Logeswara Rao, also known as CJL, is the latest of the many Tamil rappers from Malaysia. He gets chatting about ‘Lepal Mamak’, his recent hip-hop single
Tamil film music, it seems, is inescapable if you are a Tamilian, irrespective of where you grow up. The explanation is simple: songs are an important part of pop culture and almost all songs in the Tamil space are film songs. This is now changing.
Take Logeswara Rao’s case, for instance. Logeswara is on the verge of releasing his first hip-hop single, ‘Lepak Mamak’, under Sony Music Entertainment’s label. Growing up in Johor, Malaysia, he used to listen to the popular film songs of AR Rahman, Ilaiyaraaja and Yuvan Shankar Raja, among others. When he was about nine, his father would occasionally play hip-hop tracks by Malaysian Tamils, especially Yogi B. These songs stood out for Logeswara. They were distinct from the film songs he had listened to till then. He liked them so much that he started performing them for Crowns of Johor, a cultural group he was a part of in high school.
“I used to do cover versions. Then, slowly, I started writing my lyrics… my friends really liked what I wrote,” recalls the 25-year-old.
Last year, his friends urged him to participate in ‘Rap Porkalam’, a National-level Tamil rap competition. Logeswara took the name of CJL (Crowns of Johor Logeswara), as a tribute to his friends.
He was among the 16 of the 80 contestants who cleared the audition. He then moved to the three-round final, which he won. The triumph helped him sign the Sony deal.
“The competition helped me,” he says. “Not only did it help people take note of my talent; it also taught me a lot. I just used to write lyrics; I didn’t know how to perform. Thanks to the competition, I learnt the basics of rapping and a great deal about hip-hop culture.”
‘Lepak Mamak’, which features another singer, Santesh, will mark Logeswara’s début. The colloquial Malay phrase, according to Logeswara, roughly translates to ‘Let us hang out, bro’. “It is like how in Tamil Nadu, the tea kadai (tea stalls) is a place for conversations. I frequent a small restaurant with my friends and we talk about this and that. I wanted to talk about my culture in my songs. And, I found it a fitting title for my début.”
The Tamil music sphere has evolved since Logeswara was introduced to hip hop. There are now several independent artists making a mark. One of the artists Logeswara looks up to, Arivu, recently wrote the runaway hit track, ‘Enjoy Enjaami’. “In Malaysia, the scope for independent music started widening when Yogi B and Natchatra broke into the scene.”
Independent music, he says, will be his preference. “But I would love to work in Tamil films as well, especially with musicians like Yuvan and Arivu.”
‘Lepak Mamak’ will release on April 2 in CJL’s YouTube channel
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