Shaikhspeare Is About the ‘D.O.N.L.Y.F.’ on Raucous New Album
Mumbai’s seasoned hip-hop artist enlists everyone from Epr Iyer to Sun J, producer Vedang and gathers his Bombay Lokal Crewmates Gravity and Farhan Khan for a powerful nine-track set
Mumbai hip-hop artist Shaikhspeare.
Conscious hip-hop in India has sometimes been either lacking or lost in the din in recent times, but Mumbai-based, Bihar-origin rapper Shaikhspeare aka Aamir Shaikh remedies that with songs like “Bol” featuring Kolkata’s Epr Iyer, producers Lionoath and Rane.
On the pendulous track, Shaikhspeare takes aim at communal forces who play divide and rule between Hindus and Muslims, fickle politicians who sell the nation, including cutting down trees for metro train stations. With a hook that takes from poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s famed ‘Bol’ poem, Shaikhspeare references revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh and Afshaqullah Khan, while Epr comes in with talks of scams and how Adani Group bought over news outlet NDTV and how he sees a communal angle being spun around crime stories that break into news cycles.
The song is taken from Shaikhspeare’s second album D.O.N.L.Y.F. – whose full form is ‘Dominate Over Negativity, Lose Your Fears’ – released via Kamani Records in February. A press release for the album states, “[Shaikhspeare] reflects his own learnings through his journey to showcase how music helped him find a purpose in life and do something constructive for the scene and his surroundings. Across its nine tracks, Shaikhspeare recognizes the passion and resilience necessary to stay relevant in real time and chase one’s dreams and aspirations regardless of the obstacles.”
A seasoned rapper in the Mumbai hip-hop scene since 2010, well before the Gully Boy phenomenon swept the nation and birthed new styles of desi hip-hop, Shaikhspeare talks about his roots, how he got introduced to hip-hop as well as paying tribute to influences like Tupac Shakur. Shaikhspeare even pays homage to the late Punjabi star Sidhu Moose Wala with an interview clip heard on “Real Talk.”
While D.O.N.L.Y.F. is all newly released material, songs like “Ashfaqullah Khan” have been part of Shaikhspeare’s repertoire for years, tracing it back to the 2018 video “Mumbai Rap Sessions” hosted by BBC Asian Network host Bobby Friction. There’s a bit of New Delhi rap flavor on “Bande Hardcore” with artists Sun J and London rap in the mix with MC Solomon on “Run The Streets.”
The album’s top cuts, arguably, are “Juloos” with his Bombay Lokal crew featuring Gravity, Farhan Khan, Al.Husxain and RORO, with beats by producer Vizen and “Shaikh the Don,” produced by Pune beatsmith Vedang. “Juloos” comes together like a classic gathering of rappers who bring the heat over a drill beat, with an instant magnetism, while “Shaikh The Don” masterfully has a hook that nods to the 1978 Bollywood classic “Are Deewano Mujhe Pehchano” sung by Kishore Kumar and composed by Kalyanji-Anandji for the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Don.
The album closes with “Aamir,” produced by Mumbai artist Moin with a storytelling intent. A press release describes it as a means of Shaikhspeare looking back at his childhood and earlier years “to reflect how he got into music coming from a conservative Muslim family.” The release adds, “He talks about finding rap as a tool to express himself, spread awareness about society and oneself and to write his own story.”
