Blaaze

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Blaaze is a rap artist and a popular playback singer for films in India. His real name is Lakshminarasimha Vijaya Rajagopala Seshadri Sharma Rajesh Raman. [1]. He was born in Chennai, and he grew up in Zambia. He is known for his rapping.^{[citation needed]} However he has appeared in a few songs such as, Loosu Penne from Vallavan and Ennadi from Vathiyar. The most recent song he has sung is The Boss from Sivaji: The Boss.

He has also sung a song called "Ban the crooked Police" (featuring: Lavanya) which is with his band Zambezi Funk (including Sagar Desai) based on his observations over the ever increasing crimes committed by the Indian police on normal people. He gives example of the Bilkis Bano rape during the gujarat riots, the Jessica Lall murder and the recent anti-reservation rallies in India which were not handled properly by the police. In one of the lines of the song he calls the police: Crooked, Rapist and Racist.

Earlier he had sung a song by the name `In My Father's Words' which was on the observations over the Sankaracharya controversy in India.

He also rapped in "No doubt", an English song by Coco Lee, a Chinese singer.

Blaaze is the first Indian artist to be aired on VH1.

Later A. R. Rahman also appeared on VH1 with his song "Pray For Me Brother" for which he had written the lyrics and Rahman had composed and sung the song.

He rapped for most of the Rahman's films. He also rapped for Yuvan Shankar Raja in Manmathan and Vallavan. He appeared in films Boys and Vaathiyar. He also sang the theme song for G.v. Prakash Kumar's film "Oram Po".

The rapper who hit the limelight through his rap number with Big B in "Bunty aur Bubli" says he owes his success to years of perseverance. "My first number in the industry was `East or West' ("Judwaa") for which I did not receive any credit. I was disheartened and realised one needs a godfather in the industry. But I never gave up dreaming or hoping for a break. You need a never-say-die attitude if you want to survive in the industry."

It was Sivamani who introduced Blaaze to Rahman. Although the first meeting did not prove fruitful, the second time worked a charm. "The first time I met Rahman, he asked if I could rap in Tamil. I said as I thought in English, I normally rap in English, but I could try. I guess it was the `I could try' that stayed in his mind. It was my wife, Nandini, who works for Sony Music who got me the opening when she met him for a recording. She asked if he remembered me and the rest is history."

Blaaze, who was then working for Radio City, quit his job and flew down for the recording of "Baba." "I had no job and wasn't sure if the song would be accepted, but I took the risk and it paid off."

Blaaze says he has reached where he is today with his parents' encouragement. His first stint in rapping happened during a presidential election campaign in Zambia where his father worked. "I wrote a poem about one of the candidates. My father, R.V. Raman, then took me to the television station and I rapped it out in front of the camera." The candidate won and it helped boost Blaaze's morale.

According to Blaaze, he always writes his own lyrics. "I think it's important especially for rap as you are saying what's in your head."

A relatively new genre in the Indian music industry, Blaaze admits it is difficult introducing the Indian listeners to his style of music.

"Most people think rap is all about `Yo Yo Yo.' To me Rap is `rhythm and poetry' and I try to spread a social message in a non-preachy way.

[edit] External links

• [2]
• [3]
• [4]
• List of Tamil movie songs sung by Blaaze