MUMBAI: Svetha Rao aka Raja Kumari is an Indian American songwriter who turned pop star. She hails from Andhra Pradesh and has always been inspired by classical Carnatic music. Not just that she is also a trained classical dancer and is deeply rooted in classical culture.
The hip-hop diva just released her new song Slum City featuring Indian rapper Divine. Raja Kumari revealed about the song, “The song is the story of people; it’s a song which celebrates the people and where they belong. Collaborating with someone like Divine who is the voice of the street is something great.”
The song pictures Mumbai which happened as a part of the collaboration. Raja recorded her version of the song in LA while Divine did his part in India. The duo came together to record the bridge part of the song in a studio in Mumbai. “It was all a natural progression for both of us and a friendly collaboration,” informed Raja with joy in her voice.
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The song is of hip-hop genre reflecting the growing hip-hop scene in India. Raja said, “I’m so proud that I made this. For someone who makes hip-hop in America to be able to come to India and make something so authentic with a homegrown artist is an amazing experience.”
She also added, “In America when people say hip-hop is so difficult in India, I could always give Divine as an example of true hip-hop in India. One of the things about our collaboration was to bring new music to this country.”
To make her song City Slum in Mumbai is a dream come true. It’s her first song in the city. The artiste always tried to add an Indian element in a lot of ways for her songs back in LA. She said, “To be in India and shoot this song is a gift to me. I always wanted to bring Indian culture in my songs which I now see happening in reality. There is something about the city, its energy, music scene, people, excitement, melting parts and the varied culture which captivated me.”
Speaking about the city she also said, “The city inspires me to work and I feel it is the perfect time to be here and understand myself. For me, culture has always been a forefront and would love to spend more time in my motherland and understand the perspective of where I come from.”
The artist recently signed with Country’s reputed music label Sony Music. For Raja signing with a label is like working with the best. She revealed, “It’s exciting that I’m Sony’s artist now. I’m definitely going to spread hip-hop and make more music in the coming days.”
It was a great journey for both Raja and Divine working together. She said, “We both learned from each other during the process. There is a lot more in store to come in coming days. But right now we are just excited about the new song as it took a lot of preparation, planning as to choosing the right partner for the song.”
The singer believes through City Slum more people will learn about the singer.
Check the song here:
