These Tamil rappers are the real ‘gully boys’

Born and brought up in Dharavi, Mumbai, Suresh Agailan Bose (Sean YKV) realised early on that rap music was the perfect medium for him to highlight social issues that haunted the slums. From drug lords to prostitution, love and heartbreaks, he formed a group called South Dandies Swaraj (SDS) and began rapping about these topics in Tamil to spread awareness among the masses.

Why Tamil, one might wonder. “My roots go back to Tirunelveli, so the language is deep-rooted in my life,” says Sean. He formed SDS in 2014 with two other friends and rappers, Ranjit Shankar aka Kushmir and Rahul Prasad aka Tamizh. “Recently, Kushmir left the group, so now it’s just Rahul — who’s changed his name to Rap Ravanan — and I. We call ourselves Mad Sambar,” he adds, “and our aim of connecting with people through music remains the same.”

The duo has similar beliefs in the sense music isn’t an ‘option’ for them to express what they feel or see, but is a lifeline. Sean recalls, “Since childhood, I couldn’t imagine a day without music. After school, I would sit at home and dabble with lyrics. When I incidentally came across rap music, I began listening to a few songs and felt I could connect with it. I felt it could resonate with the message I wanted to share.”

He currently has 30-40 original songs to his credit and finally, audiences see and know Mad Sambar more for their music than their place of origin, “Our (SDS’s) first ever break was during the after party of Slumdog Millionaire, where we rapped about the 26/11 attacks and recycling garbage. People liked it because it was different and reflected the early days of rap when the African Americans in the Bronx used hip-hop to express their suffering. This opportunity changed perceptions that we were just ‘boys from Dharavi’ to rap musicians,” he says.

For the next few years, things were looking up for the boys but after they took a break in between to pursue higher studies, luck didn’t seem to favour them. “By then, many other rappers from our locality had come into the field and they started getting a lot of recognition even though their work wasn’t entirely original,” feels Sean. Is he hinting at another particular rapper from Dharavi? “Well, I could be. That’s why I haven’t watched Gully Boy yet and mostly I don’t think I will because I feel that the newer rappers copy a lot of styles, words and music from the West. The only positive thing about the movie is that Indian independent musicians are getting a global reach,” he explains.

This doesn’t mean that Sean or Rahul will ever give up. “In fact, we’re in Chennai right now to record our next single and hopefully find a record label that’s willing to sign us on. If we stop now, we’ll forever feel empty so we keep pushing ourselves to go on,” they sign off.