Philly rapper Raj Haldar is Lushlife, the highly-skilled Indian MC who has impeccable manners, mad flow and a massive underground following.
Hyped on 90′s hip-hop, working predominantly with drum machines, samplers, cassette decks and analog reel-to-reels, chillwave producer Raj, evokes instant nostalgia with the warped sounds he records. Influenced by Nas’ legendary Illmatic album, his creative tastes are wildly eclectic. i-D online caught up with the writer of one of our favourite albums of the year, Plateau Vision, look right for Lushlife’s exclusive performance of Rosa Parks.
Background in music? Piano at five, decks at ten, drums at twelve. Guitar, I’m still working on. If love was a song what would it sound like? Erik Satie, ‘Gymnopedie‘. If you were a song which would you be? I love the atmosphere of Souls of Mischief, ‘93 til Infinity‘. Late night, city lights, whip magic.
What song has helped heal your broken heart? The Beach Boys, ‘I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times‘. I relied on Pet Sounds for a long time. What was the first festival you ever went to? I saw a stateside festival called Area One when I was a kid. I had an ecstatic, religious experience seeing Outkast. It was utterly life altering. If you could gift anyone in the world with a song, what track and person would you dedicate a track too and why? This sounds selfish, but I might gift myself ‘I Can’t Hear My Eyes‘ from the latest Ariel Pink album. I wish I could have written that. Sing me something before you go… ‘I can’t hear my eyes. They don’t speak. They’re just the spies.’
Text: Milly McMahon
Film: Peter English
