JOIN US'Rap is a reflection of reality'
For some, words are their world and beats the rhythm of life. This is what CJ aka Sandeep Venkatesh feels about the world of rapping, into which he entered as a teenager.
It was a song by Eminem that enthused the youngster, who tried his hand at it soon after. Sandeep who completed a diploma in Computer Science from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, is now a student of Audiolife School of Sound Engineering.
“I love learning about music continually as this helps in the evolving of the artiste. I started rapping when I was a teenager and rappers like Tupac changed my life,” he says with a smile. Sandeep, who explored the world of beats and words in 2008, says that his first work didn’t turn out impressive.
“The words didn’t go well with the beat. I practiced for some time, working on my beat and around 300 covers. It was a learning process and through this, I learnt the technicalities of rapping,” he says.
He has eight songs to his credit, which vary in theme. His works are ‘Rise of Autopsy’, ‘Underground Madness’, ‘Unseen Destiny’, ‘Art for Humanity’ and ‘Darker Memory’. Some of the works that will be released soon are ‘Gayathri Mantra’, ‘Where Realness Lies’ and ‘Whose Side Am I on?’.
Sandeep who has a dual crew called ‘Next Dimension’ with MC Zombii aka Shubhankar Das, says he has a great chemistry with Shubhankar and will be releasing a mixed tape with him very soon. “There are several tracks in the pipeline and the tape, ‘Testify’, will have around 16 to 18 songs,” he says excitedly.
He can rap up to 12 syllables per second and says that the speed varies according to each song. “I like experimenting with speed. I can go really slow and really fast, and I can chop hard and hit the right ‘normal’ beats.”
When asked about genres, Sandeep says that he doesn’t like tying himself down. “I’m also a classical violinist, I have been teaching violin and performing at classical concerts. The instrument influences my music deeply. ‘Gayathri Mantra’ is such kind of a fusion — a mix of classical hip-hop rap. I have tried deep house trance and rap, classical and pure hip-hop and rap. I will continue to push my boundaries,” he says. “Like a mother cannot differentiate between her children, I love all my tracks,” he adds.
Sandeep has performed at several college fests and malls in the City. “It has been an exciting journey so far. I have also performed on a cruise ship in Goa and at a private party at Delhi.” He says that he also composed the theme song for the Shadow Dance Studio. “The song is also called ‘Shadows’.”
He not only raps in English but also in Kannada. “I feel comfortable rapping in both languages. I work with a normal pace in Kannada though,” he says. “For me, rapping is voicing out things from real life. Rap is a reflection of reality. My works always talk about what happened to me or what I saw around — it could be an accident that I went through or how people became victims of corruption. My concentration is on the society and I hope to start a movement for change with my talent. I am a believer and I also rap about God.”