Meet Karan Sidhu, a rapper hailing from and proudly representing Nagpur. Having started his musical career as a singer-songwriter, Karan found his way into the Hip-Hop community and has been actively contributing and creating his own art ever since. The goal of putting his city on the map and getting the scene the recognition it deserves seems evident in Karan’s music. Read more to find out about his latest track, his journey and future plans.
Tell us about the theme of your latest track ‘Central N Freestyle.’
The theme behind Central N Freestyle was to deliver a song that is rare to hear in my city and when someone from outside listens to it he/she should be blown away by the fact that this song comes from Nagpur.
Tell us about your creative process while making music.
Whenever I hear a beat for a song, the first line that comes to my mind mostly decides the type of song that I am gonna make, and it also combines inspiration from various artists and the type of songs I am listening to on those days.
You started off as a singer and a songwriter, what made you transition into Hip-Hop?
From my school days, I was into writing but was never classically trained as a singer so that’s why I decided to start off with hip-hop.
Tell us about the rap scene in your city Nagpur.
Compared To other big Cities like Mumbai and Bangalore, the rap scene of Nagpur is at a very initial stage. It is yet to boom like other cities but it also gives you a chance to shine before everyone takes a dip in it once it’s out and loud.
What were your influences? Where do you find your inspiration?
It was all Indian artists from the start i was never that much into English hip-hop but DHH attracted me like no other genre, my most admirable artist from day one is KR$NA and as I went deeper other artists like Seedhe Maut, Hassan Rahim, tallwinder, Wazir also inspired me to have my own sound.
You also have an Instagram reel series where you explain music and DAW concepts to beginners, can you tell us more about it?
The idea behind that was to have a chance to revise my own knowledge. I also thought that It might help someone who is lost or doesn’t know where to start because at the initial stages, music production does seem to be a bit confusing and technical.
Tell us about your future plans.
I am planning and have started working on an EP, to get better with my production skills and represent Nagpur in the hip-hop scene on a level where it gets recognised by people who are unaware or don’t see the potential here.
