Hiphop Tamizha

Early life

Adhi (born Adhithya Ramachandran Venkatapathy) was born on 20 February 1990. Jeeva R. was born 29 June 1991. Adhi's family roots are from Puliampatti Sathyamangalam in the Coimbatore district. Adhi was born into a middle-class family with no knowledge of music or cinema. His father works at Bharathiar University while his mother comes from an agricultural background. Adhi's first exposure to rap music was when his neighbour showed him Michael Jackson's "Jam". His interest in hip hop music started developing when he was in the tenth grade. He uploaded rap songs to the internet and got positive responses from people expressing interest in his music, encouraging him to start rapping in Tamil. His decision to rap in Tamil rather than English was to avoid looking like a "wannabe". Adhi named his account on the video-sharing site YouTube as Hiphop Tamizha with a profile picture of the Tamil poet Subramania Bharati to avoid being caught by his parents. Adhi's father had initially opposed his idea of choosing music as his career. He wanted Adhi to pursue higher studies, but gave him a year to do what he wanted, with the only constraint being that Adhi should not expect any help from him. After realising that Adhi was "trying to do some good work", he encouraged him. Adhi then moved to Chennai to "try [his] luck".

Origins

Adhi first met Jeeva via the social networking website Orkut in 2005. The latter later adopted the moniker Jeeva Beatz. Both were passionate about music and decided that they should create an independent music group in India, in their native language Tamil. Around the mid 2000s, Adhi released Viswaroobam Arambam, considered the first Tamil hip hop mixtape. It also played a major role in promoting hip hop as a part of the Tamil culture. Adhi and Jeeva remained underground, until they were asked by the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission to compose an election anthem. Hiphop Tamizha's single Ezhuvoam Vaa was chosen as the official anthem for Tamil Nadu's 2011 state elections, and Adhi performed it at Pachaiyappa's College when Anna Hazare came there. Though the song was unsuccessful, Adhi and Jeeva considered it at one point their "best work so far". Although Hiphop Tamizha is a duo, Jeeva has seldom made public appearances. Adhi told IndiaGlitz that this is due to his shyness and compared him to the unseen lion in the emblem of India, which includes four lions, but shows only three. Other independent artists have also collaborated with them, including beatboxer Bharadwaj Balaji (also known as Triple B) and B-boy Bravo. The official logo of Hiphop Tamizha is a graffiti of Bharati.

The song Club le Mabbule was composed by Adhi when he was in his first year of college. On how it developed, he recalled, "I grew up watching my mother and aunts just being traditional, and when I saw girls going to bars, I immediately wrote the lyrics of that track. And through my lyrics I am raising the debate over whether we are really changing as a society or are simply aping the West." When Adhi was living in Chennai in a 10 x 10-room, he met Ma Ka Pa Anand, then an RJ at Radio Mirchi. Anand allowed Adhi to perform Club le Mabbule on his radio show, with Bharadwaj Balaji also performing. The recording became viral, crossing over two million views within a week of its release on YouTube. Afterwards Rémy Martin, an international brand, was surprised by his determination and after listening to the song they launched Hiphop Tamizha as an official brand. According to The Hindu and Hiphop Tamizha's verified Facebook page, Adhi founded Hiphop Tamizha on 15 February 2010.

Independent music

Hiphop Tamizha are credited with being the pioneers of Tamil hip hop. In December 2010, they performed live at "One Chennai, One Music", an event organised by Radio One to promote independent music in Chennai. In November 2011, Adhi and Bharadwaj Balaji performed at Astra, the two-day inter-school cultural festival of Bhavan's Rajaji Vidyashram, Kilpauk.

Hiphop Tamizha's debut album Hip Hop Tamizhan was released on 17 August 2012 at Sathyam Cinemas in Chennai. Publicized as "India's first Tamil hip hop album", the album was launched by Purple Note and produced by Remy Martin, who was for the first time associated with an Indian album. The music for all the songs was composed by Adhi and Jeeva while the songs were written by Adhi. The album was lauded by critics, with Naren Weiss, writing for Zomba, calling it "nothing short of a masterpiece," and Venkatrangan R of Musicperk calling it "A must listen. Not only for the music but for the messages hidden in it." The album, which included Club le Mabbule, was also a commercial success, becoming the best-selling music album of 2012 on Flipkart. However, Adhi lamented the fact that "Club le Mabbule" was accepted for airplay by radio channels only after its viral success, and that some of his other songs never got airplay even once. In September 2012, Hiphop Tamizha performed at Madras Christian College's "Deepwoods", Dr G R Damodaran College of Science's Brand Expo 2012, Loyola College's Ovations, Kilpauk Medical College's Pradharshini, and Alagappa College of Technology's Sampradha.

The India Book of Records later recognised Hiphop Tamizha as the "first artiste to release a Tamil hip hop album from India". On 14 February 2013, Adhi received the award for "Internet sensation of the year" from BIG FM 92.7. In the same month, he performed live at Madras Christian College's cultural event Deepwoods. He also won the "Independent Artist of the Year" award at Anna University's annual event Techofes. On 4 May 2013, Hiphop Tamizha performed live at Madras Music Academy in a concert organised by SS International. They also performed with American rapper Emcee Call on All I Wanna Say, an album that features several samples of Michael Jackson's songs.

In November 2013, Adhi had signed an international album with Remy Martin, titled International Tamizhan, which will feature eight tracks, including two songs by American artists Sol and Emcee Call. The album will be released in English, Hindi and Tamil, and was initially scheduled for release on 15 August 2014; however, Hiphop Tamizha instead released the album's song "Vaadi Pulla Vaadi" as a single on the same date, and as of October 2014, the album, according to Adhi is still "under progress". In the same month, he performed for the second time at Madras Music Academy, this time as part of SS International's nine-day concert Navotsavam. In December 2014, he announced that he will launch "Madrasi Mafia", a music label that will manage independent music artists; as of 2015, it has been launched. As of February 2015, Adhi and Jeeva were collaborating with independent Tamil singer Kaushik Krish on his forthcoming single, but his debut song eventually became "Kannala Kannala", composed by Hiphop Tamizha for the film Thani Oruvan (2015). In July 2015, Adhi performed at Isai Sangamam, a musical event organised by the NGO Raindropss. In January 2016, he performed live at a concert named Nenje Ezhu that raised funds for victims of the 2015 South Indian floods. Later in the year, he released "Takkaru Takkaru", a music video that glorifies the South Indian sport jallikattu.

Cinema

Though Adhi initially expressed no interest in singing or composing for films, he and Jeeva have contributed to numerous works concerning cinema; Adhi sang his first film song, titled "Thapellam Thappe Illai" composed by Vijay Antony for Naan (2012). He also sang the title track of Ethir Neechal (2013) composed by Anirudh Ravichander and accompanied by Punjabi rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh. Adhi wrote "Sudden Delight", composed by Santhosh Narayanan and performed by Rob Mass for Soodhu Kavvum (2013). In May 2013, Adhi again collaborated with Anirudh to perform the song "Chennai City Gangsta" along with Hard Kaur for Vanakkam Chennai. In July 2013, Hiphop Tamizha composed "Na Na Na (Nice v/s Naughty)", a song used for promoting The Smurfs 2 in India. The song, which also features nine contestants from the singing reality show Indian Idol Junior, was the first song Hiphop Tamizha composed for a film, although it did not appear on the soundtrack album. Adhi's third collaboration with Anirudh was for Kaththi (2014) where he performed the song "Pakkam Vanthu".

Hiphop Tamizha's first Tamil film as music composers was Aambala (2015), where they wrote all the six songs and performed three: Pazhagikalaam, Aye Aye Aye and a remix of Inbam Pongum Vennila, from Veerapandiya Kattabomman (1959). They also composed for Indru Netru Naalai, where they wrote two songs and performed one: "iPhone 6 Nee Yendral". Adhi wrote and co-performed Naam Vaazhndhidum, composed by Yuvan Shankar Raja for Vai Raja Vai (2015). Hiphop Tamizha also composed for Thani Oruvan, where they performed two songs: Theemai Dhaan Vellum and the title track. Thani Oruvan topped Apple Music's Best of 2015 list in the category "Best Tamil Album of the year". In February 2015, Adhi was named "The Rising Star of 2014 Male" at the Edison Awards. He also performed at the 9th Vijay Awards in April 2015. Hiphop Tamizha later composed for Aranmanai 2, and Kathakali. They are currently working on Thamizhan Endru Sol, Dhruva (the Telugu remake of Thani Oruvan), which marks their debut in Telugu cinema, Suraj's Kaththi Sandai, R. Ajay Gnanamuthu's Imaikkaa Nodigal, and Kavan to be directed by K. V. Anand.

Other works

In October 2014, Adhi stated that, in spite of receiving many offers, he had no interest in acting as a cinematic hero at that time, although in 2016, he announced that he would be making his cinematic acting debut in Meesaya Murukku, which he would also be directing and composing music for. In November 2013, Hiphop Tamizha launched "Tamizhanda Clothing", a collaboration between them and a firm named Difference of Opinion. Hiphop Tamizha composed and wrote "Poda", a song celebrating the 10th anniversary of the television channel Sun Music. In July 2015, Adhi conducted a seminar on brand management, titled "Face to Face: Hiphop Tamizhan" at Dr G R Damodaran College of Science, Coimbatore. Adhi also made appearances in the Zee Tamizh talk show Simply Kushboo, and the Sun TV reality show Sun Singer. In January 2017, Adhi was part of the protests against the ban on Jallikattu, but withdrew later in the month after he felt they became too "anti-India".

Musical style

Adhi told Sudhish Kamath that he was inspired by the works of Michael Jackson and Jay-Z. In July 2013, he said that he draws inspiration from Tamil poetry, mostly those by Subramania Bharati. In 2014, he said that Hiphop Tamizha's aim is to rebuke the belief among contemporary youngsters that conversing in Tamil is "not cool", and that the project was started to enable them to "relate to the concept of being a proud Tamizhan, to give them an identity." Although the songs Manithan Tamizhan and Tamizhanda glorify the culture and language of Tamil Nadu while simultaneously lamenting their negligence in present day, Adhi has stated that through Hiphop Tamizha and their songs, he does not want to preach that Tamil people should speak their native language or sing praises for it, but to give it a little respect in the way they do with English. He has also said that he wants to change the Indian urban culture of hip-hop being about wearing "baggy pants, 'bling' and big shirts" and eliminate the notion that rap music is about "the money, the women and the gangster-ism." Though Adhi has no formal education in music, he claims to compose purely on instinct. While Adhi is the sole lyricist of his songs, both he and Jeeva produce the background music. Hiphop Tamizha experiment with various elements of Indian music and fuse them with hip hop, creating a "fresh sound" of Tamil hip hop in the process.

Hiphop Tamizha's songs cover a wide range of issues across various fields; Club le Mabbu le covers certain ills of Tamil women, which include frequently visiting clubs, pubs, drinking, smoking, consuming cannabis and having live-in relationships. Sentamizh Penne, the exact opposite of Club le Mabbu le, talks about a culturally rich girl, a traditional girl who Adhi respects. Tamizh Theriyum ridicules those who mock the Tamil language or act like they do not speak it. Vaadi Pulla Vaadi focuses on the conflicts of caste and love, and was inspired by the personal experiences of Adhi's friends. According to him, Iraiva talks about how love is not the end of life: "Two people might really be in love, but because of things like caste, they might not be able to be together. This, we feel, is because of lack of education and awareness". The song Karpom Karpippom is dedicated to education, describing it as the main tool required to solve social problems. Cheap Popularity is Adhi's response to those who criticised him for allegedly seeking popularity through Club le Mabbu le.

Controversies

Club le Mabbu le became the subject of immense criticism due to its portrayal and depiction of Tamil women. Rapper Sofia Ashraf claimed that the song was not only disrespectful to women, but also an insult to rap music. In an interview with The Hindu, Adhi was quoted saying, "Hip hop is about self expression and opinions so such controversies are only natural. The song was intended as a fun number and most people like it because the lyrics are witty. We also sings [sic] about social causes like education and individual identity". In late August 2012, Adhi was reported to be "apologetic to whoever may be offended by the track." In December 2015, Janani Karthik of The Times of India named it as one of several Tamil songs "that have taken crass to an all-low level".

After Adhi released Takkaru Takkaru with the intention of campaigning to have jallikattu legalised (claiming that the sport does not encourage animal cruelty), PETA India's associate manager of campaigns Bhuvaneshwari Gupta described the video as factually inaccurate, adding that it actually showed many scenes of bulls being cruelly treated, and concluded, "Hip Hop Tamizha is better off sticking to just making music, because factual accuracy is not their strong point. Respecting bulls is true Tamil culture, not inflicting pain on them and making them suffer." Adhi decried these comments, stating that he would not believe in an organisation run by "foreigners" telling him that jallikattu is harmful to bulls.

Personal life

Adhi studied at Chavara Vidya Bhavan, and electrical engineering at Bannari Amman Institute of Technology. He holds a state-level rank in Tamil Nadu Common Entrance Test and is a graduate in Master of Business Administration from the Department of Management Studies, University of Madras. As of October 2014, he was studying a PhD course at Bharathiar University, which he completed in June 2015. Jeeva, an engineering drop-out, is also an alumnus of Loyola College, Chennai.

Track list of Hiphop Tamizhan

All tracks written by Adhi & Jeeva.

Track list

All tracks written by Adhi & Jeeva.

Film scores and soundtracks