'Only Talent Will Survive'

It isn’t just about churning out party anthems and catchy lyrics. Rapper Badshah is a sharp businessman, who has been building his larger-than-life stage persona into a brand that now extends to apparel, content production, hospitality and TV.

- Pankti Mehta Kadakia

IT’S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO ATTEND a party or wedding in India and not be treated to one of Badshah’s ubiquitous chart-toppers. With hits like ‘Saturday Saturday’, ‘Baby ko Bass Pasand Hai’, ‘Tareefan’ and ‘Humma Humma’ pounding out of speakers across the country, Badshah, in his oversized sweatshirts, metal chains and the latest, rarest kicks [his sneaker collection is worth about 1.5 crore], has almost overnight built a sizeable fan following. In his six-year career, he has been on the Forbes India Celebrity 100 List repeatedly. But it isn’t just about his music.

Badshah, 33, born Aditya Prateek Singh Sisodia, took on a stage name inspired by rappers in the West. And much like his Western idols, he has also sought to create a full-fledged brand out of his stage persona. He has a clothing line called Badfit, a restobar, a content production house, and a soon-to-launch all-Punjabi music channel on TV. The rapper speaks to Forbes India about what it takes to build brand Badshah. Edited excerpts:

Q Your maiden album, O.N.E (Original Never Ends), has released recently after being in the making for years. Many of the tracks are a departure from your usual party songs. What took it so long?

It’s taken long to release the album because I was so consumed by making it big in Bollywood. The pop songs I have done for films have a certain feel about them. However, I have a side to me that is an artist as well. I wanted to do mellow songs about life and its struggles, songs that are more emotion-provoking. My album is a body of work where I had a chance to put all these aspects together. It’s got 17 songs, of which four have been released.

Q The song ‘