KR$NA is an Indian rapper, producer and songwriter. He is one of the first rappers to appear in the country hip hop scene in the mid-2000s. In 2019, he was featured as himself in the Bollywood film ‘Gully Boy’. His writing and rapping techniques are popular in the rapping industry. He gained popularity in 2010 with the song “Kaisa Mera Desh”, which became popular on YouTube at that time.
Wiki/Biography
KR$NA was born as Krishna Kaul on Sunday, 4 October 1987 (age 34 years; by 2022) in New Delhi. His zodiac sign is Libra. During his childhood, he went to South London and did his schooling there. In his school, students from some rival gangs studied together. They used guns and knives to fight with each other which made it difficult for him and other students studying there who were not part of any gang. So, at the age of 14, to protect himself and mingle with the culture and people, he decided to start rapping. Later, he became more interested in rapping and hip hop, then took part in competitive rap battles. He recorded his first rap at the age of 18. He did his graduation from Delhi University and then did his post graduation at St. Xavier’s College.
Childhood photo of KR$NA taken in Kashmir in 1990
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 7
Weight (approx): 60 kg
Hair Color: black
Eye Colour: dark brown
Body Measurements (Approx.): Chest: 42 Inches, Waist: 32 Inches, Biceps: 15 Inches
family
Krishna hails from a Kashmiri Pandit family in New Delhi.
career
rapper
In 2006, Kaul began writing songs and posted them on his MySpace profile. By 2008, he had developed a small following in New Delhi and was featured by musicians from the United States and Canada. He then returned to India, began rapping in college, and organized a group there he called the Illegal Cash Mob (ICM). In 2010, he released the music video “Kaisa Mera Desh”, which became the first Indian hip hop song on YouTube and after its release, it reached number 2 on the list of most viewed videos in India. In 2013, he changed his stage name from Prozpekt to KR$NA, which is his current stage name.
album
He signed a contract with Universal Music in 2013. In 2014, he released his debut album, ‘Sellout’, a full-length English album effort on Universal Music. Its lead single, ‘Last Night’ reached number 5 on the VH1 music chart in India. He was the first hip-hop artist from India to tour a five-city album with a band. They performed in India at the time and had a fan base in England, but were dissatisfied with the company’s lack of marketing and promotional budgets, which did not affect the music.
Cover of the album ‘Sellout’
In 2021, he released his second album titled ‘Still Here’. Famous Indian Music Artists including King, Raftaar, and Ikka were featured in his album. The intro song of the album ‘Still Here’ was produced by Safin.
Album cover of ‘Still Here’
Solo
In 2006, they released a sample of the song ‘I Want It All’ by British rock band Queen. In the same year, he starred in the remix of the song ‘Bitch Please’, originally composed by American rapper Eminem. In 2007, he released his original song, ‘I Go Go’, which featured Soldier Hard. In 2016, Krishna made a comeback after a gap of 2 years with the Hindi song ‘Vyanjan’. Following the success of the song, he signed with DNH (now Kalamkar) artist management agency in 2017; He later became a partner of the agency in 2018.
He has worked with many American artists. In January 2021, American rapper Hi-Rez released the song ‘Crossroads’, on which Krishna starred alongside another American rapper Royce da 5’9. He starred in another Hi-Rez song ‘Playground’ in July 2021. He collaborated with other American artists including Joel Ortiz, Busy Bone, Take N9ne, Twista, and others on the song ‘Overdrive’ with Hi-Rez for the third time. More.
Hi-Rez. KR$NA on the poster of the song ‘Overdrive’
Some of his other famous songs are ‘Roll Up,’ ‘Saza-e-Maut,’ ‘Lil Bunty,’ ‘No Cap,’ ‘Say My Name,’ ‘Blowing Up,’ ‘Living Legend’ and more.
dis tracks
against emiway
In 2018, in an interview, Raftaar raised the question,
Rappers getting money work? Emiway, which is engaged in its own way, is not earning money yet. ,
After this the side of Raftaar and Emiway Bantai started speaking and singing in the sequence of other lines. Everything came to a halt after Emiway’s final humiliation, both sides of “Khatam”. After a while, when Emiway released “Freevers Feast” and claimed to represent India, KR$NA responded with “Freeverse Feast (Anchor)”, which surprised everyone in the scene. Delivered and quickly captured. Emiway did not respond, so KR$NA released “Straight Change”, another dis tune that became popular in the hip-hop scene.
After releasing a few dis tracks against Emiway, Insane of Beardgang from Greater Noida, India started producing dis tracks against KR$NA.
After signing Kalamkar to KR$NA he called KR$NA on his Instagram DM. After that, KR $ NA answers him and invites him to arrange a meeting with these “softies”, as he refers to alleged Internet gangsters. He requested KR$NA to meet him at Pari-Chowk, but no one came, so the situation was resolved.
A picture of Krishna’s conversation with the Beardgang man on Instagram
against muhfadi
In 2020, Muhfaad claimed in an interview,
Krishna is giving his hand to the Behati Ganga.”
This statement led to a quarrel between Muhfad and KR $ NA. KR$NA then released the song “Untitled”, which featured subtle jabs in Muhfaad. After the single, Muhfaad responded with his diss track “Bitch I’m a God” and from that point on, Muhfaad and KR$NA began a battle of tunes. Both KR$NA and Muhfad responded to each other by issuing “Maharani” and “Moksha” respectively. In “Makasam”, Kaul released his best tune. Muhfaad then released “Bhoot Banega” as his final response when KR$NA released Makasam. From the point of view of a large section of the audience, KR$NA won the argument.
Conflict
Allegation: IPL copied my song
One of the most awaited sporting events in the country is the Indian Premier League (IPL). Many were shocked to learn that the new IPL anthem for 2020 was actually quite recognizable when it was released. The song, “Hum Back Aayenge”, sounded similar to “Dekh Kaun Aaye Back”, which he had previously heard on the YouTube channel of Krishna, one of India’s first well-established rappers. When his fans heard the song for the first time, he tagged Krishna and after knowing what was happening, he said,
It took me a moment to really realize that IPL has actually stolen my song. While plagiarism is quite common, you don’t expect someone of IPL and Disney Hotstar stature to plagiarize your song. While he changed the wording of the verses, the hook was almost exactly the same. From ‘Dekh who came back’ to ‘We will come back’. It is strange that big names like IPL and Disney Hotstar do not have the necessary checks and safeguards against plagiarism.
His team has sent a legal notice to the IPL organizers. Producer of IPL anthem, Pranav Ajayrao Malpe, refuted all allegations saying that the song was authentic, and even certified as original by the Music Composers Association of India (MCAI). Pranav said,
I was surprised. My creation is original and not inspired by the work of any other artist. It was made by me and my team with our hard work and efforts.”
favorite
- Rappers: Tech N9ne, Kendrick Lamar, Joyner Lucas, Nas, Raftaar, divineKarma, Harjas, Kidshot, Raga, Straight Death
- musical instrument: sound
- musician: Trombone Shorty, Boi-1 ADA, Metroboomin, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis
Facts / Trivia
- His first and former stage name is YoungProject.
- His other stage names are Krishna, Project and Dollar Sign.
- He started rapping at the young age of 14.
- Krishna has worked with many music labels like Universal, Zee, KALAMKAAR, and AK Projekts.
- He wrote his first song on a tissue paper.
- In 2013, he released a song titled ‘Vijay’ in collaboration with International NGO, Save the Children.
- In 2019, he appeared in episode 4 of the capsule series ‘Gully Boy Voice of the Streets’.
A promo photo from episode 4 of the capsule series ‘Gully Boy Voice of the Streets’
- In March 2019, he had the opportunity to speak on the TEDx Talks stage. The video was released on YouTube titled ‘The Art Called Rap’ in which he explained the rhyme plans to the audience.
KR$NA on the TEDx Talks Forum
- Krishna played the role of himself in the 2019 musical-drama film ‘Gully Boy’. When asked how he was cast in the film, he replied,
I got a call from the makers. I am the only rapper from Delhi in the film and I think the reason behind this was that I have been in the rap scene for a long time and have seen it grow in both Delhi and Mumbai, so they felt they needed me. be involved in some way. I don’t know if it matters for me to be in Bollywood, because it’s a film about hip hop and I’m just playing myself.
- Talking about his experience working for the first time in the film ‘Gully Boy’, he shared,
it was a great experience. I was a little nervous at first because being in a film was a completely new experience, very different from the music videos I usually shoot. Zoya though was great, she told me to do what came naturally and don’t think of it as a film. Ranveer singh Very friendly, sociable and has a lot of energy which overwhelms everyone on the sets. I loved working with him!”
- The success mantra that Krishna follows is,
There is no plan B. Stick to your guns no matter what. Make a plan and focus on it. If you want it bad enough, you’ll get it.”
- When asked about his writing technique, and how he thinks about references, pop culture, and inside jokes, he shared,
Brother, I’ve been doing this metaphor, reference, wordplay game for years. I feel like it comes naturally to me because I’ve been doing it for so long. People think it takes a lot of effort [references], but honestly there isn’t. It’s just that when you’re writing and when you’re in the flow of things, sometimes it’s just… I can’t explain it, but it comes together. There are some points where when I write a punchline, and I consider it a bit like how stand-up comedy is written. You sometimes have a punchline but you don’t have the stuff behind it. Sometimes I’ll think of a punchline or a light context, but I have what’s behind it. So I go and make it upside down.
