7Bantai’Z is an Indian multilingual hip-hop crew based out of or as they would call ‘straight outta Dharavi (Mumbai)’. The crew consists of 7 highly talented hip hop artists, 6 multilingual rappers who can rap in more than 5 different languages and 1 beatboxer. Formed in the year 2014, when everyone in the group were only 14 years old – they were India’s youngest multilingual rap crew to make their way into the Indian hip-hop fraternity. Massively inspired by hip hop artists from their neighbourhood such as Dopeadelicz and Divine, apart from other International hip hop artists whose lives and music they have earnestly followed, 7Bantai’Z have come up with their debut EP.
Link to the EP:
We had a brief chat with them, let’s see what they have to say:
First and foremost, what made this EP come together? What is unique about it in your views?
It was during COVID, after a few months, we had our own studio setup, we travelled nowhere, we were making songs and we came up with a few songs like Energy and Whole Squad. We had thought of putting it all together and making an EP. A lot of creative processes went into the progress of making some more good songs and music. We made 14 to 15 songs related to our slums, and our people but finally these 6 songs came together which perfectly define what a slum is and depict us overall. This EP a banger! We made it unique and different from the usual songs we made as every song has different genres, some are drill, trap beats and RnB, proper old school beat. Every song is related to us.
Watch “Whole Squad” from the EP here:
Going back in your life, what circumstances shaped up your life as artists?
Everything happens for a reason. We used to hustle a lot, even to make a music video, we sold our phones, gathered money from friends and did a lot of such money savings. It was the hustle which used to motivate us. We hid it from our parents at home to do our gigs. We used to say we have tuitions and we used to manage shoots and shows while stuffing our clothes in our bags. That was the dedication we had. People around us who helped us, like our school friends who stay with us, they’re our power and gave us their trust and faith. All the ups and downs in life have only shaped us to be better and in the form like we are today.
Tell us more about 7Bantai’Z team and what does each team member add to the overall set up?
In 7Bantai’Z, we have been friends for more than 10-15 years, we are childhood friends from the same group. We never thought we will create a rap group, but we eventually did. Everyone has a unique style. Yoku has slang and swag, Sid J has the delivery style in lyricism, Crackpot is a hook killer, Nishant has his delivery style and MC Notez has the clearest vocals among us. I manage, I create and come up with good new flows. Everyone brings something to the table, everyone is different. When we all come together, we make madness.
Stream “White Collar” from the EP here:
You have been busy promoting the EP, share with us some experiences from the same
This is our first-ever EP, we never thought of going so big, all thanks to the team Believe and everyone associated and have been working on this. I don’t think the 7 of us could make this happen, there’s been a lot of struggle and hard work behind this. We never knew about promoting music, but Believe ASD helped us, we only know how to make music but not to promote it. But they believed us, they make sure this gets featured nicely. We got our coverage, went to radios for interviews, and got our monumental graffiti art so it’s been a huge and crazy journey.
How does 2023 look like to you? What more can we expect from 7 Bantaiz?
2023 is all about music. The audience would get to hear a different side of 7Bantai’Z, we have tons of collaborations planned with several big artists, we are making some dance songs, we are singing, and we are going to make people dance. So, this year we will serve you all with heavy-duty music on the platter.
7Bantai’Z music genre has definitely played an important role in the growth of hip hop music in India. It has massively evolved in the last few years. We see so many budding hip-hop artists from different parts of our country coming up with their own music everyday, but only a handful of them have made a mark, 7Bantai’Z definitely seems on the road to glory!