Train of thought

At a time when the moral fibre of the nation is arguably in shreds, artists MassQline and Jatin have come out with a song that focuses on unity and diversity. Inspired by the Indian Railways, their alternative hip-hop track Bhartiya Rail compares different cultural moralities and their unity within the country to the existence of different coaches in a train.
 
The duo wrote the rap after a friend of theirs noticed the transition of worlds existing in a train while walking through the coaches. “Everything, from the way people talk, the kind of clothes they wear, and even their bags and shoe changes from one coach to the other. The fact that all these different types of Indians co-exist with one another is something that fascinated us. And consequently, we decided to make a song about it,” says MassQline, adding that they took several train journeys before giving final shape to the lyrics. 

Jatin’s keen observation of minute details of everyday happenings made the song entertaining and relatable. When asked how important is the theme of co-existence in various forms of art (of different cultural moralities) now, considering the current political climate in India, he says, “Art and culture is the channel through which consciousness of individuals connect in a society. Had we been a society that was more accepting of and driven towards art, the current political situation wouldn’t have occurred in the first place. The real idea is that we have been co-existing for long and we will be co-existing in the future too. That’s the beauty of India. The common people are not against each other on their own. If India’s fabric of unity are fiddled with, the consequences wouldn’t be good.”

Like most rappers, their introduction to the genre was through American artists, but they decided to make their art more relatable to an Indian audience by rapping in Hindi and Punjabi. “I grew up listening to Immortal technique, Nas, The Game, Dr Dre, Kanye West, Tupac, KRS ONE, Eminem, Bohemia, Honey Singh, Raftaar. I was reading a lot of history, politics, philosophy, psychology. To put them in Hindi rapping eventually gave birth to a style of my own,” says MassQline, adding, “I had been releasing music from my own YouTube channel, for last five years. It was when I got the opportunity to make music for web series that I could expand my horizons. Earlier, my songs were based around themes such as existentialism, social commentary and personal experiences. Later I developed a skill in dance music and other more entertaining forms of music too.”

Jatin has been a part of the Indian music industry for over a decade. His influences include music from black and white movies, ghazals, rock, metal, blues and artists like Mehdi Hassan, Aerosmith, Eminem, Marilyn Manson, Lamb of God, BB King, and Lucky Ali among others. “My first album was with Universal Music India in 2013. After that I composed and wrote songs for different web shows,” he says, adding, “This is our debut independent song and we are grateful to the Mass Appeal India team for trusting us to help launch this.”

They have previously worked with branded and commissioned songs for web shows like Brochara by Dice Media and College Romance by TVF. What makes their music unique is that they are content-driven artists. “We both work on a single idea for days and individually write thoughts and lyrics, and then we meet to jam and eventually create the final product. As a brand, we tend to blend hip hop, rock and Indian instruments in our songs,” says Jatin, adding, “Music is what I love to make and I have been doing it since long. The journey has been entertaining as I have lot to write because of the ups and downs I have gone through,” he says.

MassQline believes that he has the gift of connecting to the world through his music. “After completing my MBBS, I went on to explore the potential of my art. The journey so far has been amazing, challenging and glorious,” he says. 

The duo plan to launch more songs and enter into live gigs soon.