Blaaze
“Lakshmi Narshima Rajagopala Seshadri Sharma Rajesh Raman’’a.k.a“Blaaze” was born on October 15, 1975, with probably one of the longest names in the Bollywood music industry. Was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He is a playback singer in the Tamil language who specializes in writing and performing RAP music.
Personal life
He was raised in Kitwe, Zimbabwe, and pursue his education in England and later graduated from Columbia College, Hollywood, United States.
He performed his 1st ever breakdance performance on the set designed by his father who is an Architect by profession. He started Rapping and made his music career by performing in an election campaign in Zambia for President Chiluba, in Oct 1991.
And later after 5 months of performing for Mr. President, he produced and performed in Zambia’s first-ever music video ‘Advice 4 Livin’ with the Zambian national broadcasting corporation.
It is considered as Zambians first ever broadcasting independent music video ever made by an Indian origin artist.
Later, Legend A.R Rahman found talent in this young man and appointed him to sing his first song in the ‘Tamil film industry where previously A.R Rahman was himself working, before entering Bollywood and making a big name.
Music Industry
He started performing for the music industry with ‘Baba Rap’ for Rajinikanth, South Megastar for his movie BABA.
Thereafter he performed for several Chennai film industry songs frequently under Rahman’s direction on scores for KangalalKaidhuSei, Boys, Enakku 20 Unakku 18, New, AayuthaEzhuthu, AnbeAaruyire. Other music directors from the film industry also started using Blaaze’s rap talent in their films like Yuvan Shankar Raja for Manmadhan and Vallavan and the likes of Harris Jayaraj, Joshua Sridhar, Deva, Mani Sharma, Devi Sri Prasad inter alia for their films respectively.
Blaaze along with A.R Rahman had written and sung a song “Pray for me Brother” for United Nations. “Pray for me brother” is the world’s first music video shot in Mobile cinemascope format to enable suitable viewing by mobile customers and it comfortable for them to see and spread the greatness of the work done by A.R Rahman and lyrics written by Blaaze.
Other notable works include –
Rang De Basanti
The soundtrack to the 2006 film Rang De Basanti was released by Sony Music Entertainment on 25 December 2005 and had its music composed by A. R. Rahman and lyrics in Hindi and English by PrasoonJoshi and rapper Blaaze. The title track was used at a flash mob at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai on 27 November 2011 in honor of those who died in the 26/11 attack.
Slumdog Millionaire
Oscar-winning movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire” had a rap song in the movie names “Gangsta Blues”. A.R Rahman and Blaaze had written, directed, and composed the song for the movie.
Shivaji: The Boss
Shivaji: The Boss
Two songs in the movie Shivaji: The Boss “The Boss’’ and ‘’Style’’
Michael Bolton
Blaaze pens a tune for American singer’s new album also features his guru AR Rahman. “Sajna” a song which was written by Blaaze with the guidance of Rahman which featured in the movie Couples Retreat that released last year. Michael Bolton heard the song and decided to do a cover of it for his new album.
Music Concert,Sydney 2017.
Blaaze, who is also a part of AR’s band and raps in all his songs, has been traveling with AR, performing with the music maestro on his world tour. They recently performed at a concert in Sydney in front of a 75,000 capacity crowd. “It was a blessed moment. It felt great. I believe everyone has a favorite place in the universe. Mine is on stage, with a mic, doing my thing,” he says, adding, “The tour was an amazing blend of artists from all over the world. It was a great learning experience.” The guest artists on the tour included world-renowned musicians like Oscar Seaton (drummer for Lionel Richie), NilayaSabnis (dancer with Madonna), Jon Beasley (jazz artiste), and guitarist Joel Shearer.
Music Direction
He has worked as a Music Director for Warner Bros film Saas, BahuAurSensex, with the song on a new-age India, called, “What’s Up India”. The film was directed by Shona Urvashi. He has also worked as a music director for the soundtrack of the film Striker.
He has also worked as
a music director for the soundtrack of the film Striker.
n September 2011, ‘Time For Gandhi’s Blaaze’s debut album – India’s first real hip hop ‘protest’ album – released on EMI VIRGIN MUSIC.I
Awards.
• Best Male Singer 2010 – song Hosanna – Star Vijay Music Awards
• MTV Youth Icon 2008
Chosen out of 8,000 probables, and voted as India’s favorite, MTV Networks, announced its 8 winners of the Pepsi MTV Youth Icon Awards in 2008. Blaaze won the votes for his contribution to socially relevant issues through his music, and his lyrics for the official UN anthem on poverty alleviation, Pray For Me, Brother, composed by A R Rahman.
Blaaze’s Kitchen
Blaaze has been experimenting a lot with his music from rapping Sanskrit shlokas to bhajans, etc. The latest that he has come up with is Rap Kitchen, a video where the rapper is cooking as well as rapping about it. Now, that is a cool combo of food and music, doesn’t it? But how did he think of making such videos? “When I was 14, I went to study at a boarding school in the UK and used to crave my mother’s food. And ever since, I realized the importance of being able to cook. These days, whenever I’ve searched for cooking tips on YouTube, it’s either really basic in its shooting, editing, and presentation or extremely sophisticated like Master Chef. Sometimes, it is almost impossible to even find those specific key ingredients that they suggest. There’s nothing in for the common guy. My niece had requested a video on my famous egg curry and that is when I thought why not add rhyme and a beat while waiting for the food to get ready to make the whole experience unique and fun! So, I started to rap and cook,” narrates Blaaze, who loves cooking.
Rap “BHAKTI MALA”
Blaaze teamed up with Music Director Paul Jacob, and together they released the world’s first Sanskrit hip hop album, Rap Bhakti Mala.
