MM Exclusive: Seedhe Maut

Seedhe Maut’s punchy, intentional, and playful style has rendered them poster boys for Indian hip-hop. Figuring a central role in the rise of the Hindi-speaking scene, this year, they are preparing to embark on the largest independent global tour in Indian music history. Before they embark on this colossal journey, Mixtape Madness spoke to them about being bilingual rappers, how challenging injustice is part of their identity, and whether hip-hop’s expectations of masculinity differ between India and the West. 

How would you describe a Seedhe Maut show to someone who’s never been before?

Calm: I think it’s an experience; a riot. Sometimes, I want to be the one watching us on stage. I just want to feel it once. It’s a blessing and a curse. 

Encore: High energy. That’s how we’ve come up. That’s been the driving force of why we sell so many tickets in India. We tell the crowd to separate, and then when the drop comes, they go crazy. 

What do you like most about performing?

Encore: Being able to connect with people through our songs. Some people cry when they’re watching us. We make a point to tell the kids, no matter how much stress you’re under from home, just leave all that behind – bounce with us, let that energy out, make a few friends in the process, and when you leave, you’ll feel lighter but also part of something bigger. When we’re making music it’s just the two of us in a small room. To then see so many people resonate with the same lyrics is magical. We are here, the crowd is there, and the music becomes this organism connecting us.

You’ve come to the UK before. What were your impressions of it?

Encore: We’ve been twice. Both times were amazing. Last year we did Glastonbury too, so we got to see Skepta, Doechii, and so many others. I’ve always read stories about London. I used to read Sherlock Holmes. The first thing we did when we got to London was go to 221B Baker Street and take photos. It’s such an old, rich culture and music taking us to so many places is a blessing. 

What UK rappers do you take inspiration from?

Encore: Dave is amazing, Central Cee is pretty nice, Aitch is crazy, Skepta has always been there, and Stormzy too. We’ve been tapped in. The enunciation of UK rappers makes their rhythms so unique. That’s where the uniqueness of any rap from anywhere comes from – the way they speak, how they separate one word from another. All of that ultimately becomes flow. 

In more commercial Western hip-hop, there are complex but strict genre expectations with regards to masculinity and authenticity – whether what is spoken is true or not. Do you think there’s a similar measure of authenticity with regards to Indian hip-hop?

Encore: To a point there is because the idea of being real is what drives those narratives. If there’s a rapper who has street pedigree and he’s rapping well, then that adds more weight to their words. Mainly people just care about the music here. If you’re rapping well, if your rhythm is on point, if your wordplay is good – that’s what matters. That’s one of the better things about the scene right now.

Calm: There are Indian artists who do make gangster music and put bars about guns in their songs. Some live that, but some don’t and are just inspired by Western rap music. So, there’s two sides to it.

Who was the first hip-hop artist who inspired you?

Calm: For me it was Eminem for sure. 

Encore: On the Indian subcontinent, around 80% of the people who are into hip-hop are interested in it because of Eminem, especially kids around our age.

Calm: I have this memory where my brother said “You’re not going to go to school today” because there was an Eminem video premiering in India. 

Encore: I found Eminem when I was 11 or 13. Around that time I was pretty rebellious, so when I heard ‘Not Afraid’ and ‘Lose Yourself’, I immediately connected to it. I was hanging on to every word that he was saying. It was adrenaline rush in MP3 format. That’s what got me hooked on hip-hop; that he could tell a story and inspire another kid who’s on the other side of the world. He spoke to the rage I felt in me – minus the killing your mum part.

You originally only rapped in English. Why did you switch to rapping mainly in Hindi? 

Calm: At first, we were trying to bridge that gap between English and Hindi. But then we were surrounded by some people who were obsessed with just rapping in Hindi. For example, we were working on this song called ‘Class-Sikh Maut Vol. II’ and there was this guy who was saying “bro, you have to write this verse in Hindi. I won’t let you spit one single bar in English”. So that was the first verse I wrote in Hindi. I never look back now because I can’t express myself in English the same way I can in Hindi.

Encore: For me, switching to Hindi was us trying to reinvent hip-hop where we live and connect with the people who feel like there’s no one for them. Knowing how to speak English is a privilege in India. So, I wanted to connect with people who are underprivileged and overlooked. Rapping in Hindi was the only way to do that. 

What makes you decide to rap certain bars in Hindi or English? 

Calm: It just comes naturally. Whichever language comes to my head for a certain bar, is what I rap it in. Sometimes you can rhyme Hindi words with English words, and it sounds so beautiful – it’s fun when you play with both languages. I also scat a lot. When I’m writing I’ll scat the rhythm first and then try and navigate what the words could be.

Encore: A few years back I was trying to restrict myself to rapping only in Hindi because no one else had done Hindi underground rap before us. But there are a lot of English words in our vocabulary anyway. It’s quite casual. We rap how we actually talk, but back then I was trying to rhyme the most difficult words in Hindi just to prove it can be done. 

You met at the battle rapping event Spit Dope Inc. Do you feel that competitive context made you better rappers?

Encore: The point of Spit Dope Inc. was to get people from the online scene face to face. In a rap battle, there’s extra pressure on you because people are thinking “is he going to choke? What is he going to spit? Is he going to make the other person choke?”. That pressure was very healthy for us in the long term. It made us better rappers and also able to handle performance pressure. 

Calm: Before we started, Encore used to write a lot, but I was an MC. So, I was on the mic freestyling before I ever wrote anything down. That pressure is what built us and made us the artists we are now. 

What was the transition like from battle rapping, MCing, and freestyling to recording tunes and crafting songs?

Calm: It was so hard. The first time I went to the studio, I went with another rapper who was really experienced. He dropped a verse, played it back, and it sounded so good. Then I recorded something, and it sounded trash. I was like “how is this possible? I’m good when I’m on the street or in a park in front of loads of people, but in the studio I’m not.” That’s when the journey really started for me. When I started writing bars down, I realised that I could put my frustration into something.

What was it like releasing Scalp Dem in 2019? Were you nervous to put it out?

Encore: I was more nervous about the cover art than anything else. On that tune we spoke about the oppression of minorities in India. At that point, there was a lot of extremist sentiment – people were getting called out for being in a different religion or for public displays of affection. It came to a point where we were fed up. That song was in the vault for two or three months because we were busy with different stuff. We ended up releasing it and didn’t think that much about it. Slowly, steadily, it started catching eyes in a negative way. There were multiple factors involved, the cover art, the song, all that. 

Calm: At that time, the atmosphere in the whole country was feeling off. After it was out for a couple of months, we decided to take it down because we were looking at the big picture. We couldn’t let one song destroy what we’d built for so many years.

Do you feel a responsibility to challenge injustice with your music?

Encore: Ever since our first mixtape, we’ve always had that rebellious, speak-your-mind type of persona. We were never hesitant to show it. That was our identity. We’ve definitely learned how to navigate ourselves around certain conditions – specifically online. But we still have that fire inside. 

Calm: We still do that now. We just put out this mixtape called Penthouse Tapes Vol. 1. ‘WATCHU KNOW ABOUT ME’ features Ab 17 from our label and we’re both rapping about football. My friend is the left back for FC Goa. He told me “football’s supposed to be a beautiful game” but he doesn’t feel it anymore because it’s become corrupted by its politics. That inspired me to write a verse. So, we still talk about things that we feel matter.

How would you say your sound has developed since you first started?

Calm: Thinking about our sound, it’s almost like you’re building a wall. You can paint it and put whatever you want on it. Right now, we’re nearing the top of that wall. If you look down, it looks beautiful. When we started off, we had people telling us “you should have a sound”. They don’t realise it takes exploration and work to find it. To know what your sound is you have to know who you are, but the music we make also makes us. 

Encore: That finding your sound thing is interesting because, looking back, what I realise is your sound is your sound. Even if you say one word, that’s your sound. No one can take that away. Your sound is your thoughts, the way you write, your flow. It doesn’t matter if you rap on a trap beat or an afrobeat, if the rapper is speaking from the heart and is in tune with their craft, that’s their sound. People may associate one song with the artist’s sound, but an artist’s sound is their soul. The Seedhe Maut sound is our chemistry, our friendship, everything. It’s not just in the beat or the sonics. It’s reflected in what we talk about and how we complement each other. It comes from the respect and sacrifices we’ve made for each other■ 

Words by Charlie Edmondson