MUMBAI: The ‘Swag Mera Desi’ and ‘Tamanche Pe Disco’ rapper/singer Raftaar turns 27 today. Thus, on this special day we at Radioandmusic.com bring you some facts about Raftaar.

Aren't they beautiful Mummzy and Budhdha The love of my life #mom #dad #mother #father #family #truelove #oneforever

A photo posted by RAFTAAR (@raftaarmusic) on Dec 4, 2014 at 10:21pm PST

Dilin Nair: Indian rapper Raftaar was born as Dilin Nair to Delhi based parents. However, his hometown is in Thiruvananthapuram. His father was a cleaner with the Indian Railway and his mother was a typist. Dilin (or Raftaar) is their only child.

School life: Raftaar did not have a smooth beginning. He was bullied in school by kids from rich families. He was even discriminated by his teachers.

Exposure to music: It all began with a friend offering young Raftaar a CD with songs by Eminem and Linkin Park while he was in ninth standard.

Dancing: During his period of struggle, Raftaar used to teach dancing at a dance institute in Delhi. He charged Rs 150 per kid, which was his way of making some pocket money. He also participated in ‘Dance India Dance’ with a colleague from his dance institute in Delhi, and called themselves ‘Max and Manik’.

Rap journey: In his initial rapping days, Raftaar was part of Mafia Mundeer, an urban music group formed by renowned Bollywood rapper- Yo Yo Honey Singh. Raftaar worked as a lyricist for Singh in Mafia Mundeer, but soon split from the group and joined a Punjabi band- RDB. He later went on to end his association with RDB, eventually joining Manj Musik – the lead singer of RDB.

Controversies: Raftaar claimed that Yo Yo Honey Singh did not give him credit for two of his tracks in ‘Fugly’ – ‘Banjarey’ and ‘Dhup Chik’. The acquisition further led to a war of words between the two rappers. Raftaar even went on to pin his animosity against Singh with his single ‘Swag Mera Desi’. In the single Manj Musik mocks Singh’s line ‘Ab yeh karke dikhao’ from the track ‘Party with Bhootnath’.