Creating a great rap-port

Making fun of people on stage for the entertainment of the crowd may seem a bit harsh, but on Tuesday night it was all taken in the spirit of fun, as two rappers battled it out on stage at The Gallery Cafe, Banjara Hills. The evening kicked off with 18-year-old P.M.Z Prasad, aka Zach, covering a few hip-hop hits like Eminem’s Beautiful and Kanye West and Jay Z’s N****s In Paris, followed by one of his originals, Life.

Talking about how he started off, he says, “I always followed hip-hop. I once showed a recording of one of my songs to my friends, and they said I should really give it a shot.” The 1st year BA Mass Communication student, who lists Eminem and Jay Z as his influences, then gave the stage to fellow hip-hop aficionado Aishan Vali.

Going by the stage name Xcpt, Aishan introduced the  audience to the true meaning of hip hop, explaining that it was a whole culture, with its own music, language, art and more. “I’ve always been into writing and poetry, and when I first came across rap I thought, ‘This would be a good challenge’. Rap is the acronym for ‘rhythm and poetry’,” Aishan says, adding, “Not only do you have to rhyme, you have to do it to rhythm and work on your delivery as well. Then there’s the whole freestyle and battle element which I really love.”

Taking random objects from the crowd, such as  earphones and even credit cards, Aishan went on to improvise freestyle rap on the spot, with the objects in focus. He then invited drummer Karthik Kalyan, pianist Francis Israel and bassist Varun Venugopal on stage for live performance  the set was joined by beatboxer Adnan. Zach and Aishan then had a freestyle battle with the band’s blues-jazzy background music. The interesting part? None of the artists on stage had jammed together before, barring Aishan and Adnan, and Francis and Varun.