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We get a sense of Emiway’s purpose lines that are also echoed in his 2021 track “ Hai Tu Kaun”: “ Shukriya jisne mujhe sign karne se kiya tha mana/ Utna hi hard independent artist main bana (To those who refused to sign me, thank you. The nascently mustachioed rapper sports a short crop of hair and stares off into the distance, resolute.
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He poses in front of the open shutters of Navi Mumbai’s IMX Studio, the same town now home to his own label, Bantai Records. The cover art for the single featured Emiway hunched on the balls of his feet, chequered sneakers flush with the terracotta pavement tiles that are ubiquitous in his city. Two years after his maiden meeting with hip-hop - a time during which Emiway wrote his SSC examinations and went on to begin college - “Glint Lock” was dropped and out emerged Emiway Bantai. The music of Eminem and Lil Wayne left an indent on the young Mumbaikar’s psyche and their names became one half of Mohammed’s moniker. In school, Emiway tried to keep up with his teacher’s lessons, while at home, he took to the Internet to learn more about the gift of the Bronx - hip-hop. Like most borderline millennial Indians, the 1995-born Emiway’s first brush with hip-hop was rapper Eminem’s empowering 2010 anthem, “ Not Afraid.” Nary an inch of Mohammed Bilal Shaikh urf Emiway Bantai’s hair had strayed from his oil-slicked scalp, that the rapper - now associated with a raging, bedraggled mane that meets slick, street-styled ensembles and many-hued killer kicks - began to think of life ahead of being an ‘average’ pupil. The making of Emiway Bantai “My college life has been the most impactful as I learned about the streets, thoughts and the people,” says Emiway Bantai.
ONE DIRECTION HISTORY FINGERSTYLE CRACKED
Now, an artist-entrepreneur heading the Mumbai-based label Bantai Records, he reveals how he cracked the code. Minta)” - released in 2013 when he was 18 - failed to make much of a dent, his 2014 single “Aur Bantai” and particularly, the 2019 drop “ Machayenge” (which went viral on the now denaturalized TikTok) captured the attention of a global audience, making Emiway an accidental digital star and a household name. While his debut English track “ Glint Lock (feat. In a little over eight years, the social media magnate and multilingual rapper (Emiway spits bars in Hindi, English, Marathi and Tamil) has turned into a phenomenon: the Emiway Bantai insignia stands for a veritable viral hit or nothing - with views well into the billions and counting! Emiway Bantai occupies a distinct space in Indian hip-hop.