Mumbai’s iconic rapper and Indian Hip-Hop superstar Emiway Bantai, real name Bilal Shaikh, has teamed up with Spotify India for an exclusive short film dedicated to his third independent album “King of The Streets”.
Titled “Beta Kya Karta Hai?”, or “What does your son do?”, the over 4-minute visual chronicles Bantai’s earliest days in his rap career and unprecedented rise in India’s global rap scene.
“Antop Hill is my hood. In a way, it’s like my very own 8 Mile,” Bantai says referencing Eminem’s Oscar-nominated 2002 film “8 Mile”.
While Spotify and Bantai have together premiered 5 one-minute films on YouTube and Instagram which feature an equal number of hard-hitting rap records from his most recent LP, this one is, perhaps, one of the most crucial versions ever released on the legendary emcee.
Emiway Bantai released the massive 17-track independent rap record on June 9th, 2023. The sprawling LP is driven by Bantai’s gruff lyricism and his distinct choppa flow.
In the past, Bantai released breakdowns of 5 rap records – the self-titled “King of Indian Hip-Hop”, “Chhod Dala”, “Classy Chapri”, “Beta Karta Rap” and “Kya Din The Woh”, exclusively with Spotify India.
Notably, the entire rap album is curated independently by Bantai himself and runs for over fifty minutes – a rarity amidst the ever-expanding plummet in album runtimes across the globe.
Ahead of the album, Bantai dropped 4 lead singles all of which became a few of the biggest rap records this year.
Besides releasing entirely new rap records including “Roots”, “Classy Chapri”, “Meherbaani” and “Beta Karta Rap”, Bantai featured incendiary rap records “Company”, “Chhod Dala”, “Scene Change”, “Kya Bolti Public” alongside Young Galib and “King of Hip-Hop” on his third album.
Watch Emiway Bantai and Spotify India’s ‘Beta Kya Karta Hai?’ short film here.
Stream the ‘King of The Streets’ album by Emiway Bantai here.
