Star Collabs, Childhood and Catharsis: How Seedhe Maut Made the Mixtape of the Year with ‘Lunch Break’

New Delhi hip-hop duo Seedhe Maut outrun even the best in business when it comes to quality and quantity on their recently released mixtape Lunch Break. With a few teasers along the way, the tracklist reveal ahead of its eventual drop last month boasted of 30 songs.

In addition to Calm helming most of the tape with his production finesse that showcased Seedhe Maut at their evolved best, there was a star-studded lineup of collaborators – from Badshah (with whom there was some words exchanged online) to KR$NA, Sikander Kahlon, Yungsta, Rawal, Raga and more.

In addition to singles like “11K,” “Taakat” with Lil Bhavi, “W” and “Joint in the Booth,” there are a few experiments and hilarious cuts like “Kya Challa” and Luck Break really demands a deep dive into Seedhe Maut’s world. Even within experiments, there’s a distinct imprint in terms of cadence and even a few sonic choices production-wise that feels like a throwback to their previous albums, tapes and singles. Encore chalks it down to the mindset they took while making Lunch Break. He says, “Maybe it’s because we made this mixtape while being really carefree and both of us hadn’t felt like that for a while. Till we took that break to make this mixtape.”

In an email interview with Rolling Stone India, Encore ABJ and Calm discuss the making of their latest, why childhood nostalgia remains a part of their lyrical concerns, collaborators and their next album. Excerpts:

First off, I did want to ask about the Bhussi stadium show that happened a while ago. It felt like a big step for you guys. What was/were your favorite moment(s) from it? And now that you’ve done that, does it feel like you gotta top it or perhaps do more of them?

Encore ABJ: It was an insane experience, to not only sell out a stadium but also the decision to self produce the show. This experience was special for us and for our fans. I think it was special just being there, surrounded by fans who spit every verse with us. We definitely want to do more stadium shows.

Calm: The entire stadium was a giant moshpit, and it was surreal to see that from stage. All those people were there for us and sometimes it still takes us aback. We also took this opportunity to share the stage with the Delhi hip-hop community, with the friends who’ve seen us grow into who we are today. We’re not intimidated by the idea of topping it, we’re pretty sure we will. Only aiming higher.

What were the concerns or challenges, if any, in putting out a 30-track mixtape like Lunch Break? I’m sure you guys have stuff you omitted from it, but it’s still a large number!

Calm: We made this album for pure fun, and as a little taste of what’s in our next album Kavi Kehna Chahte Hain. Some of the production gives hints into how we are evolving our sound. Plus I really delved into production on this one, from producing some of the music to curating the guest production on the project. It didn’t feel like a challenge because we didn’t take ourselves too seriously, we followed our gut instinct and went with it.

Encore: We essentially isolated ourselves in Goa and did what we enjoyed the most: making music. This mixtape was created because we wanted to take a break from making our next album and take joy in the process. We don’t know how to do anything and we don’t want to do anything else. Making music is what we live and breathe, so even while taking this break – music was our catharsis.

You may have been asked this before, but in the context of Lunch Break, it feels like one of the reasons you could have 30 odd tracks is because you’re often cooking stuff in-house, since Calm is a producer as well. Is that why the track count can be this high?

Calm: Yeah, we’ve had a lot of tracks and beats in our archives. Coming back to those was a treat because it brought back the memories of how they were made. Some we reworked too.

Encore: Most of the features were impromptu, they came about because we were just hanging out or we understood who would be a good fit and we reached out. And thirty isn’t a lot compared to how many actually remain unreleased.

Additionally, I think when you write and produce music in house, the amount of self-scrutiny increases just as much, right? What is that like for you guys?

Encore: Yes, I think we consciously try to push ourselves and embrace new sounds too. We try to push what we know to really evolve our music. Not with the intention of staying relevant though, we do it because we want to continue sharpening our biggest weapon: our pens.

Calm: When I hear the music we’ve made, and even with the tracks I’ve produced the aim is to constantly become better at it. But one thing Encore & I have always said is that we make music that we like. We make music for ourselves first and that’s a reason we’ve never confined ourselves to stick to any specific kind of sound or theme or anything. Our music evolves with us.

What was it like keeping things under wraps about the collaborators on this one? I know people were surprised about Badshah for sure!

Encore: It was fun, that’s for sure. Keeping it under wraps was so exciting and funny. But seeing the wild reactions when we released the track list and then it watching them get more excited when they actually heard the tracks. It was thrilling. The Badshah feature was actually very impromptu and last minute.

Calm: It was a great experience collaborating with all the people on the mixtape. We’ve collaborated with some of our favorite people from the hip-hop community.

I feel like some of these songs must have been in the works for a while. Which one’s the oldest and which one’s the most recent on Lunch Break?

Calm: In a way, we had a lot of rhyme schemes, beats, and unfinished projects which we rehashed, reworked for some of the tracks. The beat on Swah is one of the oldest ones I’ve ever produced and Peace of Mind was one of the first beats I produced on my laptop.

Encore: Champion was written in our vanity at YouTube Fanfest, and then the track evolved with us. But some of the tracks were created entirely impromptu, in Delhi or Goa. Fanne Khan was recorded overnight, so were the tracks “Lunch Break,” “First Place,” and “Kya Challa.”

One of the things I always look forward to is when you link up with names that not everyone is familiar with in desi hip-hop. For me, a discovery was Bandzo3rd. How do you guys make those calls about whom you’d like to work with?

Encore: We listen to every artist who’s featured on this album. Some of the artists we reached out to specifically for a track and some happened very spontaneously.

Calm: Yes we’ve been trying to collaborate with some of the features for a while but our schedules never worked out. So yeah most of the features have been in the works and we pulled all the plugs for this one.

There’s a whole meta sort of narrative on “Kavi/Kehna Chahte Hain…” – can you tell me a bit about how this song came about?

Encore: These two tracks are preludes to our next album titled Kavi Kehna Chahte Hain. It gives a glimpse into what’s coming in our next project.

Calm: I don’t know how meta it could be called because at the end of the day we just make what comes to us. With these two tracks, we just wanted to hint what the next Seedhe Maut project will sound like.

A more general question about the project – Lunch Break has this sense of school time/childhood nostalgia but perhaps in a way that it’s still current. You’ve done it in some ways before, but what made you bring that out differently on Lunch Break?

Calm: We will always miss the carefreeness of childhood, but also how those years really shape us. In ways both good and bad. It might sound current because of the anime references.

Encore: Childhood is universal. Hating schools because that’s where creativity goes to die, expected to go with the system, and dealing with family can be a burden for most Indian kids. At the other end is the innocence, the friendships and just not caring about the world. Every time we indulge in that theme there’s always a new element or realization, so maybe we’ll never stop talking about it?

There’s a sense of recess or a brief break here. Does it actually mean rest for Seedhe Maut? Or is it one of those things where the grind never stops?

Encore: We make music as if our lives depend on it because, to be honest, it does. It’s our outlet, our way of processing things and genuinely our favorite thing to do. Our sound will change as we do, but we’re never going to stop making music. There’s a reason TBSM4L is a thing.

Calm: We’re going to continue working on our next album for sure and Seedhe Maut isn’t stopping. Rap is an instrument for us to speak about things that matter to us, and mean something to us.