago in the Foreign Beggars “Contact” video, there’s a point where the track turns into Drum & Bass and we all turn into higher power versions of ourselves, and I was like cool, this is the chance I need to really step my game up. And also in doing all of this, this isn’t something that I created myself. This is ancient and part of our culture. It’s way bigger than me. This is something that everybody will see and have an opinion about. And by doing it I have to respect it, and it also makes me raise my standards of how I write and how it’s presented.
When you’re fusing Hindu mythology and hip hop, there’s so much in it. There’s fashion, there’s the music, the art, photography, the story, the lyrics. So with all of the threads running through it, I can fuse those two things.
I really wanted to push the boundaries. I love people like FKA Twigs or Bjork who are always pushing the boundaries of art. So with that sort of mindset, it wasn’t a calculated thing. It just came to my head as an idea along with the music and I just ran with it.
MM: I feel that since you’re channelling all this mythology and ancient culture, the gods are with you on this one.
PAV4N: When I came to shoot one of the videos in India, it so happened that Priyanka Chopra’s wedding was happening at the same time. We had a 2-day shoot booked in Jodhpur, and we had to completely cancel the whole plan about a week before. I was speaking to my friend and he said, just come to Vrindavan. I thought it was quite crazy, of all the places to go in India. But we decided to go there and the whole city just opened itself up to us. I’m walking around in the city all blue and everything. So I didn’t plan that on purpose. Right from the start, I knew this was unchartered territory for me, and I was going with my instinct.
MM: How do you see your own role and responsibility in hip hop in India?
PAV4N: Well, I’ve done this for so long now. I decided to go a different way in my life when I was young. I had the vision of doing something in music when I was 16-17 and that burning desire kept me there. I was always all in, ever since I was 18 I hustled to make money to make music. And because I was doing that, I was doing things on my own terms.
My role in Indian hip hop is to let people know that you can do whatever you want and get as deep with it. You don’t have to follow the trends or follow what’s fashionable. You just have to come at it as hard or as weird as you like. Also, one thing as an Indian person in hip hop in the international space is to not downplay it, not that I ever have. If you respect this culture and you bring something to the table, you can be a part of it. For me, I’m finally in a position where India now has a real strong hip hop movement. Hip hop has given so much to India that they understand it and embody it. For me, as somebody representing Indian culture and Indian hip-hop to the rest of the world, I’d like to give visibility to the brown kids who are out here doing the grind. That’s my role.
You Can Follow PAV4N on:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1csMDtU42ZYNaqadbA4TAK
https://www.youtube.com/4ncurrency
https://www.instagram.com/pav4nco/
All Images courtesy of PAV4N
