Yashraj Holds A Glimmering Mirror To Himself In ‘Meri Jaan Pehle Naach’ EP

Yashraj takes a moment, entirely to himself, in the opening track “Gabbar” off his latest 7-track EP, Meri Jaan Pehle Naach, to marvel at the sight of his own creation. “Ye sangeet, meri aatma ka koi hissa zaroor jal gaya hoga” he proclaims, with a gradually building trumpet crescendo. A constant reminder the rapper offers to himself to, quite literally, breathe in and breathe out, before entering into a precursor verse for his self-directed, glimmering performance. But it should go without saying, Yashraj remains, constantly, under the tutelage of his idols. The looming shadow of an early 70s, R.D. Burman romance flick still presides over this project. However, this is the Yashraj show. There’s no other way to put it. This is what a main character looks like.

If the handful of singles dropped in the latter half of 2023 were indicative of anything in Yashraj’s musicality, it was that he can very evidently do two things correctly; firstly, work as a productive co-collaborator, and secondly, rap. Ladke Convict was his and recurring producer, Manin’s, stamp on desi hip hop that read in bright bold letters: “play in the club”. Equal parts fodder for an energetic live show, where your best buds Hanumankind and Chaar Diwaari can cameo in, as well as an opportunity for aux cables everywhere to have worthy additions to house parties. If Ladke Convict was a thumping raucous night out with the homies, Meri Jaan Pehle Naach is dancing by yourself in front of a mirror.

The album’s title is an extended hand, reaching out to invite a bashful lover to join you on the dancefloor. It is also a reassuring pat on the back that Yashraj is giving himself, allowing the rapper the self-affirmed courtesy to break the mold. But instead of wallowing in the premature nostalgia of Toast, Meri Jaan Pehle Naach chooses to fully embrace the dissonance of pairing the morose with the manic. Yashraj sounds like he needs to get all his ideas out in case he won’t have the chance to do it again. Every side of the Bombay rapper—the introspective poet, the dripped-out rockstar, the cheeky wordsmith—is given room to stretch and ruminate and stomp his way across the rawest and most adventurous music of his career.

His producers are instructed clearly: fuse classic, silver-age Bollywood influences with club-friendly rave-core percussion, creating spacious pockets for his lyrics to shine. A clever nod to one of the earliest and most popular nightclubs in Mumbai, the track “Studio-29” sees Yashraj alongside producer lil help architect an entirely hypnotic, drug-addled atmosphere that is turned on a hairpin halfway through – where it does a swift costume change, adopting a Versace-laced, Mac Miller inspired Miami beat. All that seems to be missing is a young Feroz Khan, lounging on a satin settee, sipping on a daiquiri.

There are undoubtedly haphazard moments of murkiness in the EP. The fine line separating inspiration and derivativeness is crossed at times, with moments of self-indulgence taken too far. As is the case in the track “Theme Music!” where producer Kimeraa overuses the “iconic” violin sample notoriously associated with anything and everything disco. The rapper himself has said that “this EP is an intrusive thought taking shape into reality. Truly surrendered myself to paying tribute to the sound and the innovators that did it before me.”

Yashraj spends the rest of the EP shooting out sparks on the sides of the rails without ever letting the train tip over. The swooning protagonist he takes on the role of in the track “Daae/Baae”, has set his eyes on opening those of his beloved, who has found solace in dark nightclubs among disloyal strangers. In a verse that sees the songwriter fully embody the archetype hero of a bygone age, Yashraj the character shouts “Duniya toh ghooregi sochegi tu hai bas ke bahar, Par ab Mein teri duniya Mein, aankhein khol de yaar aur bas naach!”

It is rare in modern Indian hip-hop for dominating artists to find a sense of complete satisfaction in studio projects. Whether that satisfaction is sonic, lyrical or thematic, there seems to be an underlying itch that listeners find unscratched. A handful of bold, risk-takers have tried in recent past to varying degrees of success (Dhanji’s RUAB being the best example of a reinterpretation of West Coast G-funk). It seems to be the case that Yashraj, and his motley crew of boundary-bending producers, have taken this leitmotif and stretched it to a point of peak satisfaction.