By Preana Chettri | Shillong:
Interviewing this 15-year-old felt like being assigned to a group project with the most popular kid in school. Neither unrealistic scenarios nor aesthetic elements, Deepak Pariyar fondly called as Professor Moose captures the reality of life in his music.
Born and raised in Shillong, Pariyar became enamoured with hip-hop when he was just 8- years-old. It was a song by Legendary Jamaican singer, musician and songwriter, Bob Marley, that enthused the youngster, who tried his hand at it soon after. Deepak Pariyar, a 10 standard student, who entered the world of hip-hop 3 years ago and has been rapping ever since.
Drawing inspiration from the ongoing wave of hip-hop in India, many find it hard to believe that the teen rapper writes his lyrics himself owing to the topics he deals with, the young rapper says he is confident to pursue rapping as a career.
“I love everything about music as this helps in the evolving of the artiste. I started rapping when I was just 8-years-old and rappers like Tupac and Bob Marley changed my life,” he says with a smile.
Talking about his journey as a creative artist, Pariyar says, “I was in the ninth grade when I performed to some of the country songs at a cultural event in school. The kind of response I received from the audience gave me a lot of confidence and made me believe that with hard work and conviction, I can have a successful career as a musician.
Releasing his new music track called, “The Message” an over-3-minute elaborate diss track. Explaining that he had been working on this song for one-and-a-half years, he says, “There are many reasons that led me to make this album. First was to talk about the struggle to stay a part of the music industry. “I have performed at several places in the city and it has been an exciting journey so far.’”
In 2018, he started penning down his poetry in a diary. Having a good hold over the poetry and on the suggestion of his friends, he started doing rap.
“I started rapping passionately. My friends starting suggesting me to upload the song on YouTube and to my surprise, the song got a good response,” he said.
When asked about how he juggles up between school and music, he said, ‘’ I have always liked the arts, dreaming of having a career as a rap artist. Despite being encountered in many obstacles and challenges on my journey, what was challenging in school was, the lack of flexibility to do the things that you wanted to do because they were strict about conduct,’’ adding, ‘’problem was the environment. It is not friendly to hip hop and even other forms of artistic expression.
“Despite the issues that my community and I are facing, though I know better days will be here, I don’t want to lose hope. I try to appreciate all that I have managed in life and to see the positive side of things.”
It is true that real talent thrives regardless of societal status or economic constraints. However, his family’s financial difficulties did not prevent his creativity from shining through.
“My family doesn’t support my passion or believe in my dream. They are not wrong to have their doubts as it will take time and effort. And us coming from middle class Nepali family, there is no way to shortcut the process,” he said.
Most 15-year-olds are celebrating the end of exams and the beginning of the summer holidays, but he was particularly glad to be finally having a break.
“Rapping is part of hip hop culture. It came into existence so that you can talk about the pros and cons around. Some people had to give up but thankfully it’s a blessing that I am able to do it at least,” he concluded.