Srushti Tawade: If a rap subject isn’t new, it will not interest me

Srushti Tawade

After being over-exposed to hip-hop music thanks to Gully Boy (2019), I had little interest in the genre until a quirky artiste found her way on my Instagram feed. Her voice was fresh, her rhyme scheme unconventional. That was how I was introduced to Srushti Tawade, 23, who has been nothing short of a marvel on MTV Hustle 2.0. The reality show has no dearth of talent, but Tawade brings a unique flavour that has caught the attention of everyone - from co-contestants to squad bosses, and Badshah. While it takes aspiring artistes years to excel in the field, she says she picked up the art form in a year. Guess that's what you call something of a natural.

Joining the reality show too happened organically. Tawade claims the idea was suggested to her by a Tinder match. "From participating in dances to elocution, I have been a stage person since childhood. Luckily, I don't suffer from stage fright. Even my physical audition was quite smooth," she says, recounting her first audition for the show. "Being a full-time writer or lyricist has always been my dream. My goal was to write in whatever form I could, without maintaining a boundary. I also wrote a Hindi screenplay for a director, but the project didn't materialise."

MC Square, Srushti, Paradox

From her first performance on the show, to the latest episode that sees her collaborating with co-contestant-rapper Nazz, Tawade's renditions have only earned her praise. The self-taught rapper, whose year-long romance with the genre has brought her thus far, admits that she has little to no technical knowledge. "After coming to Hustle, I realised how much I don't know about this scene. Since I am a beginner, I have not explored many rappers. There is a lot of insight I can take back from here." That said, Tawade doesn't wish her music to be bound by too many technicalities. "I don't have any technical training, and I am not even trying to be that person who can figure out every rhyme scheme. I want to go with the flow, without consciously learning a type of rap or genre of rap. I [stay] away from technicalities because it does not seem natural to me. I prefer to write what naturally comes to me."

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Her biggest strength, many will agree, is her ability to speak about unexplored subjects. "In my perspective, once a topic has been rapped about, [exploring it] again makes no sense. If there is nothing new, it doesn't interest me." With the show exposing her to varied artistes and their different perspectives, what is her biggest take-away? "Some of them have amazing thoughts and execution. I believe if some of us collaborate, and create something, it could blow people's minds." On top of her collab wish-list are Paradox and MC Square. She believes that jamming with them will yield memorable tracks. "MC Square puts a lot of thought into every composition. I also like Paradox because his performances are sonically great, which is something I am trying to learn."