Pehle koi channel muh nahi lagata tha, phir Bollywood bhi aa gaya
When I was a kid, I used to learn the tabla, but after that, my family didn't encourage music. My father wanted me to be an engineer and join his business. I didn't understand that because I'd started learning music programming through the internet, and because music is all digital now, I wanted to learn more. I didn't get permission for that, so I left home. It was a lot of struggle, a lot of meeting people and understanding the industry. The idea was never to be a rap artiste or a mainstream artiste, the idea was to be a music producer. I started working in England, but I had no identity in the music industry. I came to Mumbai in 2004, and lived there for eight months. I tried a
lot, but nothing happened. I went back to England, where anyway UK bhangra artistes were very popular. The next time I came to India, I met Ashok Masti and made a song for him, which he didn't understand at the time. Six months later, he asked me to complete it. When I came to India with it, I saw that they were even making a video for it. That was Khadke Glassi. I used to be fat then, but I was in the video anyway. That song was very popular, but then what?
Some friends suggested that Punjab has a big music scene, so I shifted base to Chandigarh and started rapping in Punjabi. I started getting many Punjabi awards, some songs, like Chaska and Lakh 28 became so popular that they reached Delhi and Mumbai. I had a lot of friends in Delhi, who told me, 'tere gaane Dilli mein bahut chalte hain, lekin koi tujhe nahi jaanta.' So, I decided to make an album. Whatever money I'd earned in six years, I put it all in an album called International Villager. I had no big channel, no label; a small company from Punjab released it. I made videos for it and decided to put them up on YouTube, on the company's registered music channel. It was about the urban youth. Nayi baatein thi, clubs jaana, dope, parties, fashion, high heels. I maintained my fitness because I knew I was on the way to becoming a mainstream artiste. And then, the album became very popular. I got calls from very established people from Bollywood. Saif Ali Khan's office called to say that they wanted Angrezi Beat for their film. I thought, yeh toh bahut badhiya ho gaya, kal tak toh humein koi channel muh nahi laga raha tha, yeh toh Bollywood bhi aa gaya. We were number one on YouTube in 2011 and 2012, jiska kahin na kahin nuksaan hua ki hum nazar mein aa gaye aur itne fake videos banne lag gaye.
Balatkari jaise gaane gaa ke main kyun apne career pe laat maarunga?
I have never written a vulgar song. No song of mine has words that need to be beeped out. Mere jo gaane hain, woh 20% mere experience se hote hain, baaki woh jo maine observe kiya hai.What I saw in Delhi and Bombay, that boys are into body building and woh alcohol nahi lete, ladkiyan dabadab pi rahi hain neat shots. Mere liye yeh naya experience tha. Tabhi maine likha tha Dope Shope. That's how Brown Rang also happened. I used to see how crazy people would get if they see a gori mem. I've lived all over the world; if they see a brown-skinned girl, they all go crazy, and I'm a big fan of Indian beauty, so I wrote that song.
See, someone who struggled for six years, why would he be so stupid as to make a song that he can't sing on any stage or sell any CDs of? Apne chalte hue career pe laat kyun maarega koi? And we've been condemning them since 2008. We'd been telling YouTube ki aap hamaare mai baap ho, aapne hamaari bahut madad kari hai, lekin inko aap hatao. We presented all these emails which were exchanged with YouTube in the court, we have the details of all the domains they removed. See, all my concerts were major hits, and what was planned for the New Year's Eve was massive, but of course, there were some people who didn't want that to happen. There was another show planned for December 25, which some of these people I knew were organising. At that time, I was in Singapore, but when I heard that the situation in Delhi is not good, that there is disturbance in the society, I asked them to call it off. Then, my people approached those who were organizing the New Year's bash, and said the same thing. Unhone kaha arrey yaar, 31st ko toh duniya celebrate karegi. But that's the time when things started getting out of hand, the media picked it up, and I didn't go for the show. Three thousand people turned up, but I didn't do that show. On January 1, we'd issued a public notice in three newspapers condemning the song, but nobody paid attention to that. But on January 3, the media picked up a tweet from a fake Twitter account saying 'I didn't write the song but I sang it.' We got that account also shut down.
Delhi mein woh rape hua tha, toh logon ne socha that this is the best time to hit me. Kuch log thaane gaye to lodge an FIR against me under Section 294 of the IPC for singing an obscene song in public, for a show that I didn't even go to. Then they filed a PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court ki sunwaayi nahi ho rahi, Honey Singh, ashleel gaane gaane wala, azad ghoom raha hai. The court issued a summons that we didn't receive. The Punjab and Haryana government and I were made a party in this. I read it in the newspaper, that there's a hearing, but when I checked with office, they said there was nothing. So, on May 14, I didn't reach the High Court. They issued an order, and the police lodged an FIR. A summons was issued again, which we received. On July 4, I went to court and presented this pile of documents that they took 25 minutes to read. Aaj tak kabhi phatte nahi maare thay maine, par ismein sab tha - main kya hoon, maine kya kiya hai, YotuTube ke mails. Unhone sab dekha, aur PIL radd kar di. There is still an FIR against me, but we have to file a PIL to quash that. Uske baad, mujhe finally nijaat milegi.
We couldn't handle the media during all this
But one thing was that we couldn't handle and organize the media during all this. Scene itna bada hua ki January 1 ko saare media channels started talking about me. And I wasn't there. They called us and we didn't have enough time to reply to anyone. I didn't know how to manage it.Samajh hi nahi aaya aur meri koi tayyari nahi thi. I was no millionaire, na hum bade baap ke ladke thay jinko pata hota hai ki if you don't want to talk, a spokesperson can talk for you.Humein toh bas legally samajh mein aaya. We knew 2-3 people, unhone kaha ki agar tu bekasoor hai toh aaraam se baith jaa, yeh toh sehna padega. Tu kahan kahan jaake safai dega. You have to wait.
I just couldn't handle it. I don't know these things. Can you see how unprofessional my name is?Maine kabhi socha hota na ki mujhe yeh banna hai, toh main naam rakhta apna The King ya kuch. Main toh music kar raha tha, aur sab kuch ho gaya. Honey nickname hai mera, mummyne rakha tha, mera naam toh Hirdesh Singh hai. Yo Yo ka matlab hai aapka apna. Gaana gaane mein bol diya tha maine. Aur jis tarah main bolta hoon, maine ek doodhwaale ko bolte suna tha.I was going back from the studio in the morning, Chandigarh ki baat hai. Log bole pagal hai tu,international album kar raha hai, yeh kaisa naam hai.
Hindustan mein kuch karna ho toh controversy kar lo
I went to England for a month-and-a-half during this time. I was with family, I cooked, I tried to take some time out. I couldn't even make music, itna bakwaas time tha. But I didn't talk to the media. I didn't want to do any reality show. Koi picture nahi chahiye thi mujhe. I didn't want to gain from this controversy at all. If I wanted to, I would've gone to all media channels, and today, I'd have so many business opportunities. I would be in some reality show, or a judge in some other show. Achha sa selling item bana hota main but I didn't want to cash in on it. I'm an artiste and I have a plan for music. Pictures itni offer hui mujhe iss controversy pe. Maine kaha ki main toh karunga nahi tumhaare baap ko bhi nahi karne doonga. Yehi reh gaya hai ek artiste ke liye? Hindustan mein kuch karna hai toh controversy kar lo. Mujhe koi fayda nahi uthana tha, that was the biggest reason I didn't talk to the media.
It's difficult for me to write Bollywood songs
Bollywood song bahut mushkil hai mere liye banana. I was doing so many shows last year, all these songs that I sang for Akshay paaji and everyone, it's very difficult. Main likh nahi paata kisi aur artiste ke liye, kisi aur situation ke liye, which I've never lived. Main Mauritius mein baitha hoon, aur phone aa raha hai ki aisi situation hai, gaana likho. Yaar main samundar dekh raha hoon, mojito pee raha hoon, mujhe kya pata kaisi situation hai! But I'm doing it now. I've made some 25 songs for upcoming mainstream movies kyunki kai logon ko naaraazgi thi ki ismein hawa hai bahut, gaane nahi deta time pe. Aise phir jab hum movies ke liye gaane lag gaye, humein laga humein log bulaane lag gaye, toh humne kaha achha hum toh bade mehenge hain. Par woh ek hi baari hua tha that I became the highest paid singer in Bollywood for this filmMastaan. My songs are like my kids, I do everything on my own, so I worry ki koi inhe waste na kar de. So, I thought let's pick up hard money, agar itna paisa koi dega toh dhyaan bhi rakhega. Humne maange unhone de diye. Uske baad humne itna kuch nahi kara, uske baad humne dosti yaari mein kaam kiya. Most of the songs that I've done are for friends. And I've signed a film in which I have an appearance, something for my fans on the big screen, and there's another filmjiski baat chal rahi hai.
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