Last week we spoke to Quest about the underground hip-hop scene, his debut album, ‘Dushman’, the Delhi hip-hop scene, and his thoughts on the importance of numbers in the industry and more. Here is the outcome of an interesting and insightful conversation with him.

Quest, How would you introduce yourself to someone who is unaware of you?

I’m just a middle-class raised boy from Mumbai. I’m a Rapper & Creative, I think I’m quite a dreamer, I was raised on Hip-Hop records that I was introduced to by my sister at a young age and after that, it was a rabbit hole for me to explore the culture. I seem to exhibit my ideas quite well from music, I make music that I think is classic. I like to learn new things and people think I’m a quiet kid until they get to know me.

Although you hail from Mumbai, you have proven yourself and your level best in the Delhi scene as well. How did you manage to do this? What kind of support did you get there?

I think it just somehow happened since we (Gairkanooni Music) made Aaj raat Ki Peshkash via the internet and it received a good response from the hip-hop listeners. It multiplied when we started making more music and met up to perform shows, somehow people from Delhi felt more receptive to me than the people in Bombay lol, Also like I said it just happened I didn’t do anything intentionally, Bro I used to crash at Sammad and 3BHK’s crib so the support could be legit called ‘Enormous’, and overall when we did the first ARKP and people were singing my verses with me was when I actually thought oh damn these guys really like me and what I create. 

How do you manage your musicality as you are a part of Gair Kanooni and FTS Music while being an individual artist yourself?

I think I am an individual that just listens to a lot of music without putting a lot of labels on things and I get inspired by a bunch of things, as I listen to Pakistani underground pop artists to Fred Again to Hozier to Ajay Atul (sometimes) to 90’s Hip-Hop to what’s going on now, so it’s just a huge palette and I feel like I wanna do everything (lol) so yeah that influences a lot of my music taste and I somehow have this sort of an idea about what sound is Gair Kanooni in comparison to FTS and what I want to do personally. Like you might hear a Hindi Banger on Gair Kanooni then an English Trap song on FTS and then I might drop something like ‘AAJ’ on my personal channel, so I think each outlet is a good playground for diversifying what I experiment with. 

What do you feel about the Underground DHH scene? What are your thoughts about the culture here?

I’ve been following it for a long time since Divine used to roll with Mumbai’s Finest and I’ve seen all the things that have happened it is really amazing to see what has happened, I always used to wish the hip-hop scene would have a blowup track which Meri Gully Mei did then I used to wish Independent music would take over Bollywood which it is doing slowly. So I’m very glad to find myself in the playground and not on the stand because at one point I was that crazy kid hoping that it would happen and I’m on the way to leaving my legacy with what I do. Also I think the positives overlap the negatives I understand very well that rap is a competitive sport but some of these guys are just two faced and I’m personally of the belief that there is enough food on the table for everyone and I can’t entertain that type of energy or be someone like that, so I like to maintain my distance but overall it’s amazing, like I remember I went to this one free masterclass at TSM[True School Of Music] (I used to go there for these free masterclasses since I could take admission at that point of coz of the fees) and there was a danish producer who was giving a lecture and he had said that India is the next market since UK and US markets have been saturated and that was 2017, it would’ve already blown up if not for the pandemic, from international collab to big tours and hip-hop getting on TV, I’m just waiting for the big players to put money into the scene here, because everything until now was just data points for them on what works and what doesn’t, So yeah really excited for what’s yet to come.

Numbers are a big deal in any industry. In DHH as well, you might know a few artists who went commercial or just switched their style for the larger masses just to earn some bread. Is this justifiable according to you?

I’m nobody to judge that, but if the music took a hit then was the juice worth the squeeze? I think it’s kinda important to maintain your identity and sound as you grow big but then everything is subjective and to each his own, I just hope I do it the right way. 

Do you fear the results or outcomes of your music before releasing it? Does it stress you out thinking whether or not your audience resonates with what you are trying to convey?

I’m a big overthinker so to answer that would be yes, and that would be one of the reasons that my projects have been delayed but I also experienced instances wherein I didn’t think much and just did it, those projects have been the biggest or the ones that people really resonated with. I’m quite anxious to put out Dushman because I put quite an effort into it but I don’t have any tricks up my sleeve with big-name features or some label behind it, or some connections that I’m sitting on, it’s just sheer music that I’m banking on, since I want this project to be more so about me and the people that are on this are the people that I 100% believe in.

How do you feel about finally releasing your much-anticipated Debut album ‘Dushman’? Do you have any expectations from your listeners?

Honestly, in the ideal dream world, I think about this album blowing up BIG. We go on tours or whatnot, but honestly, I’m kind of in a space where I’m proud of what I’ve made. The rest is up to the people who listen to it, cliche hai but kehte haina ‘once you put out the project it belongs to the people’ I have an expectation that it grows on people. I get introduced to new listeners but besides that, I’m blessed for the people that already do listen to me. Mere 300/400 listeners the aur ab almost 10k honge, which is nothing and everything at the same time if you think these are real people. I think it’s gonna get way bigger.

How would you describe Dushman? What exactly can one expect?

Dushman is a modern classic, I’m a huge ’90s Hip-Hop kid but at the same time I listen to a lot of modern stuff and this project is a product of that, one can expect to rage, flip out and laugh a bit too when listening to it.

Could you give us a sneak peeks as far as features are concerned? 

Dakaiti is the most feature-laden track and those are my peers that I myself am a huge fan of, besides that, of course, I got Tienas on it who is my brother who showed me that it’s all possible, I got some MVP producers on this along with Sammad and 3BHK there is Robu, Mlvhr, Zealotantrik, Help!, I got Specter and Neil CK on the skits.

We know you have been working on this project for quite some time. How was the creative process of curating your debut album?

Like I said I’m a dreamer, and I was able to create a world in itself on this album, I’m quite happy about that, and can’t believe that it took so long but everything happened itself, on its own time so I believe it was meant to be, Curation wise I can’t lie I think I did a kickass job from beat selection to getting just the right feature, to the skits (I can’t wait for you to listen to these) with that being said I’m still that young kid in my room wanting to do something different and it’s about time and I believe it’s going to be a good one.

Follow and listen to Quest on Spotify