My culture is in my art: Rapper Raja Kumari

While growing up in the US, Svetha Rao was called 'The Indian Princess' by her friends and somewhere in her heart she knew the name would stick.

Now as songwriter-rapper Raja Kumari, she has made it to the bylanes of India with her collaboration with Divine on "City Streets" and rap in "Husn Parcham" from "Zero".

A trained Indian classical dancer, she said, Bollywood was her window to learning about the Indian culture in America. Interestingly, she had a cameo in this years' critically-acclaimed hit music drama "Gully Boy".

"My mother tongue is Telugu and I learnt English in the US. I learnt Hindi later in college by watching Bollywood movies and being connected to the Indian culture. I went on India tours when I was 10 and performed in many Indian cities and that was as Svetha Rao.

"But when I wanted to start making rap music, I thought I should do something about the name as the uncles in the audience would expect me to sing something, I would do the rap, how would they take it?" Kumari told PTI in a telephonic interview.

At 15, she knew she wanted to go the hip-hop way and wanted to make people believe in themselves through her music.

"They would always called me 'The Indian Princess', and it means 'Raj Kumari'. I liked the sentiment behind this name with which my friends would call me in America. When I was dancing, my name was Kumari Svetha Rao. Kumari has been attached to me my entire life."
"For me, my culture is in my art. Growing up so far away from India... the sound and the art... That's how I connect with who I am. I think it's always a part of my artwork. It's truly bizarre when some people call me a 'culture vulture'... How can I be a 'culture vulture' in my own culture just because I'm born in America?
"I have studied Indian music, religion... I'm not just another South Asian. I still have put in my time to be Indian enough to talk about India without being an appropriator of culture. It works both ways. But for me, this is who I am. I don't know how to be any other way for anyone."
"When I found out Raftaar and Nucleya were the other judges, I knew that I could count on them to be authentic. I could really represent what I really believe in through this show."
"Music and arts are not really seen as a viable career. For most of the people in the Indian community, the struggle is their family and friends thinking that what we do might actually not go somewhere. In 'Hustle', whether the winner goes on to have a huge hit or not, it's going to increase the awareness."