Rishi Rich Project: Beware the Boyz
Rishi Rich Project Headlines 4th Masala! Mehndi! Masti! Festival
By Aparita Bhandari

Girl you got exactly what I need, I ain’t gonna lie,
With you is where I wanna be,
All up in the club, the finest girl I see,
I know that you want me to come over to you and ta-alk.
I'm just trying keep it real wit’ you,
Are you feelin’ me the way I’m feelin’ you…
Either call your crew ‘n’ I’m’a call my crew…
Cuz Jay and Rishi Rich and Juggy D are comin through

Beware of the boys, ladies. The Rishi Rich Project is coming to Toronto, and they’re looking forward to kick it with you.

The trio from UK will be in town to headline the fourth annual Masala! Mehndi! Masti! festival, performing on the CIBC stage on August 5th. The festival runs from August 4th to 8th, featuring local and international artists, making it the largest of its kind in North America.

Call them the young Turks of British Asian music. Coming after artists such as Panjabi MC, and, if you really want to go old school, Apache Indian, the Rishi Rich Project has repackaged the bhangra beats that were playing on the streets of Southall. With hiphop, R&B and dance hall influences mixed along with straight up bhangra beats, their music is now playing on mainstream UK channels such as Channel U (an urban music channel similar to Much Vibe), artists such as Craig David, Britney Spears and Mary J Blige have chosen to get their music remixed by them, and even Bollywood has asked the group to spice up a soundtrack or two.

For Jay Sean and Juggy D, the trip to Toronto will be their first. Although both have family in Canada, they’ve only heard about the city through their family and friends.

“Well, I haven’t heard much about it, all I know the weather is a bit like the UK,” says Juggy D in a phone interview from England. “I’ve heard it can be really cold, but then it can get really warm.”

Until he was about 10-years-old, Juggy D, would come to Vancouver every year in the summer to visit his family.

“Sometimes, when I came out to Canada, after a couple of weeks, I’d start picking up the accent really quickly,” the 22-year-old laughs. “I’d phone back to London, and I’m talking with a Canadian accent, and they’d be like, what the hell is he doing. It’s only been about three weeks you know.”

“I am really looking forward to coming to Toronto. I’ve heard it’s a kicking city.”

At the moment, Juggy D is getting geared up to release his debut self-titled album. Tracks from the album – completely Punjabi – are getting airtime on Channel U. But Juggy D says it’s about time the music industry caught up with the (South) Asian explosion going on.

“If you look at England, the number one take-out food is Indian curry,” he says. “Then there was Bombay Dreams. So, even our music is getting the same attention. It’s massive right now.”

Across town, 23-year-old Jay Sean is hurrying on the road. It’s been a long day for him. He’s just finished putting the final touches on his soon to be released debut album. He’s on his way to an event, driving his car with his knees, with just time for a quick interview.

“It’s mental right now,” he laughs into the phone. “Absolutely mental. I’ve been in the studio the whole day, just putting bits and bobs on my album. Now, I’m driving to a gig where I’ll perform, and I am talking to a reporter from Canada.

“It’s been great working on the album. For an artist, the best thing is to be able to write your own songs. So all these songs I wrote in my bedroom, I’m now putting in my album. It’s the best thing really. You know, coz I can only sing about what I know.”

The album Me Against Myself will be out in October. The album features tracks “Eyes On You” and “Me Against Myself.” The single “Eyes on You” debuted at number 6 on the British charts.

He hopes to break stereotypes of Asian with his new album, says Jay Sean, who gave up studying medicine to pursue his music career.

“You know, the common stereotype of (South) Asians being very studious type, and making very good doctors, lawyers and engineers and accountants,” he says. “It was very, very rare that Asians were seen in the mainstream in the media. It was only last year that Bombay Dreams came on West End in London, which was a very big deal.

“I like to just bring some irony out of this. We’ve been doing this for so long. You know, the Panjabi MC “Mundian to Bach Ke” song came out five-six years ago. And it’s only now that most people are discovering it. I want to let people know that there’s more we can do. I think people need to be more open-minded.”

Arguably, the man behind getting Jay Sean and Juggy D noticed is their producer Rishi Rich. His passion is to produce original sounding music, says 26-year-old Rishi.

As he heads to his studio in Perivale, about 20 minutes away from his home in Harrow, Rishi stops to get himself a cup of Indian tea, Lucozade and salt-and-vinegar crisps. The studio is in the middle of a quiet industrial area in an outer west London suburb, tucked behind the white art deco Hoover Building.

His journey from his first job, when he was 11, as a runner in a recording studio near his house, to now running his own studio has been a long one. Brought up by a single parent, Rishi trained in classical Indian music as a young child.

“My mum started me with it,” he says. “I learnt to play the harmonium and the tabla. Indian classical music is the hardest thing to learn. If you learnt that, you can play anything really.”

When the owner of the recording studio Rishi used to work for was looking for a keyboard player, Rishi offered his services. Soon, he formed 2 Kool with a friend. By the time he was 15, he’d released his first single “Bombay Jungle,” which was soon followed by the album Love 2 Love.

At the moment, Rishi is working on releasing an album next year featuring artists such as Adnan Sami and Danish rap group Outlandish besides Jay Sean and Juggy D.

“As soon as I get back from seeing you guys in Toronto, I am hibernating,” he says. “I will be working at the studio for six months.”

The proudest moment in his career until now was when he took his mother to the British Asian Music Awards, and picked up three awards, says Rishi.

“My mum had always wanted me to win a producer award,” he says. “Just seeing the look on her face, it was all worth it. This is what it’s all been for.”

His mother’s decision to trust in him, when he was young and decided to quit school to follow a full-time music career, was a hard one.

“It was a risk, you know,” says Rishi. “It was a big risk that my mum took when she decided that I don’t need to study. But because of that risk, I had to make this work. I had nothing else to fall back on.

“It was hard. There wasn’t much money. I’ve been working hard. It’s just this whole year that’s been a bit mad. Before that, it was six years of working hard and no one knowing you. But that’s just the way the music industry is.

“Now I can look after myself, and I’ve been looking after my mum.”

While Rishi finds the fame that comes along with the job a little hard to manage sometimes, his crew mates Jay Sean and Juggy D are enjoying every moment of it. While Rishi relaxes at home with his few close friends, Jay Sean likes to hang out and have fun and enjoy a normal lifestyle, going out for drinks with his friends or playing on Playstation.

“Yeah, Rishi is the serious one,” laughs Jay Sean. “Juggy D and I clown around all the time.

“I absolutely love (the fame). But we don’t focus on it. It’s very surreal, people chasing our car when we leave. The fame and whole thing – me and my boys, Rishi Rich and Juggy D, don’t ever really think about it. We have been kind of lucky. And we don’t get caught up in it. It could all go tomorrow. We kind of laugh about it.

“It’s just that we just love what we do.”