Rapper Yung Raja’s latest look | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Young King’s idealism about the future is infectious. The Singapore-Tamil rapper is currently enjoying the success of his new single ‘Podu Mike’ with Bengaluru-based artiste Killa K and is thrilled to have gained a clearer perspective on India, its beats and people over the past year.

“I have visited at least once a month for the last year. It’s an honor to come back to me. ValueMotherland, and understand it better,” he says.

His chartbuster with his arrest kuthu Featuring (folk) beats and funky dance moves, set in a Bengaluru dive bar, it was released earlier in August this year. It has been steadily gaining new listeners over the past few months and its streams peaked early last month. Raja says that bringing in two lesser known Tamil dialects – the Singaporean and Bangalore forms of the language – is essential to provide spice to the region. With a whole new generation of curious, music-interested people as their audience, the plan is to ‘keep things fresh’.

“It only took us a few days to write the first few verses. Soon after, we got a demo. Killa K, who is like a brother to me, and I took some time to figure out what the song would sound like. I went to Bengaluru after a few months and shot the video. After this, we wasted no time in releasing the song. It’s amazing how we are two people with different experiences of Tamil and have come to create a different visual and sound palette of the South,” he says.

Rapper Yung King Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Raja says this is one of the many exciting collaborations that have kept him going. His frequent visits to India took him to the studios of artists such as Yuvan Shankar Raja, Sid Sriram, Santosh Narayanan and Hanumankind. Each of these meetings pushed him further, renewing his interest in the music and entertainment industry and deepening his perspective. He is excited to work with many other Southeast Asian and Indian artists to put the rap scene here on the map, especially since the environment is in the news right now.

“To think that I have now established myself in a certain way, made my own music and have the ability to step into Yvonne’s studio and hear the tracks she plays, it still blows my mind. There is turmoil. Every time I fly to India I am excited and grateful for every opportunity. I realized that my aspirations are skyrocketing,” he says.

Raja says he wants to write a book about how his family has contributed to his journey. At no point in his career, he says, did he clip his wings when he revealed his self-proclaimed bizarre dreams. “My loved ones think I’m deluded (delusional), but that’s a story for another day. I have told my parents things like ‘I want to meet AR Rahman’. I want to act with Rajinikanth. My immigrant parents (father is from Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu) never once humiliated me when I said these audacious, obnoxious things as a child. I have been able to realize my dreams because of them,” he says.

Rapper Yung King Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

When he first started, his goal was to make enough money to support his family doing something he was passionate about. Cut to today where Raja talks about the exciting collaboration, his schedule of shows in India, Singapore and Malaysia till the end of the year and his new record and album coming in the near future. He says the plans have grown exponentially since he started in 2018.

He adds, “Coming to India for the first time was a powerful, polarizing experience. However, today, I have a big smile on my face when I think about my plans for 2025.