Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu aka Sidhu Moosewala may have left the material world but his music continues to top music charts and rank among the top streams worldwide. It would be safe to say, that Sidhu put punjabi hip hop and Indian music scene on the world map with his hot singles and collaborations from artists across US, UK and Canada, much before anyone else.
We see Diljeet, AP Dhillon doing collaborations and performing at music festivals and bigger stages than before today. It did not happen overnight. No doubt, these artists are talented and have worked hard to reach there. However, there's a lot of factors that lead to a new genre being accepted at such a scale.
Sidhu Moosewala opened many gates when he perfomed at Wireless festival and BritAsia Awards. In one his live shows, he announced that he will bring the whole hollywood scene to pujabi hip hop music scene.
What Makes Sidhu Moosewala's brand of music popular?
There's a popular greek pronoun that goes like "A society grows great when old men plant rees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." It rings true for Sidhu Moosewala who envisoned putting Indian music on the world map.
We see tracks from Panjabi MC, Daleh Mehndi, Juggy D, Rishi Rich and other UK Bhangra Pop artists have attracted listerners from around the world but they never ammased an audience for themselves like Sidhu Moosewala. What's the difference behind the cult of Sidhu Moosewala that makes him a fierce personality and his music is a rage among his listeners even today after his death.
Underdog Dreams
Sidhu represented the dream of a underdog. A middle class boy from poor and backward village of Mansa, Punjab, India. Sidhu had inclination towards music from his school days and was seen participating and performing in his college festivals.
In his song "Game" he mentions, how small things like his appearance was mocked by people, he didn't have generational wealth and made money by doing chores, working in canada, putting out music and turning opportunities into wins by delivering hits. He mentions being mocked for his appreance but all these things fade when you get successful. Sidhu painted an image of hope in songs and made people aware that problems will always surround us until we're not ready to chin up and face them first hand. It's the story of making it to the top despite having the odds against you that makes Sidhu Moosewala's life so inspiring.
Guns and Grit
The most media loved image of Sidhu Moosewala is where he is brandishing his assault rifles, pistols, shotguns. Sidhu Moosewala carried licenesed firearms because of the lifestyle he lived. During his time in Canada, Sidhu confessed he was inspired by Black Music. Naturally Tupac Shakur, Nippsey Hussle, Biggie Smalls and other artists of gangster repute got his attention and adulation.
He paid tribute to these music icons in his music videos by imbibing their spirit of living the lifestyle of gangster rapper. The type of music that pumped adernaline in his listeners. Sidhu Moosewala brand of music is simply ferocious makes you want to jump into war. Probably explains why, Sidhu Moosewala's music is popular among gym freaks. It's about do or die. This is one of the reasons why he had to face a lot of criticism from media, politicians, civil society for promoting guns in his music videos. He was accused of promoting gang and gun culture in his music videos.
He signifed a lifestyle that expressed machosism and it did not come from guns but conviction of doing the right thing. Sidhu Moosewala was always in public eye and he did not shy away from speaking on controversial topics.
Awareness of mortality.
One of the highlights of Sidhu Moosewala's discography is of his awareness of mortality. It is a stark difference, that you can find in his songs. He is not just talking about do or die. It comes from a deeper understanding of having a short span of life and doing what's right in the given time. Moosewala's songs refer to death alot of time. In a song titled 'legend' it says limited count ne breath ve meaning "the counts of breaths are limited" that we are all here for a limited amount of time.
In a song titled "Goli" Sidhu predicts that even after his death "he will be remembered for his actions, and not cowering down even if he is encountered with guns" and so it happened. He did not buckle down when henchmen of Lawrence Bishnoi followed him on that dreadful day. It's the attitude of stepping up, not bowing down, doing the right thing packs a powerful personality of masculine youth who is ready to do what others are hesitant to try.
Integrity
When we talk about integrity as an artist, Its not just morals or values. This is big factor in hip hop music. Living the life you actually proclaim. Artists project a lot of personas in their tracks that they want their audience to connect to. For example The Weeknd always has a dark twisted fantasy of being with toxic women who are infatuated with him, Rappers being tough acting they have a lot of respect on the streets for their invovlement with drugs or local businesses, artists bragging about having boatloads of money like Jay Z and rappers ralking about making it out of the hood after their struggle in the music scene. Cars, girls, money and businesses. It comes with a lot of different personas.
Sidhu Moosewala's persona holds that integrity of actually living the word that he put on his record. If it's about hanging out with old folks of his village in afternoon, getting record breaking deals from music labels, putting his trust in gun more than anyone, treating his family dear than friends or working towards the upliftment of his village mansa (moosa)
Sidhu had amassed so much wealth in a short span of time. In one of his interviews, he said "I could have easily settled in Torronto and continued making music from there, or have bought a house and studio in Mumbai. It's not far from my reach but I choose to stay in my village because I wish to stay rooted to where I have arisen from." This is integrity and it is extremly rare.
Resemblance to real life.
As a result of integrity, all actions surrounding his life and death seem to have been perfectly captured in his songs. We see this eerie resemblance in "Goli" "Celebrity Killer" "The Last Ride" "295" and none of them hold larger than life image of his life. It is relateable to common folk. Sidhu Moosewala music also has a lot of name drops in his songs to old folk artists, musicians, activists of Punjab as tribute. This recall to favourite artsits also energised alot of old people into getting interested into Sidhu Moosewala.
The career graph of 5-7 years was all he had and he made the most of it. He stressed in his songs that it won't be his time but his era when he leaves it all behind and in essence Sidhu Moosewala truly captured it. The love and adulation of Sidhu Moosewala fans make him a cult figure in the music scene today and he is regarded as Tupac Of Indian Hip hop. As per Sidhu Mooswala's team, Sidhu has a lot of unreleased records that are still pending projects and are being currently managed by them. It's safe to assume that we will keep seeing Sidhu Moosewala on trending charts for another decade with so many pending songs under his name. May his beautiful music continue to inspire the generations to come.
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