The inescapably groovy promotion of Pyaar Ke Side Effects currently scorching dance floors across city nightclubs and music channels opens with a hook that features the unmistakable voice of 29-year-old Robert Omulo. The lines are inviting, and coupled with the beats, draw you into the song. It sums up Omulo's role, who has also guest rapped on Ada in Garam Masala, a soon-to-be-released track in Sholay, Pyaar Vyaar and all that, and several other films, perfectly. Tease the listener, get them interested and leave the rest to the producers.
"It takes anywhere between one hour and one week to write for a Hindi film track," says Omulo (or Bob, as everyone knows him), who parted with his extended family in Nairobi in 1995. The safety of Mumbai's streets at night and the scale of the sprawling metropolis have fascinated him ever since he arrived. "You can't do that in any other city in the world. Over here, the night is like, Oh, the sun isn't around, that's all." The Geology major from St Xavier's college says that his themes revolve around humanity, how people think and react to situations. "Why should people with no blood relations look you up in an alien city? That's what is magical about humanity," he says.
Explaining his song writing process he says, "I check if there's catch phrase and tray to understand the theme. Then, it has to rhyme and the syllables, the rhythm have to go with the beat," he says. The toughest part of any assignment for the singer-songwriter is the first line. "Sometimes, it takes me 20 minutes to write the first line and 20 to finish the rest of the song," he says, adding that it's important to retain and grab the audience's attention.
Bob's introduction to the Hindi film industry is down to a game of rugby and some innovative chanting from the sidelines, to support the local Kenyan rugby team, back in early '90s, at Bombay gymkhana. His innovative cheer leading got the attention of a Brit agent, who was, at the time, looking to sequence a rap into Shaan and Sagorika's album. "This guy approached me and goes, 'Hey, I want you to rap on this album.' I laughed in his face," he recalls. Once the apprehension was overcome, the recording was followed by a multi-city. The presence of music producer Salim Merchant (of Salim-Suleiman fame) on the project led to more work and today, Bob freelances with several music producers, including, Dhruv (of Nach Baliye) and various Indi-pop artists.
Hindi films stand in for all the glamour and glitz lacking in Bob's bread-and-butter projects, dabbling in music "for the love of it", as he describes it. Whether it's jamming up with Mumbai-based bands like Groove Sabah and Bombay Black or working with smaller artists who don't even have the money to fork out, the rapper's associations are varied and plenty. The proof of the pudding, according to Bob, is an artist's ability to whip out lines and sustain during live performances. Though an all hip-hop event is still a distant reality, the audience in Mumbai has taken to the genre, albeit in its commercial avatar. "Today's artists like 50 Cent are more businessmen than performers," he says. "I prefer what today's kids would refer to as Old School. Rappers like Nas, who is airtight. The lyrics fit perfectly on the beat," he adds.
Hip-hop may be fashionable for teenyboppers but Bob is convinced it's more than just a genre of music. "It's a culture influencing dressing, style and language. I got into it in high school in Nairobi for the rap, but then I discovered all these things that I was doing was actually hip-hop," he says. "However hard you try, you can't disappear in a crowd here. There's always something reminding you about not being at home."