Rappers talk about inspiration behind viral music video

Many refer to this viral video as “Budak2 India rap Melayu” (Indian kids rap in Malay). The song is actually called ‘Bangun’ and there is more to it than a group of Malaysian Indian guys rapping in the national language.

Released on Aug 28, this rap song is performed by four friends: YouTube personality Vikneswaran Veerasundar @ Vikarworld, 29; radio announcer Jeet Raj @ Raj Mahal, 26; filmmaker Jivetharman Sekar @jivensekar, 30; and cinematographer Vishnu Pathmanaban, 30.

There have been Malaysian Tamil rappers who have sung one or two verses in Bahasa Malaysia in their songs for a local flavour.

However, with “Bangun”, the four friends performed mostly in Malay, which ostensibly was the reason the song could reach such a wide audience and go viral on social media.

The video, which has over 2.3 million views on TikTok, touches on the struggles of ethnic Indians in the country ranging from racism, poverty, being called “pendatang” (immigrants), the lack of education opportunities, and other social issues.

“All four of us are good friends and we always share ideas and work together. We all like rap and so one day we decided to randomly write some verses and do some songs.

“We were thinking about what topic we can sing about. Then we realised that Merdeka Day was coming up. So, we decided to change our style and do something serious,” said Vikneswaran.

This is the friends’ third project together, with their past collaborations being more comedic – one about Indians who cannot speak Tamil and the other about brotherly love.

‘Bangun’ was more serious than their previous collaborations.

“There were so many topics we could have covered but since it was Merdeka, and we are all Indians, why not do something about the struggles of being Indian in Malaysia?

“We decided to do it in Bahasa Malaysia because that would help boost the video to a bigger audience.

“All of us speak Bahasa Malaysia fluently. So we decided to rap about the struggles of being an Indian in the national language. We all felt that it was a recipe for success,” said Vikneswaran.

Based on personal experiences

The way they performed on the video gave the impression that they were freestyling - impromptu rapping without prior preparation.

However, Raj said, ”We put a lot of thought into what we were going to say. We did our planning, we did our research before we started rapping. Everything was thought out before we recorded.”

Vishnu added, ”All our verses are based on personal experiences. Before writing our verses we talk about our personal experiences and what we would like to talk about.”

“Then we start writing, we see what works and we exchange ideas.“

In the video, all four take turns singing in Malay but Jivetharman is the only one who raps in both Tamil and Bahasa Malaysia.

“I started in Bahasa Malaysia and then Tamil. I felt comfortable rapping in Tamil and the people we are speaking about are Indians in general who speak the Tamil language.

“With 75 percent of the song already sung in Bahasa Malaysia, we have already got the attention and then comes the Tamil rap.

“We have always had a language barrier. Music can break barriers. We wondered if we sang a part in Tamil if it would still reach our audience.

“At the end of the day, it was an experiment and it went on to be bigger than we expected. I am glad it became big for all the good reasons,” Jivetharman explained.

Unexpected success

Vikneswaran said they knew their work would resonate with people but did not expect the numbers to be so big. The fact that the video for ‘Bangun’ took off the way it did is still something they are trying to wrap their heads around.

Individually, all four have their own projects, but, “when we come together, there is magic,” said Vikneswaran.

When asked if there is another collaboration in the works, Raj chuckled.

”You have to stay tuned to find out. Rap and hip-hop are something we are very interested in doing. There is a lot of storytelling and it is something we enjoy.

“If there is a chance, we will do something,” he said, adding that they have not figured out where they want to go from here.

“We know we enjoyed what we did in the studio and we will continue doing it. We have got a lot of support and supporting messages from people out there,” said Raj.

Their message can be considered timely as racial issues are coming to the forefront once again with the upcoming general election.

Touching so many people with a song, Jivetharman said their message could travel far as they themselves felt the same way.

“I honestly think we just spoke from the heart and that is what is important. Because it came from the heart it resonated with so many people who also feel the same way as us.”

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