Growing up in Claremont, California, a young Svetha Rao would tell herself , ‘One day, I will work with AR Rahman’. Now 33-years-old, the rapper and songwriter, better known as Raja Kumari, has not only collaborated with Rahman for the song ‘Jugni’ from Kaatru Veliyidai, but has also shared the stage with him. “This is what dreams are made of,” she says.

But Rahman is not the only big name she has been associated with. She has written songs for and collaborated with Gwen Stefani, Fall Out Boys, Fifth Harmony, Timbaland and Divine, even receiving a Grammy nomination for writing, ‘Change Your Life’ for rapper Iggy Azalea.

The rapper, who has 1.84 lakh followers on Instagram and nearly 2 lakh subscribers on YouTube, has also performed on ‘Allah Duhai Hai’ from Race 3 and ‘Husn Parcham’ from Zero. She has released two EPs — The Come Up (2016) and Bloodline (2019), that include the singles ‘SHOOK’ and ‘KARMA’ — co-written by Sean Garrett who has written and produced with the likes of Beyoncé, Drake, Usher and Nicki Minaj.

“The Grammy nomination and my meeting Rahman were two things that made my parents understand this was for real,” she says over phone from Mumbai where she is currently based.

“The nomination came early in my songwriting career. So, for me it was a sign that this is what I was meant to do. It helped my family understand it was not just a passion, but something I wanted to dedicate my life to.”

As for her parents’ reaction to her working with Rahman, she says, “It was the biggest deal. They were so happy that Rahman was involved.”

In addition, she has worked with Divine and even had a cameo in Gully Boy (she is one of the judges). She says, “It has been great. I had done a single with Divine called ‘Roots’ and then ‘City Slums’.”

Gully Boy also helped, not only in introducing many people to hip-hop, but also making it more mainstream. “I feel people are open to understanding that hip-hop is art now,” she says.

She decided to start performing her own material, combining classical Indian music with hip-hop, after she got to a point where she felt she had things to say that other people couldn’t. “I felt a South Asian voice needed to be heard and that I should be the one to do it.”

It was challenging being a brown person in the music industry in America. Raja Kumari elaborates: “There are people that are interested in the culture and excited, and those are the ones I love to connect with. Then, there are others to whom my ‘Indianness’ was sometimes a label thrown around in different situations. It was important to me and if I was going to make music, I wanted to express the things I liked. I grew up watching Bollywood films and am a classical dancer.”

As a child growing up in the States, she did not have any role models who looked like her.

“But I think this is an exciting time because there are many that are breaking through whether it is in film, comedy or cooking. It is great because the youth growing up now can imagine themselves in different ways. I feel like we have so much to offer, musically, culturally and artistically,” she adds.

She is currently busy with the five-city Karma Kills tour in India, being a judge on MTV Hustle, India’s first prime time show for rappers, alongside Raftaar and Nucleya. She is also a presenter and curator on the Apple Music Beats 1 Radio’s ‘New India Show’ that broadcasts in 81 countries.

Surprised by the talent on the show, Raja Kumari says, “Hip-hop is very young in this country. I grew up in America where it is established. I got to work with people like Timbaland and Tricky Stewart; people who made that sound. Now in a position to help shape the future, I should pass that knowledge on. Not only to contestants, but also to aspiring rappers and those watching.”

As for the one piece of advice she would give aspiring rappers, she says: “Find your own voice, be authentic to who you are, whatever that is.”

Raja Kumari will be performing in Bengaluru on July 13 at LaLit Ashok, as part of her Karma Kills tour. Tickets are available on bookmyshow.com