Darwin Rap Artist, whose real name is Darwin Dev makes use of literary poetry while tackling political views as evidenced by his music video ‘The Indian Struggle’. One can say his music is a poetic meter rendered audible, clarifying the connection among metrical perfection and rhythmic innovation.
Darwin is originally from Kerala but born and raised in Dubai, to which he says has contributed to his diversity and versatility as an artist. He has also lived in London for 8 years and says this is where he developed the passion to make music professionally and for a living. His versatility in music is true to his personal identity as well as he holds a MSc in Aircraft Engineering, has English FA football coaching qualifications and is also an entrepreneur.
Darwin has always been interested in music but says he developed the passion to write after falling in love with rap music after being introduced to it in his early teens. His songs were confined to his laptop but once he met a well-known music producer, Elz Bowe, who is also a multi-instrumentalist in London, it paved the way for both of them to create this fashion of music.
Contrary to other Asian artists in the commercial world music scene, Darwin Rap Artist focuses on making music that invokes a feeling to the listener rather than it being lost in a commercial space. He says that he prefers his music to be timeless which can be played in any era, while commercial music has a timestamp.
Although the rap enterprise globally may have a few questionable characters withinside the mix, there are a number of rap artists who encourage us with clearly impressive lyrics and valid contents that provide us as role models for budding artists who care to explore this genre.
In India, rap music is now collaborating with Bollywood and there is a fear that it would overshadow the true culture of rap. Only a few publications care enough to celebrate artists such as Darwin who aim to contribute to the growing rap culture in India. The lyrics in mainstream rap in India is clearly positioned to cater to Bollywood’s needs.
Therefore it is clearly important for independent artists such as Darwin to provide us with this content, especially in his style which is a breath of fresh air considering his fusion of rap with tabla and Indian classical dance in a unique way. He releases his music videos on his YouTube channel, which is steadily growing in numbers and has a wide range of his music collection including blending of different languages – English, Arabic, Hindi, Malayalam, Punjabi and Tamil currently.
Darwin is a growing rap artist, and has a specific set of audience who love to listen to his blend of fusion music. He has gained a high level of fan following in a very short time since he started in 2017 and even took a year off to focus on his entrepreneurial projects. He might not be one of the most popular rappers in India, but the peculiar part is that his following is global. He aims to continue to make a contribution to the developing way of life of Indian Hip-Hop together along with his very own innovative input.
He says ‘Rapping is often perceived as vulgar, offensive or derogatory in India – a lot so, that it isn’t always usually diagnosed as a legitimate shape of art.’ His next project is going to be a Tamil/English fusion. ‘This will be the sixth language I will experiment fusion styles with,’ he said. His source of pride is the many comments and appreciations he receives from people who watch, listen and buy his music.
On asking why he doesn’t go after the commercial space, he said, “Imagine what the impact could have been like if there were no rappers who pep up the songs with their progressive and creative rapping styles? Rapping is a thrilling aggregate of speech, prose, poetry, and making a song is more than just entertainment value. I like to invest in my song emotionally and dwell deep into the contents of the overall project to ensure the listener or viewer has felt that this song has brought something unique to their lives.’
