Badshah is excited about his new role as a mentor to young musicians from Mumbai’s Dharavi slum. “It’s been my long-pending goal to associate with the hip-hop talent in Dharavi,” says the rapper, adding that it was always his dream to become a mentor. “Mentorship comes very naturally to me, perhaps because I never had a mentor when I started off. It’s a spiritually uplifting process,” he adds.

The musician met the artistes in Dharavi for the first time recently. Talking about the interaction, the 37-year-old says, “I felt like I was in a studio, jamming with budding artistes who were eager to just learn. You’d be surprised with the kind of talent they possess. Some of them are OGs, waiting to be discovered. It’s a good thing that today we have multiple platforms and reality shows for artistes to showcase their talent and not be dependent on labels and management for their big break. I look forward to training them in all areas possible that may extend beyond the art of music making, because if you want to succeed in today’s time, you need to hustle in more ways than one.”

Sharing how he plans to go about training them, Badshah adds, “I have always believed that promising talent comes from the most unexpected places. I will be spending time with these under-resourced talents over the next two years to hone their skills and give them the right platform to produce and publish their music.”