In hip-hop, the persona an artist embodies is often considered as important, if not more, than the music itself. It dictates the stories they tell. When east Delhi’s Ravi Mishra released his first album Rap Ka Mausam in 2019, he chose to become RAGA.
“I was heavily inspired by Em [Eminem] because that’s who I grew up with,” he shares in a conversation with Billboard India. Like Eminem’s Slim Shady, RAGA chose to focus on the darkest, most violent parts of Mishra’s psyche. Unfortunately, RAGA’s growing popularity meant Ravi was persona non grata. “It felt monotonous right after Rap Ka Mausam. I loved the grunge and the heft in my voice, but I always wanted to make more moves.”
The rapper is now back with NO FORMULA, a 21-track mixtape with a softer sound, introspective bars and a lot more space for Ravi. He talks to Billboard India about letting go of a well-established persona, his collaborations, and why keeping track of the business-end of music is important.
You’ve said you spent the last three years mastering the new RAGA. What did you do during that time?
I needed to spend time breaking out of my character. The grunge, the texture of my voice, everything. I locked myself in my home studio, put some autotune on the mic and recorded for like nine hours at a time. I wanted to figure out how this new RAGA would deliver verses; his words, his cadence, I wanted everything figured out.
This new RAGA delivers lines like “Mile ginti mein apne nahi zyada. Main waise bhi apno se keh kuch nahi pata.” Why did you choose this direction?
Because it felt natural. My friends, my longtime collaborators, the people that really know me know how vulnerable I can get. They know I have empathy for everyone battling difficult circumstances. I had to figure out the cadence but the perspective was always there. I think I also finally had the sound to go in this direction. During my session with Hashbass [producer on NO FORMULA], he just played me some strings and I was freestyling with him. I went out to grab a beer and returned with half my verse (laughs).
Was there any second guessing?
Nah, none. I was confident in my choices and I had been giving sneak peeks into this side of me on a few tracks – like “Kehendi Si”, or “Bombay Sapphire” which I did with Rawal. I was measured on those because I didn’t want to mellow out someone else’s track but I did want to show fans a different RAGA. One that isn’t running around screaming “BAWE!”
You’ve spoken about being fully prepared – business and contracts wise, before you put out NO FORMULA. Have you been burned before?
Yes, I’ve been in some bad contracts. I didn’t like the one I had with Sony, although I was with Artisttaan and they got me in that contract so I consider them liable. But yeah, I had PTSD to the point where I wanted to just drop this mixtape without any announcements. My manager Aranyaka [Verma] talked sense into me so we got things in order before releasing.
Did these contracts prevent you from changing your sound early on?
Yeah, we can say that. I did some mellow tracks right after I recorded “Kehendi Si”, but they never came out. I didn’t have any motivation to put them out either. *My A&R at the time said “Bawe, it sounds better when you’re tough” (laughs). You know, that aside, I still don’t own a lot of my early tracks, which I think sucks.
You have released 43 collab tracks so far, including 15 on NO FORMULA. That’s much more than the average artist. What draws you to the idea of collaborating with other rappers?
It just appeals to me more, and the kind of music I was doing naturally lent itself to collaborations and features. I’ll admit, that also came from the lack of a certain personal depth in those songs, the kind you hear on newer solo tracks like “Sheher”. But yeah, I’m working on a lot of solo stuff now.
When you first came onto the scene you were collaborating with older rappers. Now with younger artists like Shikriwal, YUNG SAMMY and M-Zee Bella, you’re the senior statesman. What has changed in your approach?
I just implement what I learnt from [Lil] Golu bhai and Ikka bhai. They always made music with the people they actually hung out with, whose sound they liked. I do the same. I collab with the artists I like and hang out with, regardless of the [streaming] numbers. *I get asked about AKBR and izer, why they’re on NO FORMULA, whether they’re industry plants and I just say look at their damn catalog. These boys are solid.
What’s your dream collaboration?
Many. There’s Eminem, then I want a track with Honey [Singh] paaji, one with Raftaar paaji, another one with Badshah bhai, even Vivian [Divine] and me would be a great collab. Ikka bhai too but that won’t just be another track, we need an EP together.
*quotes from the artist have been edited post publishing to maintain factual accuracy in the story.
