Hear Bengaluru Act The Flying Turquoise Panthers Get ‘Greazy’ on New Song

Written within 20 minutes before a recording session, Bengaluru hip-hop, jazz and lo-fi act The Flying Turquoise Panthers step in with total conviction on their second single “Greazy.”

While their debut track “Gatorade” – released in late 2020 – was led by Chennai-bred singer-songwriter STEVIE bringing the R&B vibes, “Greazy” puts the spotlight on rapper Dhanush H.P. aka DHP over a classic, funky hip-hop beat from producer-keyboardist Rohan Kamath, guitarist Bharath Kashyap and bassist Alan Santosh. “It was initially just DHP freestyling over the drums and the flipped sample from the [American soul/R&B and funk act] Lanier and Co track ‘Please Don’t Go‘ [1983] and at this point it just remained a demo in the growing pile of ideas we kept writing,” Kamath says.

As a band who came together in the thick of the pandemic last year, Kamath adds that they’ve had continued ordeals to fend off. “We had DHP with a broken leg tracking most of the pre-production demos on crutches,” the producer-keyboardist says. The rapper, for his part, namechecks Jay-Z, Tupac, Big L and Nas as formative influences and there’s certainly a bit of the Hova heard right from the start of “Greazy.” DHP says the opening rhymes on the track were also among the first verses he’d ever written as a rapper. “I wrote the first bit of the song after this really bad encounter I had been through which involved me going home with a busted face and lying to my parents saying I ‘fell,’” he says with a laugh.

The rapper mentions they’re “packin’ heat” with all their upcoming material, as Kashyap adds that the next single “EZ” features both vocalists STEVIE and DHP sharing duties. The guitarist says that shows and merch are being plotted out as well. “We’ll probably drop a single or two after that, and then go on to release a beat tape we’ve been working on for the past few months,” Kashyap adds.

Listen to “Greazy” below. Stream on more platforms here.