Rapper KOAD opens up on his viral song Deepika, it reaching Ranveer Singh and growing up as a brown kid in America and dealing with racism

Indian origin American rapper KOAD recently got viral on social media with his song Deepika trending across the nation. The song touches upon the Indian diaspora’s identity in the West as well as the rapper’s crush over actor Deepika Padukone. The song reached to Padukone’s husband, actor Ranveer Singh, who used it on his Instagram stories to praise his wife and Koad is over the moon with that feat.

Ask him about it and he says, “That was insane and a wild thing. I was returning from the studio after an all-nighter when I got a text from a friend telling me to check Ranveer Singh’s story. I looked at it and I started freaking out. It’s weird to explain to people how my dreams are coming true now. I saw that Deepika liked a post of a video about the song, but I would love to see her react to it. I like to think that Ranveer has sung this to her many times at the dinner table.”

The 21-year-old dropped out of school to pursue his musical career, and at the age of 18, was diagnosed with a series of concussions that kept him away from music for three years. However, it was during this challenging phase that Deepika was ideated. KOAD shares, “I put out my notebook and thought of writing a story about my life. I did have a crush on Deepika when I was small, just like I am sure a lot of other people I now see also do. This was just my story and seeing so many brown people resonate with it, makes my inner child very happy.”

The song talks about the confusion Indians born in the West go through while finding their identity, and KOAD recalls going through the same growing up. “When I was younger, white people around me would have a hard time accepting my nuance and would put me in a box that they would imagine what a brown person would look like to them. Unfortunately, there is some racism attached to that. Growing up, I didn’t have many brown friends because there is a lot of internalised racism for brown kids in America, but today, most of my friends are brown. A lot of people talk about our culture with self-hatred, but I like to see the beauty of it,” he says.

While KOAD has never been to India, he listened to Bollywood songs growing up and he wants to explore the country and its art. “I want to go to India so bad and collaborate with some dope musicians there. I feel that I will have my inner child be healed just by learning about my culture there. It would be challenging to become an artiste there and work, but I want to do it,” he says, adding that the love for Deepika does fill him with gratitude. “I have been preparing my entire life to be heard, especially by my people, and it’s beautiful that it is happening. I just feel empowered,” he ends.