“I love how Chance started; he’s also a nobody,” Dasa talks of his biggest influence. “He showed me that the greatest also starts one day. So, I thought why not just give it a shot?”
Nikhel Kallingal took that chance and adopted his music moniker – Dasa. His two-track EP, Throw It/Thooki Veesu, made with rap partner Shaq-T, is now an anthem in Coimbatore.
“Shakthi (Shaq-T) knew production and everything. He used to produce the beats, and I did the lyrics and delivery. Since then, we’ve been refining our process,” the rapper reveals.
The album’s two-part structure is based on the comedy duo Goundamani-Senthil ‘s iconic scenes from Karakattakkaran (1989), specifically the Vazha Pazham scene.
“If you noticed, there’s a heavy car influence in our music video. The narrative is built around fixing up a wrecked car,” Dasa shares, representing the Coimbatore car and car-racing scene.
“In the beginning, I wasn’t very confident rapping in Tamil. But I’m trying to develop that more at my own pace,” he reveals as his music incorporates more Tamil verses.
Unlike artistes who separate their regular life from their artistic persona, Dasa has found a way to draw a parallel between his full-time career as a lawyer and sidebar as a musician.