Exclusive Stream: Mumbai Duo Riz & Yoshi Flex on Slick New Song ‘Musty’

In 2018, Mumbai R&B/hip-hop duo Riz & Yoshi made a commanding first impression right out the door with their debut single “Hit My Phone.” The collaboration with Korean artist Inseon Choi became part of their debut album 8 Bit Project and has since racked up over 116,000 streams on Spotify.

The pair — Riz Shain and Oshir Mehandiratta (Yoshi) — have since released another record, Superhero Cereal Box in 2019 and came out with “Big Bro,” featuring Kansas city artist Rory Fresco in March, just before the world went into lockdown. Even though they live close to each other, Riz says the pandemic prevented them from getting together to bounce ideas off each other, which was the ideal way to create music. Yoshi adds they still managed to leverage technology to their “best creative advantage,” which led to adding the finishing touches on their latest single “Musty.”

The song features all the elements of a typically slick American trap and hip-hop tune, with an indelible hook and quaking bass rhythms in the span of just over three minutes. The song was nearly finished by March but is getting an official release on September 30th on streaming platforms. The song follows their second single “Goose” this year, even as 2019 marked important performances for the duo, including opening for rapper Wiz Khalifa in Delhi NCR, hip-hop artist Tyga and Canadian act Ramriddlz in Mumbai. They count Ramriddlz as a major influence, which meant sharing the stage was a “massive milestone,” as Yoshi puts it.

Riz mentions they’re now working on a “large catalog of even fresher sounds” for 2021 and Yoshi says they’re also trying to build on their personal brand, including separate music projects. “Thankfully since the lockdown has been relaxed, we’ve been able to get in some hours together to produce music,” Yoshi adds.

Stream “Musty” below. The song is out on streaming platforms on September 30th.