'Rapping is all about speaking your mind'

Singing sensation

His High Heels have made him a household name in India and abroad. And post the applause for his dance number, Jaswinder Singh Dhami best known by his stage name Jaz Dhami has come out with a compilation album called Now That’s What I Call Desi.

Award-winning Jaz Dhami made his singing debut on Aman Hayers Groundshaker 2 album with Jind Jaan back in 2008. Then he went on to release his debut album JD, which garnered the young singer recognition and success. Since then there’s been no looking back for the vocalist. He is trained in Indian classical, armed with a Music Technology degree and specialised tutoring from
Bollywood singer Jayshree Shivram.

Talking to Metrolife about how his life has changed after the success of High Heels, the international music artiste of the Bhangra genre, says, “My life has completely changed after that song. I didn’t have a strong base in India before, but now I have a strong hold in the Indian market.”

Jaz also became the UK’s first artiste to break into India’s most watched and trending video list of the year with the craze he created in 2012 with High Heels. The first single from his second album, the addictive beats, catchy trumpets and a collaboration with the most popular desi rapper, Yo Yo Honey Singh made it a smash hit of that year.

Giving insights about his association with the ‘famous’ and the ‘much-talked-about’ Punjabi singer Yo Yo Honey Singh, Jaz says, “After listening to my song, Tu He Saddi Jind, his manager approached me. And by that time his album International Villager had also created a hype all over, as before that no one in UK knew who Honey Singh was. So, that is how it all happened.”

Talking about the controversies surrounding Honey Singh, regarding the lyrics of his songs, and whether even his songs are like Honey Singh’s, he comments, “No, not at all. I have never made such songs and would never even sing them because it would be against my personality.

Yes, he had a bad reputation, but he is passionate about singing and sang what is there in his mind. Rapping is all about speaking your mind. But in India it is really different than abroad. There the culture of rapping is totally different, one is allowedto sing what they feel and think.”

Jaz whose favourite singer is Md. Rafi shares how he ended up in the world of music. “Actually, my father was also part of a Punjabi band and that is where it has come from. His performances inspired me to sing and, when I was just nine-years old I sang my first song.”

Now that he has become ‘quite’ popular in India, Jaz has all good things to say about the music scene in this country. “The music scene in India has evolved a lot and is considered as a mainstream industry unlike before. Also, EDM is massive in India now. This industry is definitely progressing as it has so many varieties of music genres – from EDM to Punjabi to Bollywood and many more.”