Producer and Multi-Instrumentalist Aakash on Collaborations and Diversifying

The producer tag is every beatsmith’s signature and it’s slowly become a mainstay in desi hip-hop as well. Among the oft-heard ones belongs to Kuwait-born, Indian-origin artist Aakash Ravikrishnan, which goes, “Aakash kahaan hain?” (Where’s Aakash?)

The answer to that is Aakash is pretty much everywhere in Indian hip-hop. From Raftaar (Mr. Nair), King (three songs off Champagne Talk) to Dino James (eight tracks off D) and Loka’s album Autobiography, plus rising stars like Abhijay Sharma, D₹V and Bombay the Artist have had their beats by Aakash. A musician with diverse listening and producing goals, he’s also gone on to work with pop artists like Zaeden and Tanzeel Khan.

Among his most recent projects which capped off 2022 was “Woh,” by Ikka, Dino James and Badshah. The hip-hop heavy-hitters team up for a soulful, melancholy kind of jam about heartbreak, which Aakash gives just the right amount of tenderness, dreaminess and just a bit touch of grit. The producer talks about the journey of “Woh,” which had to be created on the go and in one marathon all-nighter studio session so that it could not only be performed by Ikka and James on reality show MTV Hustle, but also get an additional verse from Badshah. It became a six-minute song that the artists had to cut down with help from the producer. “We cut the hooks in half, we did a few technical things on the side,” Aakash says.

The spontaneity and nonstop creativity cycle of Indian hip-hop artists – where they’re often writing, recording and releasing music within weeks – is not necessarily a bad thing, according to Aakash. When asked if artists should take more time with releases or let the music stew, the producer counters and says it’s good that artists are impulsive with releasing music. “The less time you spend on each song, especially in Indian hip-hop, you can have more ideas and you can get to know which ones do really well. It’s more of a moment you’re capturing, so you shouldn’t have to overthink things,” he adds.

Not overthinking is likely something Aakash applies to his own decisions, considering he decided to stay back in India following the release of his album Over Seas in 2019. Of course, the pandemic greatly restricted movement, but it left the producer with time to take on more production projects than ever before and realize he didn’t have to rush back to the U.S. He says, “I actually spent six months making a jazz album thinking it would get me press, but hip-hop was blowing up around then in India and it was definitely faster and easier to do that.”

While that jazz album never came out, the intent to keep his repertoire diverse still remains. “I’m a jazz musician first and a hip-hop producer second […] You need to have variety in everything. You can make a ton of music every single day, but you would feel stale,” Aakash says. He expresses an interest to work with indie singer-songwriters like Anuv Jain, or perhaps produce Ed Sheeran-esque pop for others, plus commercial music and ads. He says of Jain, “His voice has power and it’s genuine.”

Speaking of voice, Aakash has been working on his own vocals and writing R&B. He’s keen to collaborate as a songwriter than just a producer who shows up with the music. He says, “I’d like to go in and say, ‘This is the direction I’m going with this song. If you like it, that’s great. If you don’t, that’s okay. I’ll release it on my own.’” With a short visit back to Kuwait, Aakash is also keen to explore the hip-hop scene in the country, which he says is in a “buzzing” phase not unlike the one India underwent a few years ago. “It’s very fresh. Plus, this is kind of like going home,” Aakash says.