Naezy Raps on Love, Nation and Community on Debut Album ‘Maghreb'

The six-track record features production from Karan Kanchan, U.K.’s Compa and Canadian producer Byg Byrd

- Anurag Tagat

Mumbai Rapper Naezy turns to a friendlier, almost commercial sound on “Mere Bhantai,” produced by Canadian beatsmith Byg Byrd for his debut album Maghreb, but at the end of it comes a very important message: “Bhantai log ko sympathy nahi chahiye, kya? Pyaar chahiye hum log ko” (Our friends and brothers don’t need your sympathy, we need your love).

As much as he’s sticking to his knockout, straight shooter delivery on the rest of the six-track record (which released via Big Bang Records), “Mere Bhantai” perfectly segues into “Pyaar Hai.” Naezy says it’s the first time he wrote a love song. “My music is usually about the things that are happening or have happened to me in real life. It’s a reflection of that. There are true incidents that inspire these songs. ‘Pyaar Hai’ too was one of those songs that I made when I was on my first tour of the U.K. [in 2017] I fell in love with a girl there and I wanted to express that,” he says.