As money and artistry take centre stage, Dhanji takes a personal journey through words. Dhanji said his first LP will be a complete expression of himself and he has successfully done that. Ego battles and the study of right and wrong is the layer beyond the obvious and “RUAB” is a statement written with big red letters.
With Dhanji it’s personal
The association of myself and Dhanji is not just as a fan but also as a poet. I have led a life where I had friends who worked their way up through the gritty underbelly of a system which lets you do everything but doesn’t let you die. A picture, larger than life, stays in the back of every middle-class teenager in this country, and every second of the day you either go towards the picture or away from it. A journey of self-enlightenment takes you through your vices and your comforts ultimately ending in the realization of materialistic progress. Murari Man is not just another track, it’s Dhanji, Me and every fan he’s had. A surreal experience which somehow is shared by me and Dhanji both. However, maybe it’s just the way he expresses himself through words and that’s what gives Dhanji his lyrical prowess.
RUAB isn’t the culmination of events, it’s a start of a new era.
As Dhanji pays homage to James Brown and Jay-Z, he fights the intrinsic artistic battle of preserving his art and survival. A tumultuous path of balancing art and commerce is finally on a wide smooth plain, as he finds his sound in funk and jazz. Dhanji as a wordsmith conveys the emotions of looking for a silver lining in a city consumed by glass buildings. The album starts with the premise of the efforts he puts to conserve his art in a genre where the templates are almost established. He takes his ambition and combines it with his art and his learnings from the walk of life to change the rhythm of evolution.
He draws a parallel between ambition, money and drugs. He explores the vices of the common man, the need for validation, the need for excitement and the need for prosperity. When ego and validation mix, it develops a character and becomes a legacy. Dhanji expresses his art and ego and strives for that legacy with unwavering aim. On the 4th track of the LP, Dhanji shows amazing technicality with three different flows and beat switches, the track is called “In Event of Change, Money & Notoriety”. This is the first track which explicitly shows the Jazz elements of the LP and gives it a lot of flavour. The ego battles shrouded in his artistry come to the fore as he talks about his happenstance with fame and change. He has a sincere desire to protect his medium of expression and his style in the view of all things considered. The ultimate decision of choosing passion and love over impending pressure is tough and he chooses to be an artist.
“What would the credit department do” featured one of the best verses of the album by Bagi Munda, with his extremely traumatic and realistic wordplay he talks about a reality which so far is often ignored. Faizan gives an amazing hook with his soft vocals with a punk rock essence and heavy jazz drums. The blinding ambition is personified with this track by Arpit Bala. The obsession is real and hard. The chemistry between Dhanji and Siyaahi is amazing. Between the vocals of pho, Dhanji gets vulnerable on a beat that sounds like it’s lifted from a TV commercial. Trauma and layered irony is the theme of Put That on Wax, making it one of the best songs on the album. Pho has the flow of an angel and is a delight. An interlude “Limited Liability” brings us to one of the most lyrically composite tracks of Desi Hip Hop. “1 Khabri/ 2 Numbari” is a track which captures the essence of the album in a single track, Dhanji talks about everything that inspired him to be who he is. A fateful combination of money and power and fame and art is RUAB. The amalgamation of all these things and the changes these things bring to the psyche of a boy who lived in a city which grew faster than he did is what RUAB is. It’s a process, a conversation between prosperity and fame which doesn’t have an end. A battle royale between materialism desire and creative ambition. A war between legacy and wealth. With two amazing features from two of the best lyrical artists in the country, Gravity and Encore ABJ, Dhanji gives a final salute to the city of Amdavad and finishes off the album. That’s RUAB with a shot of reality.
The production is a masterpiece
Neil CK, Circle Tone, and Unfuckman have created a soundscape which is a combination of Jazz, Funk and Punk Rock. EBE is just a genius on drums and Blu Attic has one of the best keys in a Jazz oriented album. The production is extremely experimental and the samples used are unique. It isn’t even necessary to comment on the production, no words would be enough to express the genius of the production of the album. It’s not just unique, it’s never been done before. It’s a trailblazing album with Circle Tone and Neil CK being purists of the highest form. This album is a goldmine for producers. The producers of this album have entered a new realm.
You can stream the album here:
