Deepa Unnikrishnan, best known as rapper Dee MC, has been in the hip-hop industry for ten years now. One of the most popular female rappers in the country today, Dee MC has worked on a number of projects. She was also among the many hip-hop artists seen in Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt’s Gully Boy. Recently, Dee MC joined hands with Guru Randhawa and Anirudh Ravichander to create Swipe Right Material for Tinder India.
The catchy song features three languages — Punjabi, Tamil and English. While Guru sings the Punjabi lyrics, Anirudh joins him to sing the Tamil lines while Dee MC raps in the song. The song already has fans grooving, with many calling the trio a unique combination. As the song gains popularity, rapper Dee MC got candid about it in a chat with News18. The artist not only spoke about Swipe Right Material but also her work in Gully Boy and the evolution of the hip-hop scene in India. Here’s an excerpt from the chat:
The song is so catchy, how did you’ll come up with the blend of Punjabi, Tamil and rap?
The whole idea was put together by Tinder and it was the brand’s decision to keep the song that we’re making as diverse as possible because that’s what they stand for as well. I really believe that when you put good people and good music together, something great always comes out of it. So it was a great experience working on this audio with Guru Randhawa and Anirudh Ravichandran, and the person who made the music, Kartik. The music itself is so energetic, it’s so groovy that the rest of the lyrics just came together beautifully. Even I can’t stop grooving to the song.
Given the pandemic circumstances, most of your work must have been online. Were there any challenges?
Right now, because of the way our whole industry is working, everything pretty much happened online. But still, even in that, when we have to come through, everybody just comes through. The whole vibe and energy of this project were like that since the first call I had with the Tinder team. Even though we haven’t met (in person), the emotions have come together very beautifully in the song.
Given that the song is for a dating platform, have you ever been on Tinder?
I was involved in a relationship for the longest time so I personally have not used it yet but I know of people around me, my friends and family members, who have used it and have some amazing relationships through online dating but I personally, not yet. But maybe, never say never.
Have you heard of any unique love stories that have started from Tinder?
A few of my close friends have met interesting people (on the platform). Even in that, I could see diversity because no two people’s lives are going to be the same. No person is the same as the other person. Here I would also like to add is that going into something like online dating, you yourself should know what you want so first being true to yourself is where it begins. Only then would you be able to find what you’re looking for.
You’ve worked on Gully Boy as well. Are you in touch with people from the movie?
From the artists’ side of the team, I am in touch with literally everybody but from the movie side of the scene, not much.
Following Gully Boy, Ranveer Singh has been promoting a lot of music as well. Did you’ll connect after Gully Boy and did you’ll think of collaborating on something?
Not really, I pertain more to the hip-hop scene so whoever signed in Ranveer’s label IncInk, I have worked with them. I have worked with Anushka Manchanda and Shikhar Manchanda (who are a part of the label) on a lot of other projects. I am in touch with the whole music side of the scene, the artists who have worked on the music side of the things in Gully Boy but apart from that, not much.
For a country that’s heavily inclined towards pop music, making a path in rap appears to be difficult. It seems all the more difficult for a woman to break through in this space. What kind of difficulties did you have through the journey and has the path become a little more easier given the exposure.
Talking about exposure, the reason we are connected on this call is that I am working on such a big project with Tinder and two artists who are of such big stature. So this project for me is special that way as well because I have seen the journey that hip-hop has taken in this country. We had a very big belief system even 10 years before, when nobody could see the vision, we could see that there’s going to be a hip-hop scene in India one day. So even in the world hip-hop as a genre has only now in the past two years surpassed rock music and become the number one most earning music genre of the world. So whatever happens internationally, it takes almost 10 years later in India.
Honestly, in a country like India, getting to follow your dreams is a very big privilege. Apart from that, the biggest thing that connected me with hip-hop was only this one thing that keeping it real, like being who you are. So being who I am, being a female in this hip-hop scene, I am very confident about the way things are going to take shape. A project like Swipe Right Material happening on such a big scale is the proof of that.
Since Gully Boy, it’s become a little easier for the industry to understand that every artist is unique in their own way. Every person is authentic in their own way and that’s what we tried to do with this song as well basically it’s about self-work, self-love, everything starts there only.
There are a few international female rappers in the west and far east, such as Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, and Lisa and Jinnie from BLACKPINK. Do you listen to any of them?
Hip-hop is an African-American culture that many of us in India as well as like you mention Korea have borrowed their culture and try to make it authentic by doing it in their own way by talking about their stories that people around them would relate to. For me, Nicki Minaj is one of my biggest inspirations. Apart from her, artists like Crooked I and Mos Def, who is like very underground artists, and even now the kind of music I listen to is very alternate hip-hop. It’s not very commercial. It’s mixed with R&B and hip-hop.
If given a chance which of these rappers would you want to collaborate with?
From projects like these, it is evident that DeeMC as an artist is always down for collaborations. So that goes beyond geography for me. So if the music connects with me, I am down to collaborating with anybody.
