Manjeet Ral: hip-hop’s rising star

Manjeet Ral might have parted ways with RDB, but he is going as strong as ever. He has even come up with the best collaboration of all times...

Hi Manjeet, how is life? What are you doing these days?

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Hey. Life is all good. Traveling back and forth from Canada to India is taking a toll. But yeah, I am enjoying it.

You have recently teamed up with some of the biggest Punjabi singers to come up with a new song. How was that venture?

Right now, there are different stars! And you know the album days are gone. People are releasing singles after singles. Because with singles, you can get more promotions, you can pump in more money. So, that’s why I am working with different artists. There are not only Punjabi artists but more international artists as we are trying to bring in more international music in India.

So, what is the theme behind this album?

International music... Punjabi international music!

Is this to give some kind of a global reach to indi-pop music?

Yeah, yeah! Hip hop is from the streets. It’s a culture. Its like saying what you feel through music. Desi hip hop should be a music genre of it own.

What happened with RDB? Why the divorce?

After Kohli paaji passed away, he was the founder of RDB and he brought all of us together. I didn’t want to create more music under RDB. Suppose if some day we create a music but people say this is shit as we were supposed to carry on the legacy of Kohli paaji. I did not want any negativity around us. So to leave RDB as a legacy, I left just like Beatles and Black Eyed Peas was abandoned leaving a legacy behind them.

It must have taken time for you to get back in the industry? RDB were going strong any way!

I am guessing that was twice tough. To carry on and saying I am RDB and then release something and fail. I did not want to tarnish the brand. Rather leave it at the top. That was like the peak of the peak. We didn’t agree on that point. But now I have moved on.

We know Punjabis are known to celebrate and find reasons to celebrate. Is this what Party like a Punjabi signifies?

Everybody knows Punjabi love to party. So I wanted to make a signature “If you want to party, party like a Punjabi!

You know when we were shooting in Toronto, there were many people around.

After the song finished they all started singing the song! That was kind of an accomplishment.

Tell us about your childhood and how music played a part in shaping it up?

I grew up in a small city called Bradfort. It was dominated by Muslims. There was a small community of Sikhs. Even the school was not that good. We had it hard at the young age, bullying and all! Our upbringing was like a small family. It was not a big, lavish upbringing! But from that age only, we loved making music. Me and Kohli paaji used to give our CDs to DJs and tell them to play it. And when it was played once, we were a hit!

Do you like to connect with your fans just through songs or via social networking as well?

Oh, yeah, yeah. I am constantly on Instagram and Twitter. I always reply to fans who even say crap to us.

What is the plan ahead in 2015? What more we will see of you?

So many things man. We have many singles and films lined up.

From the March 2015 issue of FHM India.