Almost two decades back, Baba Sehgal remade English hit Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice and titled it Thanda Thanda Paani. Today, as the world has moved on, Baba is still at it. Recently he remade Luis Fonzi's hit Despacito and gave it the super-irreverent title Dil Ko Na Peeto (get it?). He has produced a staggering 56 tracks in a span of two years, each of which is completely off-the-wall and supremely random.Here's talking to the artiste about his writing process, being compared to cringe-pop artistes like Dhinchak Pooja and what he feels about the current generation of rappers.

HOW DESPACITO BECAME DIL KO NA PEETO!
Dil Ko Na Peeto was created in three to four minutes. I was linking Goa in the song. that's why I used lyrics like, 'Promise karta hoon chalenge Britto's. Baadmein party karne challengy hum Tito's...' (laughs). I think like a 14-15 year old guy. I am not deliberately making the song for teenagers. This is how I feel in my mind. Plus, I am on social media platforms, so I know the nuances... I know the LOL's and the ROFL's. I try to connect with them through my language, my words and my creations.

LYRIC-WRITING PROCESS
I have realised that when I sit down and write some thing, it doesn't happen. So most of my writing happens on the pot. I just put on the recorder on my phone and start thinking the lyrics out loud. I also don't do complex videos. I go by my instinct and do simple stuff. I write my lyrics in advance and quickly record them. If I am visiting some 6 country abroad, I shoot the video on phone and release it through my social media channel.

FAMOUS AGAIN
It's nice. It feels like the old times. I have got more work in two and a half years than in my entire career. I have done some 56 songs during this period. I am now performing at a lot of music festivals as well. Social media has helped me greatly. Earlier, the industry was controlled by music labels. Today, you can open a social media account to release songs and that becomes your music label. And if your content is interesting, the audience shows interest automatically. My journey started all over again with the song Going to the Gym. We recorded that just for fun. I am soon going to release a club version of that song. After that I am going to do a Chicken Fried Rice club edition as well because that, too, became popular. Later, hopefully, I will produce remixed versions of Dil Dhadke, Manjula, Aaja Meri Gaadi Mein etc.

COMPARISON WITH DHINCHAK POOJA
People criticize Dhinchak Pooja and say she is besura. To be honest, I feel that they should try and do what she does. If you feel she is so besura, then try to become famous like her. It's very easy to criticize. I feel that the attitude she carries is amazing. If someone puts me in line with Taher Shah and Dhinchak Pooja, I feel very 'in'. The fact that I am relevant after a 26-year-long music career, means I am doing something entertaining. I believe it's important to have a talent and be creative.

SOCIAL MESSAGE WITH SONGS
While I do fun stuff, I also do socially relevant music. I have songs like War song, GST song and the anti-suicide song Hope Hai Toh Dope Hai. I also did the song ATM during demonetisation. There enough negativity in the world anyway. So the serious stuff, I leave to Bollywood. Because the rap in Bollywood, I don't agree with. I am a passion ate Indi-pop artist.

MOVIE ON RAP
I am really glad that Ranveer Singh is doing a movie on hip-hop. And if Naezy and these guys are involved then that is great news. Because they are the real rappers and I really admire them. I don't admire the so-called rappers in Bollywood. Naezy has also done a few opening acts in my shows. A lot of these gully rappers are amazing as they also talk about real issues that they dealt with. In fact, I feel that Bollywood should work with them more.