Hard Rap

From the docile two-plaited Taran Kaur Dhillon to the tough female rapper Hard Kaur,she has been a struggler. When she moved to Birmingham as a child,life changed for her. “England taught me to fight for myself,” says she. Kaur recollects her ordeals in 1991. “I could never fit into the British Asian community. I felt like I had landed on an alien planet. Since I couldn’t slot myself with the other girls,I hung out with my black peers instead. In fact,I received my first education of hip-hop from them. It was all about realism and thus I penned down my own tales of resistance,” she reveals,adding,“It’s rather strange when rap lyrics are written by anyone but the singer. Rap goes beyond ‘love and party.’ It is about introspection and the journey of life.”

In the initial days of her career,Kaur even had to deal with egos of male rappers. “Our shows would get cancelled; we even received threats. I could sense the insecurity among the male rappers there but I stayed on despite the pressures,” she says. Kaur started composing her first record with the little money she got from her mother’s salon in Birmingham. Her mother also stood by her firmly when the entire community was against her “black music”. In fact,she dedicated her first album ‘Supawoman’ (2007) to her real-life superwoman.

Even though hip-hop is the path she’s treading now,she says,”When I end my tryst with hip-hop,I will switch to something else but I will never don skimpy outfits or throw starry tantrums to sell myself!”

Though she entered the Hindi film industry with Patiala House,she doesn’t have any offers currently. “Now,since Bollywood has films like Dev D and Delhi Belly,I really hope I can venture into films,” she says. Currently,her focus is on the release of her album for which she has worked with international rappers Eminem and D Boy.