Latest / The Bridge by Sammy Chand / August 27, 2026 — "Sammy Chand interviews Yung Sammy"
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: South Asian music and culture can be.
- 0:02Speaker 2: Found around the world.
- 0:05Speaker 1: We track down the best and.
- 0:07Speaker 3: Present it here for you on Ruckus Avenue Radio.
- 0:15Speaker 4: Hi, this is Simmer and you're listening to The Bridge
- 0:18Speaker 4: with Sammy Jund on Ruckus Avenue Radio.
- 0:21Speaker 5: Yo, this is Still Bangles and you're listening to The
- 0:23Speaker 5: Bridge with Sammy Chand only on Ruckus Avenue Radio.
- 0:27Speaker 3: Hi, this is Anuv Jain and you're listening to Ruckus
- 0:29Speaker 3: Avenue Radio.
- 0:32Speaker 6: Sup?
- 0:42Speaker 5: Sup, everybody? Hope you guys are well. Yeah, this is
- 0:54Speaker 5: a little dramatic, isn't it? It kind of fits. My
- 1:00Speaker 5: name is Sammy John, and welcome everybody to an August
- 1:04Speaker 5: 27th edition of The Bridge. And this is a special episode, yeah.
- 1:14Speaker 5: Today we'll have one of our favorites here on the show.
- 1:18Speaker 5: We will be joined... by Young Sammy, the hip-hop star
- 1:24Speaker 5: from India, the Nigerian hip-hop star from India. And if
- 1:30Speaker 5: you're familiar with any of his work that you've heard
- 1:33Speaker 5: here on the bridge, you know he's one of the
- 1:36Speaker 5: finest we have in all of Indian hip-hop. And today,
- 1:41Speaker 5: we have an exclusive interview with Young Sammy on this show.
- 1:47Speaker 5: It's a great Thursday episode, and I wanted to thank
- 1:50Speaker 5: you all for joining us today. We'll also be joined
- 1:55Speaker 5: by Dr. Roy, who brings us a daily word on
- 2:00Speaker 5: the avenue. We will be joined by Doita Das Gupta,
- 2:05Speaker 5: who brings you an artist spotlight for the day. But
- 2:10Speaker 5: ladies and gentlemen, today... It's all about Young Sammy and
- 2:15Speaker 5: the exclusive interview that we have coming at you today. So,
- 2:22Speaker 5: let's get into this. Pretty dramatic. We're going to start
- 2:32Speaker 5: off the show with one of the biggest songs that
- 2:34Speaker 5: Young Sammy put out that got everybody's attention. We've got
- 2:38Speaker 5: a show to deliver to you and get you ready
- 2:40Speaker 5: for Young Sammy. Welcome to the bridge.
- 2:43Speaker 4: When he's young, Sam is picking shit up and drop silence.
- 2:46Speaker 6: You bitch all our boys, you know we love violence.
- 2:49Speaker 5: High, sitting in his room, we're high.
- 2:51Speaker 6: One of the greatest of all time. I'm drying my fuzz.
- 2:53Speaker 4: The whole scene is on fire, they have to digest it.
- 2:56Speaker 4: The scene is on fire, and this big one is
- 2:57Speaker 4: getting bites. It doesn't bounce, it's in the ears, that's
- 3:00Speaker 4: when it bounces. If it doesn't bounce, then why do
- 3:03Speaker 4: we do soundcheck? I said soba ki ek baar, zarak
- 3:06Speaker 4: nahi padna zyada zare ajo ek saal mere bare chhe
- 3:09Speaker 4: bhi puche google mein tu name dal ba chhodi pehle
- 3:12Speaker 4: studio aake vamp ya chha ped maar khuddi triki zyada,
- 3:14Speaker 4: toh la pet runga ek baar ek bandi beti saath
- 3:17Speaker 4: kerti sami thoda.
- 3:18Speaker 7: Raise da.
- 3:21Speaker 4: Don't be too frank with me, I'm already in case 5.
- 3:23Speaker 6: The beer is getting.
- 3:24Speaker 4: Low, the girls are getting high, their back is straightening up.
- 3:28Speaker 6: The way we rise from the altar, we're getting shake chili.
- 3:30Speaker 6: The girl is getting angry at you.
- 3:33Speaker 4: Tell her baby let's go, but she's getting stubborn. Look
- 3:35Speaker 4: at you boys running, you're getting tickled.
- 3:41Speaker 6: Spin, rub, silence When he's young, Sam is.
- 3:44Speaker 4: Picking shit Pin, rub, silence You be solo, boys, you
- 3:47Speaker 4: know we love violence High, sitting in his room, we're
- 3:50Speaker 4: high One of the greatest of all time, I'm trying
- 3:53Speaker 4: my best The whole scene is gone, they have to
- 3:56Speaker 4: digest it The scene is on the floor, and this
- 3:57Speaker 4: big one is getting beat It doesn't bounce, it's in
- 4:00Speaker 4: the ears, that's when it bounces If you don't want
- 4:02Speaker 4: to sing, then why do you check the sound? Come on,
- 4:04Speaker 4: come on, okay.
- 4:17Speaker 5: Looking forward to talking to young Sammy. He'll be joining
- 4:19Speaker 5: us very shortly. Excited to ask him about his journey,
- 4:24Speaker 5: of course. I think one of the first thing that
- 4:28Speaker 5: strikes you about young Sammy is the question of how
- 4:33Speaker 5: does a young Nigerian man start rapping in Hindi? How
- 4:38Speaker 5: does that happen? And of course, you probably figure out
- 4:41Speaker 5: that he got there through family, and indeed, that's the case.
- 4:45Speaker 5: He moved there as his father is a pastor and
- 4:50Speaker 5: set up camp there in the Delhi area, the Delhi area.
- 4:55Speaker 5: And the story begins. So we'll ask young Sammy about that.
- 5:01Speaker 5: This is Anirudh Ravichandar.
- 5:03Speaker 7: You like that slow and moonlight dangerous smile. You're making
- 5:08Speaker 7: me stay for a little while.
- 5:10Speaker 2: You're my hangover. You're my hangover.
- 5:16Speaker 7: You're sweet like sin when you move that slow.
- 5:21Speaker 6: Just one more.
- 5:22Speaker 2: Look and I'll lose my soul. You're my hangover. You're
- 5:27Speaker 2: my hangover.
- 5:30Speaker 1: You're my hangover. La la la la la La-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la-la.
- 6:53Speaker 7: You got that red lip whisper with that midnight flame.
- 6:56Speaker 7: What the baby and I ain't the same. You're my hangover.
- 7:02Speaker 7: You're my hangover.
- 7:23Speaker 2: I love you.
- 7:50Speaker 1: Yeah, one of the songs from our top 10 last week.
- 8:18Speaker 5: As we get ready for that tomorrow, right here on
- 8:20Speaker 5: the show. We've got young Sammy in tow.
- 8:25Speaker 2: Dr.
- 8:25Speaker 5: Roy stopping by here. Doita Das Gupta. This next song
- 8:30Speaker 5: has been sitting at the top spot now for two weeks.
- 8:36Speaker 5: And prior to that, sat at the number two spot
- 8:38Speaker 5: for a couple of weeks. Pretty remarkable. The artist's name
- 8:43Speaker 5: is Farak. The song we have for you here is
- 8:46Speaker 5: called Tareh.
- 8:48Speaker 8: Our thokras have some old traditions.
- 8:52Speaker 6: Those who have only seen love.
- 9:03Speaker 9: He is the bride of the Lord.
- 9:07Speaker 3: Our thokras have some old special ties. Our thokras have
- 9:10Speaker 3: some old special ties. The one who has seen love,
- 9:15Speaker 3: he is the bride of the Lord. The one who
- 9:18Speaker 3: has seen love, he is the bride of the Lord.
- 9:21Speaker 3: Don't ask about the.
- 9:25Speaker 6: Condition of the heart.
- 9:27Speaker 3: It seems like fear for you. This empty house is
- 9:33Speaker 3: not to be looted.
- 9:35Speaker 6: This heart is shaking. That house is empty.
- 9:38Speaker 3: Since when no one has come to help. This paper
- 9:41Speaker 3: is trembling. When the wounds.
- 9:42Speaker 6: Of the heart are fresh.
- 9:43Speaker 3: These words are something like this. Witnesses of this kind.
- 9:49Speaker 10: Pay attention. Witnesses of this kind. Now something has to
- 9:54Speaker 10: be saved from getting it.
- 9:56Speaker 6: What does the bird say?
- 9:51Speaker 10: Gawaiya is kadar ke paane ko ab kuch bachana hai.
- 9:56Speaker 10: Parinda kaed pinjre mein, parinda kaed pinjre mein, usse dar
- 10:02Speaker 10: aasma ka hai.
- 10:07Speaker 3: Kawaaya is kadar ke paane ko ab kuch bachana hai
- 10:13Speaker 3: Parinda kaid pinjere mein usse dar aasma ka hai Jod
- 10:18Speaker 3: gharab toot ke phir wo samete na simat tha hai
- 10:22Speaker 3: Hai parthe is kadar dil pe tarashe na.
- 10:25Speaker 1: Nikharta hai.
- 10:37Speaker 3: I'm not sure if you guys are following MTV hustle.
- 10:41Speaker 3: The brand new show is out now.
- 10:58Speaker 5: And I always keep an eye on it, not only
- 11:00Speaker 5: for the great music that is coming out and all
- 11:03Speaker 5: the great artists that are coming out through the show,
- 11:06Speaker 5: but also just from a larger 30,000 foot up kind
- 11:09Speaker 5: of perspective of seeing how the genre is progressing. But
- 11:13Speaker 5: great stuff. Fuddark is one of the big stars on
- 11:15Speaker 5: the show. Make sure you check it out. Some exciting
- 11:18Speaker 5: stuff going on there. Now let's bring in Dr. Roy
- 11:21Speaker 5: to this party.
- 11:22Speaker 6: Hey guys, this is Dr.
- 11:23Speaker 11: Roy with today's Word on the Avenue. In film and
- 11:26Speaker 11: TV news, India's raise for the 2027 Oscars is finally underway,
- 11:30Speaker 11: with the Film Federation of India inviting filmmakers to submit
- 11:33Speaker 11: films for consideration as the country's official entry to the
- 11:37Speaker 11: 99th Academy Awards. In media news, a remarkable Indian love
- 11:43Speaker 11: story has arrived on the New York screen with The
- 11:45Speaker 11: Cycle of Love, a documentary about artist P.K. Mahanandiya, who
- 11:51Speaker 11: cycled nearly 6,000 miles from Delhi to Sweden to reunite
- 11:55Speaker 11: with the women he loved. Premiering at Manhattan's Directors Guild
- 11:59Speaker 11: of America Theatre, the film explores a romance that crossed borders, cast,
- 12:04Speaker 11: and cultural barriers. In event news, Pooja Hegde served as
- 12:09Speaker 11: guest of honor at New York's 44th annual India Day Parade,
- 12:14Speaker 11: proudly waving the Indian flag as thousands gathered along Madison
- 12:17Speaker 11: Avenue to celebrate India's Independence Day. The festivities also featured
- 12:22Speaker 11: stars from Tarak Mehta Ka Ulta Chashma, including Dilip Joshi,
- 12:26Speaker 11: Munmun Datta, and Sonalika Joshi, turning Manhattan into a vibrant
- 12:30Speaker 11: celebration of Indian culture and community.
- 12:34Speaker 6: That's it for today's Word on the Avenue.
- 12:36Speaker 11: Until next time.
- 12:37Speaker 5: Thank you very much, Dr.
- 12:39Speaker 4: Roy.
- 12:39Speaker 5: All right, folks. We've got young Sammy on the line.
- 12:43Speaker 5: He's going to be joining me after I play one
- 12:46Speaker 5: of my favorite songs of his. This song is his
- 12:50Speaker 5: collaboration with See Them Off. The song is called Murder.
- 12:55Speaker 5: Stand by for Young Sammy. I'm really excited about this.
- 12:59Speaker 6: Stand by. Whoa.
- 13:21Speaker 12: Moochodi karte hain balak ya balak ya karte hain moochodi
- 13:23Speaker 12: haan haan Shakle hain dikhti hain news akbaron mai jaa
- 13:26Speaker 12: suna hoon.
- 13:26Speaker 5: Hoon di hoon hoon Kahaan par hai rapper yeh dikhte
- 13:28Speaker 5: nahi gaaya hai dostin yeh SMB flip hori haan.
- 13:31Speaker 6: Jaan war hai baithi teen rapper nahi papa hoon ladko ka.
- 13:33Speaker 12: Chaate mein chupo re haan Yeh mic pit chila rahe
- 13:35Speaker 12: parin ke chaate se vocal nahi clip hori naan Yeh
- 13:37Speaker 12: paise yeh bitches yeh badai.
- 13:38Speaker 1: Kamaaya baas music sab thata bin film hoon ke haan
- 13:41Speaker 1: Greater nerda wala shit hai saad hai sammy joe Ek
- 13:44Speaker 1: bandi mo ko poli.
- 13:45Speaker 13: Kaam se bajna hai don't say no Nae jaun.
- 13:47Speaker 12: Ja paise jaye ja blonde jaye ja booty go.
- 13:50Speaker 1: If the truth be told ya, dono ladke new kya phod.
- 13:53Speaker 12: Young zami aur zideh moth Fake bhai gaad toh tootni.
- 13:56Speaker 13: Hai Baadi rakha pura system Life lage meri.
- 13:59Speaker 12: Movie hai One of a kind aur bitch meri Lage
- 14:02Speaker 12: mujhe kaafi choosy hai Ek bandi hori munse kaafi prank
- 14:05Speaker 12: Mere zare pe chadi ke khudri hai Burst lika maine
- 14:07Speaker 12: UK mein aur Delhi mein jaake yeh take liya Kaafi
- 14:10Speaker 12: pehle se main studio mein locked in LA mein jaake
- 14:12Speaker 12: yeh break liya Don't give a fuck about the price
- 14:14Speaker 12: tax Mera man kiya toh fir le liya Ek beti
- 14:17Speaker 12: chod ka phal tu bhool raha Gadi ki dicky mein
- 14:19Speaker 12: gear liya.
- 14:20Speaker 5: But now I fly that shit.
- 14:21Speaker 6: She know that I ride that shit.
- 14:23Speaker 5: Don't give a fuck about the bitch, she go.
- 14:25Speaker 13: It's a landmine thing, yeah.
- 14:44Speaker 1: We'll smoke, we'll drink, we'll pass, we don't have.
- 14:46Speaker 12: To be angry now Bitch, I've been winning in my
- 14:48Speaker 12: gang And I've never raised any snakes I.
- 14:49Speaker 4: Write whatever I feel like I don't want to I
- 14:51Speaker 4: climb on the beat like I've read it somewhere Bags
- 14:53Speaker 4: and bags and bags, damn I don't come down from
- 14:55Speaker 4: the pit I've never raised you more than my own
- 14:57Speaker 4: You've never even pressed Gandhi I.
- 14:59Speaker 8: Take it lightly, I'm in trouble, my poetry is still
- 15:01Speaker 8: not there I don't want trouble, I don't want charlay
- 15:04Speaker 8: I don't give anything like this when I don't have money.
- 15:06Speaker 10: Your head is open like a lock, I put a
- 15:08Speaker 10: chain on your head But it's a tight angle, your
- 15:09Speaker 10: condition is here Your mood will be like this tonight.
- 15:14Speaker 6: And ladies and gentlemen, as you guys all know, I've been.
- 15:17Speaker 5: Looking forward to this.
- 15:18Speaker 12: And probably one of the more emblematic guests that.
- 15:22Speaker 6: We've had.
- 15:41Speaker 5: Here on the bridge. Ladies and gentlemen, it's young Sammy.
- 15:45Speaker 5: How are you, sir?
- 15:46Speaker 6: I'm great, brother. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me, brother.
- 15:51Speaker 5: It's a treat for us.
- 15:52Speaker 6: I hope you're good.
- 15:52Speaker 5: We're great. We're great. All the way from... Are you
- 15:55Speaker 5: in Lagos right now?
- 15:58Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm in Nigeria right now, currently. Beautiful.
- 16:01Speaker 5: Beautiful. And, you know, I think it's unmistakable. And I'm
- 16:07Speaker 5: probably sure that you have been asked this question so
- 16:11Speaker 5: many times, but I'm going to contextualize it here for
- 16:14Speaker 5: the story.
- 16:15Speaker 6: Because as a kid.
- 16:15Speaker 5: You came to India, and one might be thinking how
- 16:18Speaker 5: that happened, but you're a Nigerian pastor's son, you land
- 16:21Speaker 5: in Delhi, and take me back to those first few months.
- 16:25Speaker 5: What was that like for you? How old were you?
- 16:28Speaker 5: And what were you thinking at that time, seeing all
- 16:31Speaker 5: of these different languages being spoken around you?
- 16:35Speaker 6: Yeah, bro. Like, basically, I came to India, that was around,
- 16:40Speaker 6: I'll say, 18 to 19 years back. I moved here
- 16:45Speaker 6: with my family. And as my dad is a priest,
- 16:48Speaker 6: he was posted here, like, to India. And, yeah, like,
- 16:53Speaker 6: I'll say I was very young. I was around, I'll say,
- 16:56Speaker 6: seven years old. Yeah, around seven years old. And yeah,
- 17:01Speaker 6: like since then, back then I was just a kid,
- 17:04Speaker 6: you know, with my family, you know, under my parents,
- 17:08Speaker 6: just doing everything according to that and all, you know.
- 17:12Speaker 6: And I schooled here, my college and everything. I grew
- 17:15Speaker 6: up here in India, basically. And I guess back then
- 17:20Speaker 6: it was just like me as a foreigner, like living
- 17:25Speaker 6: a life in India. Yeah. and alongside my parents, you know,
- 17:29Speaker 6: and schooling there. That was just the story back then.
- 17:33Speaker 6: But then I would say after a point of time,
- 17:37Speaker 6: then interest started coming up. Like when I started knowing Hindi,
- 17:42Speaker 6: when I knew Hindi fluently, when I started, you know,
- 17:45Speaker 6: coping up and, you know, with my friends and everything,
- 17:48Speaker 6: I started getting Hindi. When I finally got Hindi, then
- 17:52Speaker 6: I started catching interest in music. Indie music, basically. I
- 17:57Speaker 6: used to listen to a lot of English rap back then.
- 18:00Speaker 6: But then when I started getting indie music because I
- 18:05Speaker 6: knew the language, it started exciting me. So I used
- 18:07Speaker 6: to listen to a lot of Bollywood songs and all.
- 18:10Speaker 6: But then there's one good day that I listened... I
- 18:14Speaker 6: heard Yo-Yo Honey sing song, Ground Run. And that day
- 18:19Speaker 6: was like my first day hearing... Hearing a... First indie rap. Yeah,
- 18:27Speaker 6: like I I it was my first time hearing the
- 18:30Speaker 6: indie rap And then I kept you know digging more
- 18:36Speaker 6: like like looking for more raps to hear because it
- 18:39Speaker 6: was so cool for me like wow, like drop in
- 18:43Speaker 6: indy as well, it was like It was kind of
- 18:45Speaker 6: something impossible for me that oh indy cat could have
- 18:48Speaker 6: a rap as well so I used to listen to anything.
- 18:53Speaker 6: Then I got more Bohemia, Mafia Mundi. I started digging
- 18:58Speaker 6: more in indie rappers and everything. And then I was
- 19:02Speaker 6: a good listener for a good couple of years. I
- 19:05Speaker 6: kept listening. And then listening to it, my writing started
- 19:10Speaker 6: getting sharp. And then I started writing. Back then.
- 19:15Speaker 6: It used to look stupid to me. Whatever I used
- 19:18Speaker 6: to write, I'd be like, what am I even writing?
- 19:22Speaker 6: But I kept doing it. I kept doing it. Everything
- 19:25Speaker 6: that was fun. Then one day, I met Honey Thing.
- 19:28Speaker 6: That was in 2000. I'll say, yeah, I met Honey
- 19:33Speaker 6: Thing in 2012. And then when I met him, that
- 19:40Speaker 6: was the day I became more motivated. And I was like, oh,
- 19:43Speaker 6: now I have to release a song as well. You know,
- 19:47Speaker 6: then I remember back then one of my friends called
- 19:49Speaker 6: Jaz Kumar.
- 19:50Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah.
- 19:51Speaker 6: Shout out to him. And I released a track back then.
- 19:55Speaker 6: It was Facebook that was going on back then. Yeah.
- 19:57Speaker 6: And we released a track on facebook and it was
- 20:01Speaker 6: just a quick track like we didn't know much about
- 20:04Speaker 6: instrumentals or anything like that we just picked the beat
- 20:07Speaker 6: from youtube and just recorded on it and just dropped
- 20:11Speaker 6: it with a video and then the response back then
- 20:14Speaker 6: was crazy like obviously my school friends and everything around
- 20:19Speaker 6: they all loved it and it got good views according
- 20:22Speaker 6: to that time you know yeah and We were kids then.
- 20:25Speaker 6: I was just like, oh, this is crazy. Like, I
- 20:28Speaker 6: guess we should do more. And we kept doing it.
- 20:31Speaker 6: But then I remember a point of time they took
- 20:33Speaker 6: down that song from YouTube. Because as I just said,
- 20:39Speaker 6: I didn't know much about like instrumentals. And, you know,
- 20:43Speaker 6: we didn't know much about beats, production and all. We
- 20:47Speaker 6: just like picked up. a beat from The Nets and
- 20:50Speaker 6: we didn't know about the rights and all those things.
- 20:53Speaker 6: But it took it down after some time from YouTube
- 20:56Speaker 6: and we were wondering what really happened and then we
- 20:58Speaker 6: got to know that, oh, you need to get the
- 21:01Speaker 6: beat first and all those things. And yeah, like since then,
- 21:06Speaker 6: started getting more, started recording more and then I shifted
- 21:09Speaker 6: to Noida. Specifically does you be 16? That's where I
- 21:14Speaker 6: stay now and I met more of my friends more
- 21:17Speaker 6: of my brothers like They were all rappers and then
- 21:20Speaker 6: we started collabing with each other. I'm talking about urban
- 21:24Speaker 6: poet flyboy Vam Vam is my producer that is the
- 21:29Speaker 6: one we even produce. Yes, great. Exactly. Great. Yeah BBB
- 21:35Speaker 6: So all these guys, and then since then we started
- 21:38Speaker 6: collabing with each other. Then we started making, we started
- 21:41Speaker 6: seeing ways. Doors kept opening and yeah, like, you know,
- 21:45Speaker 6: when they say when you, when you meet people with
- 21:48Speaker 6: the same goal, you obviously, you grow, you know, with
- 21:51Speaker 6: those people. So that's how I met them and we
- 21:55Speaker 6: started making songs and all we started doing shows Like
- 21:58Speaker 6: obviously we were not getting paid back back then. Yeah,
- 22:02Speaker 6: but yeah, we were just doing it just just for
- 22:04Speaker 6: the Just just for the opportunity just to perform in
- 22:08Speaker 6: front of people Just to you know, the under and
- 22:11Speaker 6: everything was there. We just wanted to be there all
- 22:13Speaker 6: out there and we kept doing things till people started
- 22:17Speaker 6: noticing us and then just to cut the story short,
- 22:23Speaker 6: there was a good, fine day.
- 22:26Speaker 10: Yeah?
- 22:26Speaker 6: No, no, carry on.
- 22:27Speaker 5: I love it. Keep going.
- 22:28Speaker 6: Okay, okay. So yeah, so basically after that, I'll say
- 22:35Speaker 6: then we started doing shows and all like free shows, obviously.
- 22:38Speaker 6: Like I remember even sometimes we had to pay just
- 22:41Speaker 6: to be on that stage and we, and we kept
- 22:43Speaker 6: doing it because we just wanted to be out there.
- 22:46Speaker 6: We just wanted like the hunger was there. Like we
- 22:49Speaker 6: just wanted people to see us and to drop that
- 22:52Speaker 6: opportunity and new people to see us and be like, okay,
- 22:56Speaker 6: this upcoming guys.
- 22:58Speaker 5: You know, what years is by the way, just so
- 22:59Speaker 5: we have context of like the timeline.
- 23:01Speaker 6: Yeah. Um, I will say this is like, this crew
- 23:05Speaker 6: was still going on about, I'll say five years ago.
- 23:10Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 23:10Speaker 6: Yeah. Four to five years ago. 21. Like we were
- 23:14Speaker 6: still doing shows like that and all. And then at
- 23:17Speaker 6: a point of time, um, I used to, uh, like
- 23:21Speaker 6: upload a lot of videos on freestyle videos on Instagram,
- 23:24Speaker 6: you know, and I'm talking about this time that my
- 23:27Speaker 6: parents didn't even know that I used to rap. Like,
- 23:31Speaker 6: Because as I told you my dad is a priest.
- 23:33Speaker 6: I come from a very religious home So I was
- 23:36Speaker 6: not that buoyant. I was not that bold enough to
- 23:39Speaker 6: tell my dad that i'm a rapper I want to
- 23:42Speaker 6: be a rapper, you know Because I just assumed like
- 23:46Speaker 6: it's not that they told me that you must not
- 23:48Speaker 6: do this But I always assume that oh if I
- 23:51Speaker 6: go and tell my dad they will think you know,
- 23:53Speaker 6: because normally when like I feel people normally think as
- 23:57Speaker 6: a rapper you might be like you might be indulging
- 24:01Speaker 6: other things as well like that's the like that's the
- 24:04Speaker 6: mindset of people so I was like oh let me
- 24:07Speaker 6: not tell them because they might not be happy about
- 24:09Speaker 6: this and all those things and then I kept doing
- 24:12Speaker 6: it I kept stretching it the more I could myself
- 24:15Speaker 6: saving money doing this doing video shoots this and that
- 24:19Speaker 6: and I kept doing it till they didn't know but
- 24:22Speaker 6: I remember some point of time that like, a few
- 24:26Speaker 6: videos started going viral on Instagram and then in church.
- 24:29Speaker 6: When my dad used to go to church, some people
- 24:31Speaker 6: would be like, oh, like, in a positive way, obviously,
- 24:34Speaker 6: we saw Sammy online. And then my dad would be confused, like,
- 24:38Speaker 6: what do you mean, you know?
- 24:39Speaker 5: And....
- 24:41Speaker 6: Sometimes I remember I was even there once that someone said,
- 24:44Speaker 6: I saw your video. I liked your video. And then
- 24:46Speaker 6: my dad would be like, wait, what video? But my
- 24:49Speaker 6: dad would still be like, okay. So it kept going
- 24:53Speaker 6: like that. Then at a point of time, I was
- 24:56Speaker 6: called for a TV rap show, which is called MTV Usu. Yeah,
- 25:01Speaker 6: we know it well.
- 25:02Speaker 5: We know it well.
- 25:02Speaker 7: Yes.
- 25:03Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 25:04Speaker 6: Yeah. So I was called for that. That was around
- 25:07Speaker 6: three years ago. And this is the time that, okay,
- 25:11Speaker 6: like this time for this opportunity, they know how I
- 25:16Speaker 6: can hide it from my family because I had to try,
- 25:19Speaker 6: like for me to be part of that show, I
- 25:22Speaker 6: had to travel from Delhi to Mumbai and I have
- 25:24Speaker 6: to stay there for like almost two to three months,
- 25:27Speaker 6: you know? So this was the time that I was like,
- 25:30Speaker 6: I have two options. It's either I just go silent
- 25:32Speaker 6: and miss this opportunity or it's either I go bold
- 25:36Speaker 6: and tell my parents, you know, that this is what
- 25:40Speaker 6: I want to do and this is the opportunity I've
- 25:43Speaker 6: gotten and they're my parents. Like, let me just go
- 25:45Speaker 6: and tell them. I took the courage. I first told
- 25:48Speaker 6: my sister because my sister knew that I used to
- 25:50Speaker 6: rap because She follows me. I used to see it.
- 25:53Speaker 6: And she supported me.
- 25:55Speaker 2: Right.
- 25:55Speaker 6: So the next thing she could. Wow. So she knew.
- 25:57Speaker 6: So I disclosed to my sister. I was like, how
- 26:00Speaker 6: should I tell my mom and dad? She was like,
- 26:02Speaker 6: just go and tell them. Like, just go. Like, I
- 26:06Speaker 6: will follow you. I will help you. But you need
- 26:09Speaker 6: to save yourself. And I told them. And surprisingly, they
- 26:15Speaker 6: took it very positively. Like, I was just thinking in
- 26:19Speaker 6: mind that I could have told them all these days
- 26:21Speaker 6: and they would have supported me in a lot of things,
- 26:23Speaker 6: you know, like monetary, maybe other things. Because when I
- 26:27Speaker 6: told them, they were surprised. Like, they were like, okay, like,
- 26:31Speaker 6: since when did you start rapping and all those things?
- 26:33Speaker 6: I showed them a few of my videos and all
- 26:35Speaker 6: and they were like impressed. And then when I told
- 26:37Speaker 6: them about the show, they were very happy and very
- 26:39Speaker 6: supportive about it. And they were glad. They were like, okay,
- 26:43Speaker 6: that's great. All the best and everything. And since then,
- 26:46Speaker 6: I kept practicing for the show and all. Then I
- 26:50Speaker 6: practiced for the show for a good three months. in
- 26:53Speaker 6: which I was like selected, I was making the songs
- 26:56Speaker 6: for the show, like for the start of the show,
- 26:59Speaker 6: the TV show. But then some, I will say like
- 27:03Speaker 6: for now, I will say fortunately, but back then I
- 27:06Speaker 6: was like, unfortunately I didn't like towards the end, they
- 27:10Speaker 6: told me that I'm not selected. I won't be able to,
- 27:14Speaker 6: get in due to some issues. Like they said, um,
- 27:18Speaker 6: there's a rule like the.
- 27:19Speaker 5: Channel citizens only rule or something like that.
- 27:22Speaker 6: Right.
- 27:22Speaker 5: Wasn't that the story?
- 27:23Speaker 6: Yeah.
- 27:24Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 27:24Speaker 6: The story was like, yeah, like only Indian citizens can
- 27:27Speaker 6: be part of the show. So that was like, um,
- 27:32Speaker 6: I got that news. I'll say two days before I
- 27:37Speaker 6: was supposed to get my ticket to go for the show. Wow.
- 27:41Speaker 6: And that time I remember I was so tired. so
- 27:45Speaker 6: like i don't even understand like i was so pissed
- 27:47Speaker 6: off i was so sad i was so yeah a
- 27:51Speaker 6: lot of things was going on in my mind because
- 27:53Speaker 6: more than more than the show what was more important
- 27:57Speaker 6: for me was that this is the time i told
- 27:59Speaker 6: my parents right about this and this is the time
- 28:02Speaker 6: i really want to show them and this is the
- 28:04Speaker 6: time i want to make them believe that i can
- 28:06Speaker 6: really make it in this but that got cancelled and
- 28:11Speaker 6: you know and back then my dad was already very
- 28:14Speaker 6: excited to see me on TV like he was actually
- 28:17Speaker 6: watching the previous show and imagining me like he was
- 28:20Speaker 6: sorry he was watching the previous season of that same
- 28:23Speaker 6: show imagining me on the stage you know he used
- 28:27Speaker 6: to watch it and it would be like oh you're
- 28:29Speaker 6: going to perform on this he was very happy for
- 28:31Speaker 6: me you know and then I was so sad that
- 28:35Speaker 6: I didn't know how to break that news to him
- 28:38Speaker 6: you know I was so sad that I didn't really
- 28:41Speaker 6: understand how to tell my dad that it's canceled. You know,
- 28:45Speaker 6: every day, like for the good, I'll tell you for
- 28:48Speaker 6: good two weeks, I kept just like, he used to
- 28:51Speaker 6: ask me, when are you going? When are you going?
- 28:53Speaker 6: I just kept saying, oh, it's delayed. They'll call me soon.
- 28:56Speaker 6: They'll call me soon. But then at a point of time,
- 28:59Speaker 6: I started waking up in the morning, leaving my home
- 29:04Speaker 6: and going to the studio with my friends and all that.
- 29:06Speaker 6: And just coming back in the night when my dad
- 29:08Speaker 6: is asleep. just to avoid him, avoid the questions he
- 29:13Speaker 6: used to ask me, you know? And, but there was
- 29:17Speaker 6: a time that I was like, damn, okay, I'm leaving rap.
- 29:20Speaker 6: Like I'm not rapping anymore. This tension is too much,
- 29:23Speaker 6: like hiding from my parents. Like they already started showing the, um, the,
- 29:29Speaker 6: like the promo of the, of the, um, season, um,
- 29:34Speaker 6: in the TV. And my dad already started seeing it.
- 29:36Speaker 6: He told me that, oh, they've started shooting. Why are
- 29:39Speaker 6: they not calling you? I kept saying oh like I'll
- 29:42Speaker 6: soon go I'll soon go Because I didn't know how
- 29:45Speaker 6: to just break the news to him because he was
- 29:48Speaker 6: also happy. And at the same time, I don't want
- 29:51Speaker 6: to like, oh, this is the time they believed in me.
- 29:53Speaker 6: And now after practicing for like good two, three months,
- 29:56Speaker 6: everything is canceled, you know?
- 29:58Speaker 5: It'd be so discouraging to them for sure.
- 30:00Speaker 6: Totally. Exactly. Exactly. So now what happened was that like
- 30:05Speaker 6: there was a point of time. Um, you know, I,
- 30:07Speaker 6: I decided that I'm going to leave rap now and
- 30:11Speaker 6: I won't, you know, continue. I told my friends, my
- 30:13Speaker 6: friends were like, no, bro, like there's not the end
- 30:16Speaker 6: and everything. But like from inside, I knew, like, I
- 30:18Speaker 6: don't know where I'm going to start from because I
- 30:21Speaker 6: really believed in this show. Like, I really believe that
- 30:24Speaker 6: I'm going to make it through the show, you know?
- 30:26Speaker 6: And then what happened was that I had this one track,
- 30:30Speaker 6: which I already stopped. like just before preparing for the, um,
- 30:36Speaker 6: the show. Four by four. Yeah. Four by four. Exactly.
- 30:40Speaker 6: And I had a feature, um, on it. So, which
- 30:43Speaker 6: is my, my homie urban boy, you know, I was like, okay,
- 30:47Speaker 6: don't let me be selfish about this. That, okay. Even
- 30:49Speaker 6: if I'm leaving rap, but I have another artist who
- 30:52Speaker 6: has like giving his time and wrote something on, you know,
- 30:55Speaker 6: I cannot just like be like, Oh, I'm not releasing
- 30:58Speaker 6: the gig while I have another artist on it as well.
- 31:01Speaker 6: So I have to respect him. And at least just
- 31:03Speaker 6: dropped it. And maybe after that, I quit. So what
- 31:06Speaker 6: happened was that I dropped that track. And that same week,
- 31:10Speaker 6: that track blew up to an extent that everyone... It
- 31:14Speaker 6: blew up to an extent that I woke up one
- 31:16Speaker 6: day and Honey Thing was texting me. It blew up
- 31:20Speaker 6: to an extent that a lot of artists that I
- 31:22Speaker 6: used to look up to, they were following me. Different
- 31:26Speaker 6: labels were reaching out to me. Then I was like, damn.
- 31:29Speaker 6: And then I finally was speaking to labels and everything.
- 31:34Speaker 6: And then I came across a very good deal, which
- 31:37Speaker 6: was basically true. And the paper I got was looking nice. Like,
- 31:42Speaker 6: I mean the contract. And now I was like, okay,
- 31:45Speaker 6: now this is the right time to go to my
- 31:47Speaker 6: parents and tell them that, okay, that got canceled, but
- 31:50Speaker 6: I got a bigger thing. And that's, that's all like,
- 31:55Speaker 6: I went there, I told them and I just, but
- 31:58Speaker 6: what I really learned from that and what I really,
- 32:01Speaker 6: before I went there, I was like, God really does
- 32:04Speaker 6: things in his own way. Like sometimes when you feel
- 32:07Speaker 6: one way is blocked, but actually it's, it's opening away
- 32:11Speaker 6: for you because sometimes, the show actually it was a
- 32:16Speaker 6: good thing that happened to me because a lot of
- 32:18Speaker 6: people who went to the show there was a contract
- 32:21Speaker 6: which was bound which was bounding all of them which
- 32:24Speaker 6: was limiting them after the show and I didn't know
- 32:27Speaker 6: that I was something is coming up for me which
- 32:30Speaker 6: made that to get cancelled and I got a good
- 32:34Speaker 6: deal and things started working since then and after 4x4
- 32:39Speaker 6: then I dropped more songs with the label and everything
- 32:42Speaker 6: with Desi True people started knowing me like 4x4 people
- 32:46Speaker 6: just knew oh there's a black guy who raps in
- 32:48Speaker 6: Hindi but the songs I dropped after that yeah but
- 32:51Speaker 6: the songs I dropped after that they knew me by
- 32:53Speaker 6: my name like they knew me by Young Sammy you
- 32:55Speaker 6: know they started knowing me as okay there's this guy
- 32:58Speaker 6: called Young Sammy like not just a african guy who
- 33:02Speaker 6: raps in hindi but they started knowing me like by
- 33:06Speaker 6: my name like they started listening to my tracks even
- 33:09Speaker 6: not just seeing me as an african obviously that's a
- 33:12Speaker 6: plus point which will always remain forever but yeah like
- 33:17Speaker 6: um that's how things started going on and i'm dropping
- 33:20Speaker 6: tracks and then i started getting you know hits and
- 33:24Speaker 6: all by god's grace and people started loving my work
- 33:27Speaker 6: and Yeah, we're here today. So that's just about me, like,
- 33:31Speaker 6: a small journey that I've been moving on.
- 33:34Speaker 5: Sammy, what a story, man. What a story. Well, my
- 33:38Speaker 5: first question to you is this. You, as a Nigerian,
- 33:43Speaker 5: how do the folks in Nigeria reflect on what you're
- 33:47Speaker 5: doing as someone rapping into them, into Hindi, into any
- 33:53Speaker 5: of the Indian dialects, for that matter? I've heard you
- 33:55Speaker 5: in so many different ways. But, like, When you take
- 33:59Speaker 5: this kind of cultural identity, and we've only talked about
- 34:04Speaker 5: it from the context of India, but let's talk about
- 34:07Speaker 5: it from the context of Nigeria. What's the reaction there like?
- 34:10Speaker 6: Yeah, I feel... They feel so proud because let me
- 34:15Speaker 6: start with the Africans in Nigeria. So basically, um, you know,
- 34:21Speaker 6: like I see before it was just like me getting
- 34:25Speaker 6: viral and, you know, reels popping up on people's feed
- 34:28Speaker 6: and all those things. But now like, it's like the
- 34:31Speaker 6: fan base is there now and now it's growing. Now
- 34:34Speaker 6: it's growing to an extent that even the Africans in
- 34:36Speaker 6: Nigeria are getting, sorry, the Africans in India are, I'm
- 34:40Speaker 6: getting to know, like I see a lot of Africans
- 34:43Speaker 6: like following and even some of them, they meet me
- 34:46Speaker 6: on the way and they will be like, yo, we
- 34:48Speaker 6: heard this song, you know, even a lot of Africans
- 34:50Speaker 6: in church, I meet them around. They now listen to
- 34:53Speaker 6: the songs. Like they don't really understand the language, but
- 34:55Speaker 6: they don't, they just love the fact that, Oh, someone
- 34:58Speaker 6: from our own community, is like you know representing us
- 35:02Speaker 6: in India and people are loving that they just love
- 35:05Speaker 6: seeing the visuals they just love listening to that type
- 35:08Speaker 6: of music as well like just the flow they understand
- 35:11Speaker 6: the flow because I always tend to give, obviously, Hindi
- 35:16Speaker 6: and English, but at the same time, I try to
- 35:18Speaker 6: give the cultural aspect as well to make it more
- 35:22Speaker 6: friendly for everyone around the world, like not just Indian audience,
- 35:27Speaker 6: you know. So they started catching it. And even now,
- 35:31Speaker 6: it travels to people in Nigeria as well. I see
- 35:33Speaker 6: a lot of Nigerians tapping in, you know. And I
- 35:37Speaker 6: see a lot of, like, even artists, like Nigerian artists, like,
- 35:41Speaker 6: like recently i was approached by um baby do's um
- 35:45Speaker 6: i don't know if you know baby do i don't
- 35:47Speaker 6: know he's a very big artist from africa got it
- 35:50Speaker 6: okay yeah i was speaking to his manager and he
- 35:53Speaker 6: was like yo like baby do knows you like he
- 35:56Speaker 6: has seen your work and all those things you know
- 35:58Speaker 6: so it's a big deal for me because baby do
- 36:00Speaker 6: is biggest like it's the top three in nigeria you
- 36:03Speaker 6: know wow for me rapping in hindi Yeah. Me rapping
- 36:06Speaker 6: in Hindi in India is reaching out to David, though,
- 36:09Speaker 6: which is big, you know, and which is like, I
- 36:12Speaker 6: feel it's a good thing. Like, it's just like, bringing
- 36:17Speaker 6: two cultures together and even like different artists, like Black Bones,
- 36:20Speaker 6: a lot of artists I used to listen to, like
- 36:23Speaker 6: as a fan, you know, that they, they are tapping
- 36:25Speaker 6: and they follow me. They, they, you know, listen to
- 36:29Speaker 6: my tracks and all those things, which is a big
- 36:30Speaker 6: deal that, okay, even though they're not loved, they don't
- 36:33Speaker 6: really know the language, but they still tap them, which
- 36:37Speaker 6: simply shows that Indian, Indian rap scene, Indian hip hop
- 36:41Speaker 6: can travel worldwide. The language is not a barrier at all. Like,
- 36:46Speaker 6: I just feel it's music, so it can travel worldwide.
- 36:50Speaker 6: So that's the race I'm running. I just feel it
- 36:54Speaker 6: will go ahead someday.
- 36:55Speaker 5: I'm going to reflect on this point, because obviously as
- 37:00Speaker 5: a Punjabi here living in LA and being deeply involved
- 37:03Speaker 5: in both sides of the music industry here in not
- 37:05Speaker 5: only the US and North America, but the Indian side
- 37:08Speaker 5: of it, if I even take a step back from
- 37:11Speaker 5: that even further and put myself in the identity of
- 37:14Speaker 5: international music, and then when I look at the entire
- 37:18Speaker 5: spectrum of the global music industry, there are a few
- 37:23Speaker 5: very interesting and very vibrant hip-hop scenes that are happening
- 37:28Speaker 5: right now around the world. And both of them happen
- 37:31Speaker 5: to be what you're connected to, you know, from your identity.
- 37:35Speaker 5: I feel like Africa, and specifically, maybe even West Africa
- 37:39Speaker 5: is going through a very interesting renaissance, of course, Ghana, Nigeria,
- 37:42Speaker 5: that entire belt over there of how much they're affecting
- 37:45Speaker 5: global industry. And then you take, you know, the movement
- 37:48Speaker 5: of yourself, Hanumankind, and so many other artists that I
- 37:51Speaker 5: know that you've referred to in the past as well.
- 37:55Speaker 5: Let's talk about that. How is this scene being, how
- 37:59Speaker 5: is the Indian hip hop scene being seen through your
- 38:02Speaker 5: eyes and through your let's just call it your international
- 38:05Speaker 5: eyes as well.
- 38:07Speaker 6: Mm-hmm. See, I feel Indian scene, obviously, like, no doubt
- 38:13Speaker 6: is growing. Like, if you look at the past three
- 38:16Speaker 6: years or past four years, it has drastically changed. Like,
- 38:21Speaker 6: people now are turning towards hip-hop in India. Before, like, obviously,
- 38:26Speaker 6: Bollywood will remain forever. Of course. But hip-hop now is
- 38:31Speaker 6: kind of like, it's trying to reach there. Like, you know,
- 38:34Speaker 6: Because before, I remember back then when I was in college,
- 38:39Speaker 6: obviously as a rapper, I just love hip-hop tracks more.
- 38:45Speaker 6: But the mainstream audience, they're only tapped in with Bollywood music.
- 38:49Speaker 6: But then I remember in college when me and my
- 38:52Speaker 6: friends would be roaming in the cars and all, when
- 38:54Speaker 6: I played rap, any hip-hop track in Hindi or something,
- 38:57Speaker 6: they'll be like, bro, ban kar yaar. Like, stop this, bro.
- 38:59Speaker 6: What are you playing? You know, it's too much of
- 39:03Speaker 6: all those things, you know? They'll be like, play this, man. Like,
- 39:06Speaker 6: play something Bollywood play, you know? But now, everyone wants
- 39:10Speaker 6: to listen to hip-hop. Everyone. Like, any college fest, it's
- 39:14Speaker 6: a hip-hop artist. any festival, any hip-hop artists they're looking for.
- 39:19Speaker 6: Which is a good thing. Before, it's very rare that
- 39:23Speaker 6: you're going to see them on a college show. You're
- 39:27Speaker 6: going to see any hip-hop act like Divine or something.
- 39:31Speaker 6: They used to be, but not that much. But now,
- 39:34Speaker 6: any college fest or anything, they're looking for a hip-hop artist.
- 39:38Speaker 6: That's the first preference. which is a good thing because
- 39:41Speaker 6: now it's growing. And I feel now even when the
- 39:45Speaker 6: market from this side, from the States, is trying to
- 39:48Speaker 6: tap in to Indian market, like for example, Rolling Loud.
- 39:51Speaker 6: You won't see anything like Rolling Loud. Central Sea has
- 39:54Speaker 6: been to, Swaley has been to India. Like Travis Scott
- 39:57Speaker 6: has been to India. Like that's like so evident. Like now,
- 40:00Speaker 6: like I feel last year, if you check the amount
- 40:03Speaker 6: of artists who came, All the way. You see that
- 40:06Speaker 6: the hip-hop scene is growing because all we need is
- 40:09Speaker 6: just the cross culture to keep mingling with each other,
- 40:12Speaker 6: you know? Yeah. To keep growing. That's needed because I
- 40:17Speaker 6: feel that Indian hip-hop was a bit undiscovered about three,
- 40:21Speaker 6: four years ago. Or I would say like kind of
- 40:25Speaker 6: like people were not really interested. And it's like, they,
- 40:29Speaker 6: it was kind of like, Oh, what's hip hop in India? Like,
- 40:32Speaker 6: how is it possible? But now I feel now everyone
- 40:35Speaker 6: is trying to tap in. The labels are coming in. The,
- 40:38Speaker 6: like the shows are coming in. I feel rolling down.
- 40:41Speaker 6: I've come in. I feel a lot. I've heard a
- 40:43Speaker 6: lot of IPs, which is, um, out there are coming
- 40:46Speaker 6: in India, like very soon. Um, this year to next
- 40:49Speaker 6: year you know so I feel this has really grown
- 40:51Speaker 6: now like hip-hop listeners in India have also increased now
- 40:55Speaker 6: the amount of hip-hop tracks which are charting on Indian
- 41:00Speaker 6: VSPs and all you know which is which is which
- 41:02Speaker 6: is big you know like now if you're saying top
- 41:05Speaker 6: 50 before you cannot see any hip-hop hip-hop track being
- 41:10Speaker 6: in a top 50 tracks in India right like that's
- 41:14Speaker 6: not possible I'm talking about four years back but now
- 41:17Speaker 6: coming to even me like I was saying last year
- 41:20Speaker 6: I was part of the top 50 and like my
- 41:23Speaker 6: song was part of the top 50 songs in India
- 41:25Speaker 6: which is silent you know so it's a big deal
- 41:29Speaker 6: like you cannot think about that like four years back
- 41:32Speaker 6: And obviously everything, like kudos to Unumankind, you know, everything
- 41:36Speaker 6: here also, like, which made the map to open, you know,
- 41:40Speaker 6: which made people to discover more. That, okay, if there's
- 41:43Speaker 6: someone like Unumankind, who else do we have? Like, who
- 41:46Speaker 6: else is coming in? There are many. So I feel,
- 41:50Speaker 6: but at the same time, me personally, the day I'm
- 41:53Speaker 6: going to say Indian hip-hop has arrived is the day
- 41:57Speaker 6: I walk up to any random club in the States
- 42:02Speaker 6: let's say maybe i'm in new york i just walked
- 42:05Speaker 6: to a club and the day they are playing cdmoth
- 42:08Speaker 6: and i'm not surprised i'm not making stories and snaps
- 42:12Speaker 6: and videos that's the day i'm gonna say okay indian
- 42:16Speaker 6: hip-hop because see why not because the language is not
- 42:19Speaker 6: the issue right you know there are a lot of
- 42:21Speaker 6: tracks that i have on my playlist that i've been
- 42:23Speaker 6: like that is viral but i don't know what they thing.
- 42:26Speaker 6: I just love the vibe. I feel, why not? It's possible.
- 42:30Speaker 6: When Central C, if you walk up to any club
- 42:34Speaker 6: in India today, even if it's a Desi club or anything,
- 42:39Speaker 6: you can hear Central C anytime. Even if you're drinking
- 42:43Speaker 6: your first drink, you can hear Central C. Why not?
- 42:47Speaker 6: Why can't we have that in the States? I feel
- 42:51Speaker 6: there's time to that. It will still take time. It
- 42:54Speaker 6: won't happen immediately. But I feel eventually it's going to happen. Like,
- 42:58Speaker 6: it might take years. But eventually, the way things are
- 43:01Speaker 6: going now, I feel maybe one day it's going to happen.
- 43:06Speaker 6: For sure.
- 43:07Speaker 5: Your words to God's ears, brother. Hopefully that happens very soon.
- 43:10Speaker 5: And I think it may happen sooner. As I want
- 43:13Speaker 5: to turn your attention towards your brand new song, Like That.
- 43:17Speaker 5: That may be a step towards that direction, if not
- 43:20Speaker 5: going into that exact spot that you're describing. And your
- 43:23Speaker 5: collaboration with Fijiana, who's an artist here from the Bay Area,
- 43:28Speaker 5: who's really caught quite a buzz here in the U.S.
- 43:32Speaker 5: And it's a collaboration to me that speaks to your
- 43:35Speaker 5: level of international collaboration and cultures colliding. But as I
- 43:41Speaker 5: was thinking, when you look at the video and you
- 43:44Speaker 5: look at the song, it's really interesting to see and
- 43:47Speaker 5: to speak to the internationality of the music that you're making.
- 43:50Speaker 5: Here you are as an African man rapping in an
- 43:53Speaker 5: Indian dialect, and here you have somebody of South Asian
- 43:56Speaker 5: descent or from the diaspora there, the South Asian diaspora
- 44:00Speaker 5: here in North America rapping in English. And you see that,
- 44:04Speaker 5: and you're like, wow, this is beautiful to watch. From
- 44:08Speaker 5: your perspective... What was this song like to put together
- 44:11Speaker 5: for you? It's a really cool song. Shout out to
- 44:14Speaker 5: Vomp on yet another amazing beat, of course, on his collaboration.
- 44:19Speaker 5: But tell us about this track, brother.
- 44:20Speaker 6: So basically, all that came about was me and Fijiana
- 44:27Speaker 6: have been talking for, I'll say it's been long. I
- 44:31Speaker 6: don't really remember since when. But yeah, I've been like, oh,
- 44:35Speaker 6: we'll make a track sometime and everything, you know. But
- 44:37Speaker 6: I've been doing my thing and I'm sure she was
- 44:39Speaker 6: doing the thing as well. So I couldn't, she actually
- 44:41Speaker 6: sent me one track, but I couldn't opt on it because,
- 44:45Speaker 6: you know, a lot of things was going on as
- 44:46Speaker 6: well on my side. I went to a reality show
- 44:49Speaker 6: in India and all those things. So I was busy
- 44:51Speaker 6: and all those things. So then she actually came to
- 44:54Speaker 6: India for some show. She was supposed to perform in
- 44:57Speaker 6: a show in Delhi. That's where I stay. And then
- 45:01Speaker 6: she told me, she's like, I'm pulling up. I'll have, um,
- 45:05Speaker 6: I couldn't attend the show though, but she told me
- 45:07Speaker 6: that I'll have a studio session to try to come
- 45:10Speaker 6: over there. You know, I was like, why not? Like
- 45:12Speaker 6: if she's in India, I should definitely, you know, link up.
- 45:16Speaker 6: And then me and vamp, we went there and then
- 45:20Speaker 6: she was just like working on something. And she was like, Oh, just,
- 45:24Speaker 6: What do you think about this track? Open this. I
- 45:26Speaker 6: was like, okay, sure. So that track, the first track
- 45:29Speaker 6: we made was actually for her project. Okay. Which is
- 45:32Speaker 6: like not out here, obviously. And then, okay, I left
- 45:35Speaker 6: the studio. I was like, oh, we have a bander
- 45:37Speaker 6: and everything. But then there's one day I was just
- 45:41Speaker 6: listening to one of my uncompleted track. Like it's called
- 45:45Speaker 6: like that, this one. So I just laid down the
- 45:48Speaker 6: hook that time. I was like, oh, I need someone
- 45:51Speaker 6: on this. Then I was like, oh, Fijiana is going
- 45:54Speaker 6: to be crazy on this. I said it to her,
- 45:56Speaker 6: she was like, she loves it. And then she sent
- 45:58Speaker 6: the verse, she sent it quick. I'm like, okay, I'm
- 46:01Speaker 6: going to release this. I'm going to like put this
- 46:03Speaker 6: on my project and I'm definitely going to shoot it
- 46:06Speaker 6: in the States. And so I told her, she was like, okay.
- 46:09Speaker 6: And after that, we just came up with the track.
- 46:12Speaker 6: And then eventually I was working on my mixtape. I
- 46:16Speaker 6: was like, this needs to be in the mixtape. And
- 46:18Speaker 6: then I need to shoot it in the States. And
- 46:20Speaker 6: then I did. I've been there, and we shot it,
- 46:23Speaker 6: and it's out to date.
- 46:25Speaker 5: Yeah, congratulations, brother.
- 46:27Speaker 6: Yes, sir.
- 46:29Speaker 5: Brother Young Sammy, I wanted to first of all thank
- 46:31Speaker 5: you for your time today. Thank you for hanging out
- 46:34Speaker 5: with us here on the bridge, and it's a real
- 46:38Speaker 5: treat to speak to you today. If you don't mind,
- 46:41Speaker 5: before we go here, can you please introduce yourself? This
- 46:44Speaker 5: brand new song called Like That for us.
- 46:46Speaker 6: Yo guys, it's your boy Insami and I just dropped
- 46:49Speaker 6: a new song today which is part of my mixtape
- 46:52Speaker 6: which is called One of a Kind which is yet
- 46:54Speaker 6: to be released but Like That is out now which
- 46:57Speaker 6: is the lead single of the mixtape and we've dropped
- 47:00Speaker 6: the video today so I hope you guys loved it.
- 47:03Speaker 6: It's featuring Fijiana and produced by Ram on T-Series. So
- 47:08Speaker 6: go check it out and I hope you guys love it.
- 47:10Speaker 6: Let's go. Like That.
- 47:15Speaker 4: I said, baby, why you like that? I said, baby,
- 47:17Speaker 4: why you like that? I said, baby, why you like that?
- 47:20Speaker 4: I said, baby, why you like that? I said, baby,
- 47:22Speaker 4: why you like that?
- 47:46Speaker 13: Make it my saying Like that, want it right back
- 47:49Speaker 13: Come and grind it, with a slight tank I be
- 47:52Speaker 13: seeing you like that Come and hit a three, so
- 47:54Speaker 13: I can see you like that Wanna roll with me,
- 47:57Speaker 13: cause you know I'm really like that They look with
- 47:59Speaker 13: the drive, got the field in a chokehold Scoreboard lighting
- 48:02Speaker 13: up fast like a GoPro 24 carats on the neck
- 48:08Speaker 13: Go global, sorry trape told me smooth like a ski
- 48:12Speaker 13: slope Gold on my waist like C3PO, pretty girl My
- 48:19Speaker 13: real heart, yeah.
- 48:20Speaker 12: He throw.
- 48:21Speaker 6: Young sammy. They want to party.
- 48:23Speaker 4: Her father says get married. Tell me what happens when
- 48:25Speaker 4: she takes off her cardigan. She wants to go home
- 48:27Speaker 4: early to make a scene. She holds her hands first
- 48:30Speaker 4: and then dances on her fingers. Who is the one
- 48:34Speaker 4: who is far away? Tell me, who did you fall
- 48:36Speaker 4: in love with? She eats up a lot. Tells me
- 48:38Speaker 4: all the problems. How do I trust her when she
- 48:41Speaker 4: meets me at the party? You know you a nice guy.
- 48:44Speaker 4: A little bit of a scoundrel.
- 48:47Speaker 6: They see me where.
- 48:47Speaker 4: The baddies at. The boys go for a walk, pull
- 48:50Speaker 4: up in a Cadillac Couple thousand dollars, I just open
- 48:53Speaker 4: up my fanny pack She lives in the studio, she
- 48:55Speaker 4: be asking me where.
- 48:56Speaker 5: My daddy at Let me tell you where your.
- 48:59Speaker 4: Daddy at Boom, boom, flow, studio, I become Jackie Chan
- 49:02Speaker 4: Wear a Nike and go to the place where your
- 49:04Speaker 4: Adidas dealer is The way I love my money, it
- 49:06Speaker 4: just look like I could marry.
- 49:08Speaker 12: That I said, baby, why you like that?
- 49:11Speaker 6: Big shout out to Young Sam.
- 49:21Speaker 5: I really enjoyed that conversation. One of my favorite parts
- 49:26Speaker 5: of that conversation is I just broached the topic of
- 49:29Speaker 5: his background and he shot through his whole story for me.
- 49:33Speaker 5: In a timeline and in a chronological order that made
- 49:37Speaker 5: so much sense. Big shout out to Young Sammy. What
- 49:40Speaker 5: a great conversation. Here is Doitha Dasgupta.
- 49:43Speaker 6: Hi, everyone.
- 49:44Speaker 14: This is Doitha Dasgupta, your Ruckus Avenue radio music correspondent
- 49:47Speaker 14: back with another artist spotlight. So let's talk about Anuj Jain,
- 49:52Speaker 14: the indie singer-songwriter whose soft acoustic sound and deeply emotional
- 49:56Speaker 14: lyrics have made him one of India's most loved independent artists.
- 50:00Speaker 14: Born in Mumbai and known for minimalist guitar-driven songs, Anu
- 50:04Speaker 14: first broke through with tracks like Barishe, Alaa Ghasman and
- 50:08Speaker 14: later the massive hit Hussain which topped streaming charts and
- 50:12Speaker 14: cemented his place in the indie scene. Over the last year,
- 50:15Speaker 14: he's continued evolving, releasing the heartfelt 2025 single Eenaam, a
- 50:20Speaker 14: reflective song about gratitude and success, while also collaborating with
- 50:24Speaker 14: artists like A.P. Dhillon on Apsos, expanding his sound beyond
- 50:28Speaker 14: his signature style. His Coke Studio Bharat track Aars Kiya
- 50:31Speaker 14: Hai also charted strongly, showing his growing crossover appeal. In
- 50:36Speaker 14: early 2026, Anuv launched his first ever Dastakat world tour,
- 50:39Speaker 14: selling out shows across India, including his biggest ever Valentine's
- 50:43Speaker 14: Day performance in Mumbai, a milestone that reflects just how
- 50:47Speaker 14: deeply his music connects with fans worldwide. With billions of streams,
- 50:51Speaker 14: intimate songwriting and a style that feels like a personal conversation,
- 50:55Speaker 14: Anuv Jain continues to prove that simplicity and sincerity still
- 50:59Speaker 14: have a powerful place in modern music.
- 51:02Speaker 6: Well, that's all from me. Stay tuned for more only
- 51:05Speaker 6: on Ruckus Avenue Radio.
- 51:06Speaker 5: Thank you very much for that, Doita. Yeah, simplicity, sincerity.
- 51:11Speaker 5: Anup Jain carries both of those qualities for sure in
- 51:14Speaker 5: his music. And this song of his is easily one
- 51:19Speaker 5: of our favorites.
- 51:20Speaker 13: On the show.
- 51:22Speaker 5: He pulls in A.P. Dillon for the collaborations.
- 51:26Speaker 15: Teri aataan aataan, teri aataan laike baitha, kahin rataan rataan
- 51:35Speaker 15: But today, in these nights, I can see everything with
- 51:42Speaker 15: my own eyes. I was proud, I was useless. Today,
- 51:48Speaker 15: I realized that it was my fault. I was the
- 51:51Speaker 15: light of my heart, I was famous. I keep you
- 51:53Speaker 15: away from me, you are innocent. I met my own heart.
- 51:57Speaker 3: I became my own stranger.
- 51:59Speaker 15: I keep your heart away from me. And yes, I
- 52:07Speaker 15: saw the world, but I couldn't see your heart. I
- 52:10Speaker 15: used to make big promises, but now I'm dying here.
- 52:15Speaker 15: Why are you sad now? What's the point of meeting
- 52:20Speaker 15: now if you want to? I am now in the
- 52:36Speaker 15: hands of the clock How to turn back the path
- 52:40Speaker 15: of time A few moments, I listen.
- 52:45Speaker 9: To your talks With you, everything ends in the night
- 52:50Speaker 9: I see your face and it rains Where do you
- 52:54Speaker 9: do this thing of the heart? Kaisi shaam si tere
- 53:06Speaker 9: naam si Jo padeya na main ki pegaam si Main
- 53:10Speaker 9: haraan si, naadaan si Kis galu meri jaan parejaan si
- 53:14Speaker 9: Teno aasde vek ke paar paar Teno kuchhi na main
- 53:18Speaker 9: kade tere del di saar Tera intezaar meri samjho baar
- 53:22Speaker 9: Keda kate ne tu dena ne tu haar haan Jaan jo.
- 53:26Speaker 3: Pyaar si tera Thoda.
- 53:29Speaker 9: Vi samjh na paaya Main challa challa.
- 53:35Speaker 6: Beautiful work.
- 54:04Speaker 5: Of Source is the song, and of Jane collaborating with A.P. Delon.
- 54:12Speaker 5: Wanted to give a big, big shout out to young
- 54:15Speaker 5: Sammy for joining us today. Let me tell you guys
- 54:19Speaker 5: what you guys heard. Seven years old, a pastor's son
- 54:23Speaker 5: lands in Delhi from Nigeria, and the school won't even
- 54:26Speaker 5: let him skip Hindi class. Eighteen years later, that same language,
- 54:31Speaker 5: the one he had no choice but to learn, is
- 54:33Speaker 5: the one he's carrying around the world. But here's the
- 54:36Speaker 5: part of young Sammy's story I need you to sit with.
- 54:39Speaker 5: Three years ago, he finally found the courage to tell
- 54:41Speaker 5: his father, a priest, that he was a rapper. He
- 54:45Speaker 5: told him because a TV show came calling. He practiced
- 54:49Speaker 5: for three months. His dad watched the previous season on television,
- 54:53Speaker 5: imagining his son on that stage. And two days before
- 54:57Speaker 5: the ticket, they cut him. Wrong passport. He couldn't even
- 55:00Speaker 5: bring himself to break the news at home. He almost
- 55:03Speaker 5: walked away from rap entirely. And then he dropped one song, 4x4,
- 55:10Speaker 5: a track he only released out of respect for his
- 55:12Speaker 5: brother's verse on it. It blew up within the week.
- 55:16Speaker 5: Honey Singh, the man whose brown rung started this whole journey,
- 55:20Speaker 5: was in his phone. The labels came calling, and the
- 55:23Speaker 5: artist who was almost finished became the artist who was
- 55:26Speaker 5: just beginning. He said it himself today, sometimes when a
- 55:31Speaker 5: way looks blocked, It's actually opening one for you. There's
- 55:36Speaker 5: something else he said that I'm holding on to. When
- 55:39Speaker 5: he started, people knew him as the black guy who
- 55:41Speaker 5: raps in Hindi. Now they know him by his name.
- 55:45Speaker 5: That's the entire journey right there. From a curiosity to
- 55:49Speaker 5: a name. And listen to his benchmark for his culture.
- 55:53Speaker 5: Not the charts, not the festivals. The day he walks
- 55:56Speaker 5: out onto a random club in New York, hears See
- 55:59Speaker 5: Them All playing, and is not surprised. That's the day
- 56:03Speaker 5: Indian hip-hop has arrived. Because language was never the barrier.
- 56:08Speaker 5: Music travels. That, in his words, is the race he
- 56:11Speaker 5: is running. Today he gave us like that. An African
- 56:16Speaker 5: man rapping in an Indian tongue. Beside Fijiana, a daughter
- 56:20Speaker 5: of the South Asian diaspora herself, rapping in English. Two directions,
- 56:25Speaker 5: one bridge, meeting in a song. Lagos to Delhi, to
- 56:29Speaker 5: the world. That's young Sammy. And you heard it right
- 56:32Speaker 5: here on the bridge. Have a great day, everybody. I'll
- 56:35Speaker 5: see you tomorrow.
- 56:49Speaker 6: Why don't you do anything?
- 56:51Speaker 7: I don't get anything.
- 56:52Speaker 4: Come on, do it.
- 56:53Speaker 8: I don't know what to do. I don't know what
- 56:55Speaker 8: to do. I don't know what to do.
- 57:23Speaker 6: Thank you.
- 57:40Speaker 4: Thank you.
- 57:59Speaker 16: Paad bro main la javaab bro main Be hisaab je
- 58:05Speaker 16: khidze aur phir kaam kharab aaye Chakka main guddiwe munda
- 58:13Speaker 16: zantiye Kokniye main fenta kakka gal ki bandiye Jaldiye main
- 58:19Speaker 16: jaldiye Chakka chakka bhermiye al narmie Gal banagiye gal banagiye
- 58:28Speaker 16: Why don't you do anything for me?
- 58:31Speaker 8: I don't get anything from you. Come on, do something
- 58:34Speaker 8: for me. I don't know where you came from. I
- 58:35Speaker 8: don't know where you came from. I don't know where
- 58:38Speaker 8: you came from. I don't know where you came from.
- 58:42Speaker 8: I don't know where you came from. I don't know
- 58:45Speaker 8: where you came from. I don't know where you came from.
- 58:48Speaker 8: I don't know where.
- 58:49Speaker 15: You came from.
- 58:50Speaker 8: I don't know where you came from. I don't know
- 58:52Speaker 8: where you came from.
- 58:54Speaker 6: I don't know where you came from. I don't know
- 58:55Speaker 6: where you came from. Why are you doing this to me?
- 59:01Speaker 8: I don't want to get anything from you. Come on,
- 59:04Speaker 8: do it. I don't know how many times I've seen you.
- 59:10Speaker 6: To move.
- 59:10Speaker 8: I'm doing something else. I don't know where my heart feels.
- 59:14Speaker 8: The world is the same. I don't want to meet anyone.
- 59:16Speaker 8: Why are you doing this to me? Why are you doing.
- 59:19Speaker 2: This to me?
- 59:20Speaker 6: Why are you doing this to me? Why are you
- 59:31Speaker 6: doing this?