‘Kaliyug’ to reckon with

KOCHI: 21-year-old Thrissur-native Hrishikesh Krishna, aka Hrishi, has made a dream debut in the hip-hop music scene with his new single ‘Kaliyug’. The song has been launched in collaboration with 
Street Academics   

It is not often that a newbie breaks into the music scene aided and endorsed by an established brand. Thrissur-native Hrishikesh Krishna, aka Hrishi, has done just that. He has announced his arrival to the indie music scene with all guns blazing. The 21-year-old has recently collaborated with hip-hop stalwarts Street Academics to release his debut single, ‘Kaliyug’, which is already making waves in the alt music circuit in Kerala. Unlike most artists, Hrishi’s tryst with music is fairly nascent. An avid footballer since childhood, it was only upon moving to Mumbai after Class X that he was introduced to music production by his friend.

“My friend showed me how to use a digital audio software called FL Studio; I learnt a few things but that was it. I was caught up with my studies and football so music wasn’t a priority. But during the second year of my college, I suffered a bad injury and had to stop playing. That’s when I started taking music seriously. I enrolled in a music production academy and studied it for a year. This was three years back,” says Hrishi who is currently pursuing masters in global financial marketing in Mumbai. 

Hrishi started working on ‘Kaliyug’ just over a year ago and took two months to construct the sound design. Initially set to release the track as an independent debut release, the young musician approached Vivek Radhakrishnan, aka V3K, of Street Academics with his composition in hopes of a collaboration. “I got my hands on Vivek’s number and gave him a call in January.

He listened to the composition and sent it to others in the group. Arjjun aka Imbachi really liked it and wanted to hop on the project, so did Haris Saleem aka Maapla aka doc.hary. It was decided to break the song in two halves, the first with English lyrics and next in Malayalam. Imbachi wrote the lyrics and sang the English part while Haris did the Malayalam half,” says Hrishi.Released under the label Glitch Collective, Kaliyug starts with a booming beat accompanied by an almost venomous sounding Imabchi speaking in the voice of a prodigal king heralding utter destruction and strife. 

After a brief interlude of heart-thumping beats, Haris’ voice follows in the same strain in Malayalam signalling further doom. The lyrical video conceptualised by Harsh @supreme_chaos features a crow, the mascot of Street Academics, soaring across the globe and overseeing the chaos. “The crow is also considered as omen of death and Kaliyug has been touted as the ‘age of downfall’ so it made sense to make the crow a witness to the decay. The lyrics detail the suffering of the oppressed and alluded to caste atrocities and movements like Black Lives Matter,” says Hrishi. 

With personal projects with Imbachi, Haris and ThirumaLi on hand, Hrishi is thanking his lucky stars. “If it was not for the lockdown, I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to work with Street Academics. All the members would have been busy with various projects. They also don’t usually do collaborations like this.”