Hard to the core

Indian female rapper's ride to success has been a tough one.

Taran Kaur Dhillon. Does it ring a bell? Well, how about Hard Kaur. This UK-based Indian hip-hop singer's choice of name has proved to be as catchy as her maiden song Ek Glassy released two years ago.

“When I wrote Ek Glassy I knew that either this song would get banned as I am an Indian girl talking about alcohol or become a big hit as I knew all party-goers would enjoy it. I can't believe that the number turned out to be a bigger hit than I had imagined,'' says Kaur.

She soon had a huge fan following and Kaur didn't disappoint them. She followed it up with a smash-hit Move Your Body for the Hindi film Johnny Gaddar in 2007. The song got an entire nation swaying.

“I was in Mumbai when I met Shankar-Ehsan-Loy in connection with a project on Aids and I met Johnny Gadaar's director Sriram Raghavan who liked Ek Glassy. He asked me to record a number for his film and that is how the track Move Your Body came up. I was lucky that this song also was a big hit,'' says Kaur.

But success has come to this 30-year-old after much suffering and struggle. After losing her father when she was five, Kaur along with her mother and younger brother moved to England. Her mother struggled to support the family and also suffered an abusive partner.

“It was heartbreaking when I was very young because there was nothing I could do,'' Kaur laments.

That was not all. Kaur was also a victim of racial abuse in school and college.

“I was bullied by Indian children when I was in school and college because I was a fresh student and also by the other children because I spoke English with a funny accent,'' she says.

But she did not let these incidents dampen her spirit.

“I always wanted to sing hard core hip-hop as I fell in love with hip-hop music because it was so real,'' she says.

At the age of 15, Kaur decided to change the course of her life. “ My friends made me a stronger person and I was encouraged by them to perform and rap at MC battles. It gave me complete confidence to speak my mind,'' she recalls.

However Kaur soon realised that the ride to success wasn't a smooth one. “When I overcame my days of being bullied the reality of being a female in a male dominated industry was becoming clear. I would walk into studios to be dealt sexist comments and was often offered a chance at the 'big time' if I were to befriend certain individuals''.

Perhaps her anger at being at the receiving end of a male-dominated society found expression on various occasions. She shaved her head to prove a point.

“After I shaved my head I felt that more people either started taking me more seriously or just thought I was nuts.'' says Kaur.

She also drove away the abusive man from her mother's life. “I came home one evening to find that he had battered my mother's cheek with a flat pan. I launched at him and chased him away. We never saw him again,'' says Kaur.

But her focus and dedication to her work paid off. Ek Glassy made her a favourite among Asian partygoers in Birmingham. The Hard Kaur magic then spread like wildfire. She even shared stage with superstars Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams.

Kaur released her first album Supawoman in the end of 2007. The reviews were positive. She currently has her hands full with some major Bollywood projects. A second album is also in the pipeline.

“I am excited about the second album. It is still in the concept stage. I am very fussy about my albums. In Bollywood all you need to do is add some flavour to the tracks with my rap, but for my album I need to write my own tracks. I want to come up with something good after Supawoman''she says.

And the success of her track in Johnny Gaddar has meant several film offers for her. The most recent ones being, Main Talli Ho Gayi for the film Ugly Aur Pagli and the rap for the title track of the film Singh Is Kinng.

But Kaur has her preferences chalked out. She informs, “I have been working as solo artiste for last 15 years and I tend to work with a lot of new artistes where kids come up asking me to help them with their rap and music. The way I can help them is to feature them in the track that helps them to release the album and it gives me a new experience.''