Rapper Big Deal – An Indian hip-hop artist, multi-lingual rapper, singer, and music producer.

Rapper Big Deal

Samir Rishu Mohanty (born 17 September 1989), better known by his stage name Rapper Big Deal, is an Indian hip-hop artist, multi-lingual rapper, singer, and music producer. He started to gain popularity after the release of his crowd-funded debut EP titled “One Kid With A Dream”. He has been featured on Rolling Stone, Firstpost, The Hindu, Deccan Herald, Deccan Chronicle, Scroll.in and various other major Indian publications

Rapper Big Deal started out in the year 2011, formed the rap crew “Two Much” with another rapper. The pair parted ways in late 2012 and Big Deal emerged as a solo artist there onward. He first shot to limelight in 2014, after appearing on the MTV India show titled “MTV Sync”, where he collaborated with rapper Blaaze and they created a track called “Microphone”. The track garnered attention from the public, and it received heavy rotation on MTV.

Towards the end of 2014, Big Deal toured India and it was supported by VH1. The following year, Big Deal won the Renault ‘Free The Music’ award. Late 2016, while he was performing at a local club in Bangalore, Big Deal caught the attention of renowned music director Sneha Khanwalkar who was drawn to the energy from his live set. She, immediately, got him in a studio to sing for a song for a then-upcoming Bollywood movie titled Detective Byomkesh Bakshy.

In 2016, Big Deal took a sabbatical from releasing new music and focused on a body of work that would turn out to be his debut EP “One Kid With A Dream” which was crowdfunded. He, finally, released the EP in January 2017 and it was well-received by critics and fans, alike.  The EP was supported by its lead single “One Kid” where Big Deal talks about his life growing up in Puri, studying in Darjeeling, and starting his rap career in Bangalore. The video was shot in 3 different places and was well received by the masses. The video caught the attention of Odisha media and that helped propel his career further. 

In 2017, Rapper Big Deal released the first-ever Odia Rap titled “Mu Heli Odia” and it instantly shot him to fame in Odisha. The video garnered over a million views across platforms and was covered by numerous Odia media outlets. Post this success, he released another Odia rap dedicated to mothers titled “Bou”. This, too, was well received and helped establish him as one of the leading musicians of his state. 

Mid 2018, Big Deal released a track based on racism titled “Are You Indian”. The song was widely popular and covered by publications and newspapers across India. Big Deal was appreciated for his lyrical ability in the song and for using it to take a stand against racism. 

In late 2018, the government of Odisha acquired Big Deal’s skills to create an anthem for the underprivileged kids in Odisha. It was titled “Skilled In Odisha”. The video was directed by renowned filmmaker, Padma Shri Nila Madhab Panda and it also featured national award-winning actress Prakruti Mishra. 

In 2019, Big Deal released yet another Odia track titled “Khusi Ta”, showcasing the developments of Odisha and how far the state has come. The video was his most successful Odia song to date and was also appreciated by the chief minister of Odisha, Mr.Naveen Patnaik.

Big Deal cites “Lose Yourself” by Eminem as his introduction to rap music. He also listens to and highly admires artists like Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Joyner Lucas, Big Sean, Nas, Jay Z, 2pac.

Singles:

• 2014: “Indian Rap Cypher”
• 2014: “Be The Change”
• 2017: “One Kid”
• 2017: “Mu Heli Odia
• 2018: “Bou”
• 2018: “Are You Indian”
• 2018: “Bobbal Bhubaneswar” for Big Bazaar
• 2018: “Udne Do”
• 2018: “Skilled In Odisha”
• 2019: “Khusi Ta”
• 2019: “Dreamers”

Film soundtracks:

2017: Bach Ke Bakshy – “Detective Byomkesh Bakshy”

Albums, EP:

2017: One Kid With A Dream EP

Television:

2014: MTV Sync

Awards and nominations

• Radio City Freedom Awards 2014: Best Hip Hop/Rap Artist – (“Enlightened”) – Nominated
• Renault Free The Music 2015 – Winner
• Radio City Freedom Awards 2016: Best Hip Hop/Rap Artist – (“Be The Change”) – Winner (Judge’s Choice Award)
• Sennheiser Top 9 artist India 2017 – Winner
• Radio City Freedom Awards 2018: Best Hip Hop/Rap Artist – (“One Kid”) – Nominated
• Radio City Freedom Awards 2019: Best Hip Hop/Rap Artist – (“Are You Indian”) – Nominated

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