Umreeki’s ‘Your Anxiety Is Lying To You’ Album Marks New Chapter

U.S.-born Indian rapper Umreeki was, not too long ago, Slyck Twoshadez, a key figure of hip-hop in New Delhi since 2006.

Prashant Verma moved back to the U.S. from New Delhi in 2017, releasing albums like Street Ghazals in 2018. The desi hip-hop scene from the capital took off on another level in the last five years, but his debut album as Umreeki, Your Anxiety Is Lying To You taps into the same energy that courses through the lethal bars of Hindi rappers today. Umreeki brings his years of experience to subjects like mental health on “ANX” and “Tick Talk.” He says, “I have been trying to find my calling without shying away from my Indian ancestry.”

Aided by go-to producer Premium on almost all the eight-track album, Umreeki also calls on old friends including Punjabi star Prabh Deep on “Niyantran” and Mumbai’s Dee MC on “Rasta.” The former track was in fact the first that fell into place for the album project. Umreeki says about the genesis of the song, “While working with my therapist on some of my hiccups, the biggest one was perhaps ‘the fear of lacking control or not being in control of everything.’ Premium and me made a rough idea and I floated the idea to Prabh Deep, he sent in his magnificent vocals and rest is as you hear it.”

The booming yet dark beats on “Rasta” with Dee MC adds another dimension to Your Anxiety Is Lying To You, with Umreeki’s quickfire bars matching Dee MC’s English and Hindi approach. The Mumbai rapper even goes on to introduce Malayalam bars. Umreeki says he had been “ideating with Dee MC for a bit and wanted to do something with a double-time/chopper vibe.” He adds, “I put together a scratch of the track and Dee loved what I did. She came back with fire verse and we also did a video to the song while actually working on the song in the studio.”

Umreeki shouts out Prabh Deep and Dee MC “for their contributions despite their crazy schedules and commitments,” and there’s plenty of solo spotlight on the album as well. It marks an evolution, as the rapper terms it, which came from “pursuing a life which, at times, feels at home in India and the U.S. and at [other] times questions [my] sense of belonging to either of those countries. The rapper says it’s an “awesome coincidence” that the album can speak to American and Indian audiences due to his bilingual approach, but his goal was much more personal. “While writing this, I was not targeting anyone but just writing raps which felt therapeutic and made me feel lighter,” he adds.

He describers hard-hitting tracks like “ANX” and “Tick Talk” as “very, very new school” in terms of production, whereas “Bhala” and the closing track “Turi Ja” with Rahnjit Singh tugs at the heartstrings with its vulnerabilities and sentimentality. Umreeki calls “Turi Ja” as a song “that was very needed.” He says, “That song is made for my brothers and friends who have always been there for me and my pledge to always be there when needed. Rahnjit aka Harsimran Singh is a very close friend and collaborator. His verse on the song is exactly where I wanted this to end. He is a terrific artist and is also going to be releasing some solo stuff soon.”

As much has his connections to desi hip-hop are in the front on Your Anxiety Is Lying To You, Umreeki has also been making moves within the desi diaspora rap scene in the U.S., working with the artist Vy on his song “Motherland” from the latter’s album Intelligentsia. Umreeki adds, “Vy is a part of a hip-hop group The Formula which consists of himself, RMS, YDV and Naman XL. These boys are putting together packed shows, releases and parties to get the scene going. PDNY is also another phenomenal artist to watch out for.”

In all, Umreeki says he’s “beyond grateful” for being able to be part of multiple worlds in hip-hop and he’s taking steps to plot out an India tour in April next year, in addition to finishing his next album. “I am also going to be giving another lecture in NYU in November about the bustling hip-hop scene in India,” he adds.