Raw Barz fans, rejoice! One of the most iconic Nepali rap battle personalities, Laure, is all set to make a comeback after almost half a decade. But this time, he won’t be seen destroying his opponent but conducting the battles – as the official host.
The popular rap artist from Pokhara had his last ‘Raw Barz’ appearance in July 2013 when he faced Unik Poet. The battle, with almost 6 million YouTube views, is dubbed as one of the greatest rap battles in Nepal.
The ‘Mero Solta’ hitmaker had released a number of songs before his Raw Barz debut and was quite popular in the underground rap scene; but post his battles against Easi 12 and Unik Poet, his career reached a whole new height – the height very few Nepali rap artists have enjoyed. In these five years; he released a studio album ‘Chup Laag’, dropped a lot of music videos, started his record label ‘The Bad Kompany’, made his silver screen debut opposite Namrata Shrestha in ‘Taandav’, judged a popular television reality game show called ‘Himalaya Roadies’, and performed in ever corner of the country and in eight countries abroad.
“That’s (Raw Barz) where I started my career from, and I think it’s the right time to give back to my family all the love and support”, Laure told NeoStuffs. “A lot of rappers are trying to sound like me these days – with loud aggression. I just want to suggest them to be original and that’s how people are gonna like you. Remember, originality is the most important formula.”
Laure will be hosting the third episode of the fourth season of the rap battle league. He will be replacing Girish Khatiwada, who had hosted the previous two episodes. “A lot of people talked about Girish dai’s reactions during the battles, but I think he did present himself in a good way”, said Laure. “My favorite Raw Barz host, however, remains Yama Buddha. There are a lot of memories and emotions attached with him from back in 2013.”
Kolin Bikram Rana, the CEO of Raw Barz, is excited and is very positive about Laure being the new host. “He started his journey from Raw Barz and is one of the most successful battle rappers. He can feel the vibe and can understand other battle rappers”, said Rana. “We are hopeful that he will make the movement more powerful and will be able to give the message to all the rappers to be more devoted to the HipHop scene and give their best.”
When asked about the reason behind Girish Khatiwada’s absence, “It’s because of Girish dai’s busy schedule. We would have been honored to have him continue as the host, but unfortunately, he won’t be able to make it”, he answered.
The event is scheduled on Saturday, January 20th at The Factory in Thamel, Kathmandu. A total of eight rap battles will take place on the day — Professor Trix vs Giri Gates, Tayahang vs Ryape Daju, Bhaktey vs Rocket, J-Ness vs Azazel, Nasto vs Bizuli, Eklavya vs Misama, Cyrus vs Swopnil and Neeks vs Koinch G.
