MC Heam is an OG from New Delhi who has recently been stirring a lot of buzz since his exit from India’s first Hip-Hop reality competition, ‘MTV Hustle’ which airs on MTV every Friday and Saturday at 7:00 pm. Heam has not only mentored some of the best New Delhi hip-hop acts but also teaches rap to rural and underprivileged kids in, ‘The Dharavi Dream Project’. It is pretty formidable to see MC Heam aka Hemant Dhyani actually utilizing and promoting the fifth and the most ignored element of Hip-Hop, ‘knowledge’. Having more than 12 years of experience pursuing Hip-Hop music, it is safe to say that the kids of ‘The Dharavi Dream Project’ are in expert hands.

We witnessed some epic performances by Heam during his time as a contestant on the show. His tracks such as ‘Launda tha ye Befikar’ and ‘Hai Sabh Sahi’ set him apart from his competition, that along with a relentless work ethic and supreme stage presence made him a crowd favorite and helped him gain some sincere fans on social media. Heam is currently touring different cities with MTV Hustle and is promoting the show.

I caught up with Heam to see how has he been doing since the show and how are things looking for him, have a read :

How has life been after,  ‘MTV Hustle’ ?

My life is pretty much still the same. It is beautiful. One thing that has changed is that I am getting recognized way more than I used to, my social media following has strengthened. There are people who want me to make music and that is major encouragement for me. The folks at MTV Hustle called me twice to participate in the show but I declined it. It was just before the third time when I realized I have been investing a lot of my energy in people who have always been thankless and towards a scene which does not recognize my efforts. I let go of my ego and decided to take part in the competition. I met some incredible rappers and also learned a few things about myself.

This track is fairly different from your usual releases, Could you breakdown, ‘Bahut Soft’ ?

The first 2 verses are very simple because I have learned that the people need easy lyrics to digest. Third verse displays my musicality using vocal harmonies. The theme of the track is how true art is actually fading away. There are many rappers who are wearing masks and are humble only when they are in front of a camera. I have also expressed my angst against rappers who blatantly lie in their music and fabricate their story. It’s almost as if no one wants to listen to the truth. I will always keep trying different things in my music.

I have produced the song by myself and Har Man helped me by mixing and mastering it.

Your video production has definitely upgraded and looks classy. Can we expect this to be consistent from now onwards ?

‘Dezvyn Tinwalla’ is the director and cinematographer  for this video. I was at a YouTube event and I played this song there, it was appreciated and they provided me YouTube space for shooting this video a few days later. Me and Dezvyn planned the entire shoot and made sure we judiciously use the space provided to us. It was a fun experience.

What was the motive behind, ‘Bahut soft’? Are you firing shots at anyone ?

I have been making music since 2008, the scene started getting attention roughly around in 2017 and has become ‘Gully centric’. I love the Gully movement and respect to it’s pioneers Divine and Naezy but there are so many rappers who are trying to ride that wave that, ‘Gully rap’ is starting to lose it’s essence. There are so many good rappers out there who are not being heard because of this over crowding. I am mocking Emiway in my hook and would like to mention THAT HE IS NOT REPRESENTING INDIA. He is a beautiful human with a ‘Khatarnaak’ voice but his writing his weak. I have given my life to the scene and sacrificed a lot, I cannot accept him as the global representation of Desi Rap.

You are one of the few artists who is executing the low-fi sound the way it should be executed. What made you dabble with that ?

I love making low-fi music and it’s a different challenge in itself. However, there is a lack of low-fi producers here in India and that is an obstacle for me. The low-fi sound is actually used in healing and is a core part of, ‘Music Therapy’. I am actually planning to indulge in healing via music and will probably use this low-fi soundscape for doing so. I am studying Music Therapy by myself and have also helped one of my students get better with it. He was having  stammering problems along with attention issues, music therapy has calmed him down and has helped him with both the problems. I want to make music which heals people and not just for them to dance to it. Nothing against the mainstream genre but it is not for me.

Will we get to listen to the old Heam ?

I think old Heam did some dope conscious rap but made a lot of fuck all tracks. The new Heam is not a rapper but a musician. I am involving a lot of musicality in my new music. I might get back old Heam if there is a hype track, we’ll see.

Any message for your fans and followers ?

I am grateful for fans and followers. There are a few folks who have been following me since 2011 and that feels great. I honestly do not believe in ‘fans’, if you like my music and respect me as a human, I will return you the same energy.

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