Naezy discusses being a judge on MTV Hustle, making up for his year-long break, and upcoming projects

In addition to the three judges on MTV Hustle, the new televised reality show to find hip-hop talent in the country, Mumbai rapper Naezy has appeared twice on the show as a guest. While Nucleya, Raja Kumari and Raftaar all seem to have their own personality quirks as judges, Naezy’s time on the show was as a straight-talker. [caption id=“attachment_7434431” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Naezy | Image via Twitter[/caption] Naezy says, “From the start, they’d asked that I would have to adjust since it’s a reality TV format. I told them I can’t change and I played my role, straightforward and without any pretense. I started getting comments that I shouldn’t be so rude and straightforward as a judge. I think if I went easy or soft on them, tomorrow the future of hip-hop won’t be secure.” This is, after all, the rapper who spent a year away from the game when hip-hop was just blowing up but timed his comeback appropriately – around the release of Bollywood’s blockbuster film Gully Boy, for which he also came on board as a consultant. A few record label and artist management deals included, Naezy has since released music at a staggering pace and took to stages ranging from cricket matches (at a Mumbai Indians home game at Wankhede) to hip-hop festivals (the Bira91 April Fools Fest) and an Australia run of show. What started with the rousing comeback track ‘A_afat Waapas’_ has been followed by four more tracks as of September. There’s older material that was revived such as ‘Dhoond Le’ and the Azadi Records release ‘Mama Mia’ that playfully took on corrupt cops and more recently, ‘Rukta Nah’ (for mobile technology company OnePlus) and ‘Vahem,’ on which you can actually hear Naezy singing. He says, “I took a year’s gap so I’m trying to make up for that by constantly releasing music. I’m on that right path. I need to keep my consistency and I have so many songs and they’re good songs. It’s not as though the quality differs because of the quantity.” The themes and styles, as the rapper points out, are consistent and distinct. It helps him keep his fanbase sated, even as he works on a few experiments. For example, to sing on ‘Vahem’ – produced by Canadian beatsmith Byg Byrd – was entirely his own decision. “I was thinking about how I would express myself to my family, friends and the music folks at large – I think there was no better way to express it than to sing it. I hadn’t sung before and felt this was the right time. If I feel like a song requires me to sing, I might go for it again. It boosted my confidence,” he says. Even with the fame and the offers to rap for a news media company’s sanitation campaign (the ‘Banega Swasth India Anthem’), Naezy plays to his strengths even now. That strength is writing rock-solid bars rooted in the fundamentals of rapping. He’s making industry moves no doubt, but Naezy says he sits down to write music or rap verses without fail every day. “Even if I’m traveling or in between shows, I have my phone and my notepad. I sit down and scribble whatever and whenever I find the time. On flights, I have my music on my phone and I write on my notepad and that’s how the songwriting goes. I never forego writing music and I’m always writing new music,” he says. There’s one more song coming out towards the end of 2019 — “It might be a bit controversial,” Naezy says — and then a four-track EP in the works. He adds, “I’ll have to tour around that and playing festivals. It’s going to be a tough season. In the beginning of 2020, I have a collaboration with an international artist planned. There’ll be more explosive material coming out that’ll hopefully shake things up in the scene.”