Mukta Karandikar is an international rap artist and the first female rapper to reach a milestone of100K on YouTube. She is on a whole different level of rapping and has taken the rap industry by storm with her sass and raps. Mukta never shies away from speaking her heart out and doing what she wants to. Breaking the stereotypes this female rap artist has been creating beats that can set souls on fire.
Catch Mukta in a candid conversation with Team Storiyaan where she talks about the pop culture, her lifestyle and the process of creating music.
Interview
Questions and answers
Hip-hop and rap have become the limelight of pop-culture recently. Tell us what attracted you towards hip hop?
I wasn’t a rap fan; I was more into K-pop or hip-hop when I was a child. Then I happened to get featured in a couple of Indian rap songs, and that’s how I got introduced to Indian hip-hop. I found that really interesting and started writing a couple of rhymes with my friends, everybody appreciated it, and that is how I came into rapping.
Rap being a male-dominated field-talk to us about the prejudice you felt not just from the society but also the artists in your community.
That’s not in India but everywhere in the world! Men have always dominated this job, and it happened recently that I was talking about this in an international collaboration with an artist. In India, that has been very new; I have recently done a couple of recordings and became the first independent artist to cross 100k and 200k and receive a YouTube silver button and do an international collaboration. There have to be more women coming out in hip-hop. However, one needs to keep posting content and be open to criticism.
You're one of the 1st Indian rappers to reach 100k on YouTube. Tell us how do you ensure that you stay at the top of your game?
I would say that the most important thing is consistency! You have to be in the conversations all of the time, keep on putting out something fresh, keep on putting on new videos and new music. This consistency, which I have followed and learned from my seniors, is what I would like to tell the newcomers, be consistent, put out music every month, or maybe two tracks every month.
Your rap song 'Aukaat mein reh' has over 2 million views. How do you jot down those bars and shoot videos for your rap songs?
As far as shooting videos is concerned, we usually go through a proper storyboard with my cinematographers and photographers whenever the audio is ready.
I never pressurize myself to write. The writing process has to happen naturally for me. I don’t pressurize myself to do something. Whenever it comes to me, I make sure I write it down, and that’s how I put it into a song.
Can you talk to me about your writing process, and how do you go through it?
It happens with the beat and the look. If the look is not ready, I really can’t get through the whole idea of writing the verses and the content I’m writing. Perhaps because I come very much from the video background
So I already have the visual in my head. So always the look of the song and the beat comes first and then the verses
How was your experience in being part of a youth-centered show like Love School? What was the task you loved the most?
It was a very first time experience for me, doing a national television. I was never a viewer of these kinds of shows.
I didn’t have any idea how it is going to be. It was a very fun experience, and I have learned a lot from the show. It really helped me shape myself, and in a year, I can feel the difference.
What's your most memorable fan moment?
There are so many fans staying in Mumbai; it’s like whenever you are going to any public place, you know. You are bound to meet your fans or bump into them. There are so many experiences, and all of them are memorable for me.
Your outfits in each music video are unique and different. What's the process of choosing an outfit like?
I am particular about my outfit, and I won’t pick up just anything. I have studied fashion, and I come from a fashion background, which makes me very specific about my outfit.
What made you go, vegan? How would you describe your lifestyle? What does a day in your life look like?
I don’t have any specific schedule because I am traveling all the time. So it depends on that. I wake up around late in the morning, have my coffee, plan my to-do list, go through my mails, do my work-out, have my lunch and sit for my edits, my photo edits, or video edits. I get on a call with my editor, and in the evening when I’m in a right mood to make music, I do my picking up for writing lyrics, thinking of hook ideas or video ideas, so usually from 7:30 pm to 4 am is when I make the music
An artist's life is flooded with criticism. What's the driving force of your motivation?
Since childhood, I have been already told by people that you wouldn’t be able to do it because you’re a girl; I think doing what they thought I couldn’t, in a way, motivates me to do better in my life.
How was your time collaboration with various artists? What is it that you take away from these collaborations?
I haven’t done a lot of collaborations; whatever collaborations I have done in my life are the important ones. I have always collaborated with amazing artists, the experienced ones, so I have always had a lot to learn and gain from it, especially their passion for song making.
Rapid Fire
1. Your cheat day dish: Indian sweets
2. An artist you’d collaborate with: Tyga, I love his music
3. Bad hair day or lousy outfit: This never happened to me!
4.Your scorpion tattoo stands for: It was just a stupid fling!
5. Your ideal : Miss Elliot, Cardi B, Britney Spears
6.Your favorite rap artist- Drake, Tyga