Music
Story behind the song: ‘Nostradamus’ by Ikka, Karan Kanchan
The New Delhi rapper crafts heavy punches with his song for Red Bull 64 Bars. He explains the process that helped him put together his masterpiece.
The first word of the song is ‘Nostradamus’. This word has been in my mind right from when I used to read comics as a kid. There was a character named Nostradamus who used to make predictions about the future. There was a real person by this name too.
For Red Bull 64 Bars, this was one of the first thoughts that came into my head – Nostradamus. I thought to myself, “Mujhe sab pata pehle se.”
The easiest and best thing about Red Bull 64 Bars is that there’s no hook, so you can run with your verses in any direction. I just had to write punches. It was quite easy and it felt good too.
Lyrically, it’s quite fresh. These are things I haven’t said before in any of my other songs. Whatever I’ve written in this song, it’s coming from experience. Nothing’s made up. I’ve lived these things and written about them. I’ve put down some life experiences in this song.
Ikka
© Vaqaas Mansuri
My major influence has always been international music and culture. I heard Eminem first, and it was so much fun. I heard it and thought, “This is the kind of stuff I relate to. He’s talking about things I’ve seen too.” It felt like the music was just for me. I began to understand this is what rap music is – it’s about telling your own stories and thoughts, what’s happening in society and what you see around you. You begin talking about it and it becomes rap.
Whatever you see in front of you, put it down on paper. People accept it readily and say, “This guy is talking about my thoughts.” The artist, after all, talks about what’s going on.
There are a few English words always in my bars because I think English just has a lot more easily rhyming words. Of course, we have those words in Hindi too, but they don’t always sound great phonetically. I want that I write mostly in Hindi, but you get a certain flavor with English words.
To me, freestyle means that I have to write freely. There was no thought in my mind about going into a particular zone or anything like that. If you don’t have a hook, your song is mostly set. The hook is the most difficult part to get down. We learned freestyle first in hip-hop. It wasn’t about patterns or bridges or hooks.
I’d seen the previous episodes of Red Bull 64 Bars. It was really good. Rawal was there, Agsy was great; everyone really killed it with their songs. Sikander Kahlon was also part of it and was great. After watching it, I thought even I’d like to get in on it. And I’d like to thank Red Bull for the opportunity.
Red Bull 64 Bars gives us something new. People want to hear rap and if they love hip-hop, it’s new content and thoughts. They get to see a different side to the artists and it’s just about skills, really. I learned a lot through this process of making the song. For anyone getting into hip-hop, Red Bull 64 Bars is like tuition classes to brush up on your skills.
Ikka and Karan Kanchan in the Red Bull 64 Bars studio
© Vaqaas Mansuri
It was my first song with Karan Kanchan. He’s an exceptional person and his work is even more exceptional. He made an amazing beat. We went over the beat about four times. The first time, I didn’t really like it so much. The second, third and fourth times, the beat was good. But the fifth attempt is when we knew it was banging. It was more suited to my thoughts.
Karan bhai finalized everything and didn’t want to settle until we were satisfied. We made changes to the beat four times, and when I heard the final version, my heart was happy. It was a destructive beat, for all kinds of speakers, big or small.
I was honestly just seeking an aggression that was in my verses. That was kind of missing. The beats were great no doubt, but the initial versions weren’t perfect for this song. I always wanted my vocals to sound like an instrument on the beat; I didn’t want it to sound odd. So it was very important for everything to match – the beats and my vocals. I don’t know if any other artist thinks this way, but I always do.
I’ve always heard music on headphones, right from when I was a kid. I had a Walkman on which I would listen to music. I would really hear the intricacies of the sound and understand them. That shows the production of every one of my tracks.
I really like the bars:
- Chillin in my condo
- Plugging in my console
- Scarface, Al Pacino wala mera don flow.
- Boss life chahiye mujhe
- Everything pronto
- I’m getting all the love
- All the haters call me Yosho
Ikka in the Red Bull 64 Bars studio
© Vaqaas Mansuri
I think it turned out tight – I do like sitting at home and playing on my console. All the bars are my favourite, though. They’re all punches, to the face.
The song has a lot of influences of street culture and things I understand from knowing about hip-hop as a culture, through documentaries and music.
I loved this project overall. I got a lot of space to think creatively and work with a very understanding person like Karan Kanchan. Thanks to Red Bull for working with me on this song. I have a great feeling about this.
