The artists talk about entering new ground and creating “music from scratch” in a time-sensitive environment for the hip-hop series’ third edition
Producers Karan Kanchan and Anurag Saikia worked on music for ‘MTV Hustle 03.’ Photos: Deepak Das Photography (Saikia), Boiler Room (Kanchan)
Some of the biggest, scene-stealing performances from hip-hop show MTV Hustle 03 REPRESENT have not just showcased a new class of Indian rap, but also the production prowess of Karan Kanchan and Anurag Saikia, who worked on the music for the recently concluded third season.
From this season’s winner Uday Pandhi’s “Ishaare” to Kayden Sharma’s “Street Celebrity” to Badal’s “Dream Girl” and Bob.B Randhawa’s “Tanhai,” Karan Kanchan stepped up to prove his versatility and prolific way as a music director, whereas Saikia churned out the music for songs like “Chhalla” by Bob.B Randhawa, “Main Sochi Jaavan” by Burrah (with Kanchan as well) and “Haseena” by Kayden.
The show brought in producers from varied backgrounds – Kanchan has been a mainstay in Indian hip-hop who’s pretty much worked with everyone in the game, while Saikia has had more film and web series soundtrack credits to his name along with collaborative projects like Salim-Sulaiman’s Bhoomi song series. It’s understandable then to hear both artists talk about what they got out of the experience of producing a truckload of songs for MTV Hustle 03. Kanchan says, “I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ve usually worked with artists on their album projects or solo projects. This is something new for me, but I was very excited because I always love to take up challenges like this, and it helps me learn a thing or two.”
Saikia adds, “Usually when I’m doing a film/series, it revolves around the story and characters but with a project like MTV Hustle 03 REPRESENT it’s a bit different, since all the contestants write their own songs and it gives you also the chance to explore more in music production and music writing.”
The workload involved creating more than a hundred tracks in 10 weeks, according to Kanchan. “Once the shoot started, we hardly got 1-2 days to produce and prepare the song for the contestants so that they could perform the song. Post the shoot, we would send it to the mixing engineer for post production,” Saikia adds. The goal was straightforward in that the music director and producer had to figure out what rappers want and help them reach their goals. This was not just sitting down in the studio to figure out music, however. From the original 24 contestants down to the top 16 – when 16 songs were being made every week – to the finalists, Kanchan says some rappers came in with song ideas, but they were making the music from scratch. As tedious as this was, Kanchan credits working with producers like Bhav, Beats By Shri, Himalaya Music and his assistant Dikshant, plus prolific mixing engineer Hanish Taneja.
It’s understandably difficult for either producer to pick a favorite track, but Kanchan points to songs like “Nazar” by Vish, which challenged him. He even got a chance to sample Bollywood songs (without worrying about permission or licenses) like the A.R. Rahman-composed “Agar Tum Saath Ho.” Kanchan adds, “It was so much fun to try that kind of sound, and have tablas and live instruments going on, giving it a really good chorus feel and making it sound different from what my usual productions have been.” Saikia lists out songs like “Mommy Issues” by Mrunal Shankar, “Rubina” by Shen B (“There’s a beautiful Kashmiri verse in that song that I fell in love with,” he says) and more.
While our interview was conducted before the show announced Uday Pandhi as winner of MTV Hustle 03 REPRESENT, the producers hailed all the contestants as “extremely talented.” Saikia says, “I like artists who have good writing skills, musicians that have studied the art.” Kanchan points out that through the course of the show, they’ve seen real growth in the craft of the contestants. “Bassick when he came on stage for the first time, he was very shy. Now he’s much more open and much more confident. This is the first time he’s performing on stage. And MTV has given them that platform to be free and learn from all the squad bosses and grow. I don’t think this kind of experience you will get anywhere else.”