FROM GRAMMY STAGES TO GLOBAL PLAYLISTS, RAJA KUMARI ISN’ T JUST BREAKING BOUNDARIES— SHE’ S REWRITING THEM. THE RAPPER- SINGER, KNOWN FOR HER FIERCE BARS AND UNAPOLOGETIC DESI PRIDE, OPENS UP ABOUT HER EVOLUTION AS AN ARTIST, CULTURAL ICON, AND UNSTOPPABLE FORCE IN THE GLOBAL MUSIC SCENE. THIS IS HER ERA— AND SHE’ S RULING IT HER WAY.
YOU ' VE ALWAYS DESCRIBED YOURSELF AS A BRIDGE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST. DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME YOU TRULY FELT THAT DUALITY IN YOUR MUSIC?
I actually think I had to make my music to express that duality.
The East side of me was very established through my classical dance and I had that experience of going to India and performing in these ancient temples. But the West side of me was something that was very personal to me because I was the first generation American. So there was only one place that they could both coexist and that was in the music.
And the first time I truly felt that was hearing Timbaland in early 2000, just playing Indian music in his beats.
It was the first time that I felt like I could belong to something and that was the first time I knew that hiphop would be the vehicle for me to express myself.
TAKE US BACK TO THE EARLIEST SPARK. WHEN DID MUSIC STOP BEING A HOBBY AND BECOME YOUR PATH?
After college, I had made music, maybe recorded a few demos. I started recording demos when I was 15. But after college, I was about to do my PhD program in religious studies and my dad actually looked at me and said, you ' re going to be studying ancient history.
I don ' t know if you want to spend your 20s in a library. You should pursue music full time, at least for one year. And I did exactly that. I started songwriting, working with all different types of producers. And at the end of that year, when it was time to go back to school, I had accomplished so much in my own mind that I kept pushing it each year. I took the GRE, bought myself another two years.
But I think meeting A. R. Rahman in early 2015 was a catalyst to my parents taking my music seriously. And around that same time, I got the Grammy nomination. So there was no chance to turn back around.
YOU ' VE TRAINED IN INDIAN CLASSICAL DANCE AND MUSIC UNDER GURUS. HOW HAS THE FORMAL TRAINING SHAPED YOUR PROCESS AS A CONTEMPORARY ARTIST AND PERFORMER?
I think that time, having that guru-shishya relationship was really important because
The
6
Score Magazine highonscore. com