Based out of Hyderabad, Yung Raj is a beatboxer and producer who has been performing at popular venues and festivals in the country since 2011. He has performed with both nationally and internationally acclaimed acts like Foreign Beggars, Shri, Karsh Kale, Niladri Kumar, Shiva Sound System, BOGL, Func, Stitch In Nine and was also an active member of popular acapella outfit – Voctronica until late 2017. He has performed in the past at NH7 Weekender in Pune and has been a beatboxer for the past 6 six years and is very well known in the Indian beatboxing scene, influenced by heavy bass music.

Yung Raj performed for Vh1 Listen on 19^th April 2019. Verus Ferreira met up with the beatboxer to know more about his music.

You have been into beat boxing for six years now, how did you start off? Who was your inspiration?

I started back in 2009, so it's actually been 10 years. I first saw Vineeth Kumar from Bangalore on television back then performing in a music reality show. That really intrigued me, so I went online and googled it, found some really cool videos and tutorials that led me to try on my own. I was really inspired by Beardyman, Tom Thum, Reeps One and Zede back then.

What did you learn from your time with Voctronica that you encompassed into your album ‘Laced Loops’ ?

How to jam as one unit and really think of it like a jigsaw puzzle, a lot of my live performance stuff is inspired by my jams with them. In my album 'Laced Loops', it was sort of like me jamming with myself so having played with Voctronica for so long really helped me in the decision making process for the different parts and layers that I used in my songs.

With the release of Gully Boy, do you believe there can be a stable demand for rap and beat-boxing in Bollywood ? 

Yeah definitely, its been hitting the masses well and since the time I started, I've seen exponential growth in terms of the number of beatboxers in the country. How it holds up and what direction it's headed is something that only time will tell.

How do you blend beat-boxing with bass? What goes on in your mind during the composition of your songs? 

While playing with Voctronica, I would be on bass duties for a couple of songs in the set, during that time I really learnt how to pitch my lip bass the right way. So when I beatbox now, I use it as part of my sound for some songs that I'm performing in the loopstation. Most of the times, I'm just trying to make something that sounds good to my ears, so that usually dictates the process. It's also about the mood I'm in, as a lot of it ends up giving way to the composition, so I just channel whatever I'm feeling in the moment into my songs. I'm never fully able to do that but I try my best to.

What are the advantages for a beatboxer to perform in a digital space such as Vh1 Listen ?

Vh1 Listen is a great platform because I'll end up getting across to a lot of people who dont otherwise listen to my music and since it has a livestream concept, it'll be interesting to perform for an audience that's live on the internet. It might get some people interested in beatboxing as well, coz they'll see another side of it.

Any future collaborations we can look forward to?

I have a lot of releases planned for this year and I'm planning to take some of my songs live with a band setup. Expect some collaborations with new and old friends, musicians, singers, rappers and producers.

Please tell us more about your 2019 album ‘WaterPipe Dreams’ 

That was an album that I started working on somewhere in November last year, then I put it to the side for a bit. A lot of those songs were made really fast and then polished afterwards, process wise. It was initially supposed to have more songs but I cut down on it and was happy with the length so I went ahead and put it out.

Interviewed By Verus Ferreira