MUMBAI: Samir Rishu Mohanty, a young boy from Puri, a small town in Odisha found it hard to fit in the place he was born in due to his looks. Born to a Japanese mother and an Indian father Mohanty was always bullied in school and college till he got his hands on ‘Eight Miles’ starring Eminem. The movie changed his life as he had the tool of expression - Rap. He gradually started expressing himself through rap. Taking the art form a step further, Mohanty best known as Big Deal went on to released his first EP ‘One Kid With A Dream’ recently.

‘One Kid With A Dream’ is Big Deal’s life’s journey, so far. It is pure storytelling with some outstanding music quality, beats, and video. “One Kid talks about my struggles. I have put it beautifully something that I could not do a few years ago. It took me four to five years to acquire this skill,” said the artiste.

He further added, “The people who bullied me back in school and looked at me as an inferior are looking at me as inspiration. It's rap that has given me that identity.”

Post his first EP the singer is looking at working on inspirational music. “I want to put more inspirational and meaningful music. I am tired of the usual bull***t in India. Hip-hop is huge. It is not just about partying with women. I am trying to bring change with my music. India has pain and it is an emotionally driven country. People will relate to emotions,” said the rapper.

Big Deal is trying to connect with the Indian audiences through emotions. “I am looking at creating music that a common man can connect with. Many kids connected with me through ‘One Kid’. It's good music reaching out to many,” explained Big Deal.

Big Deal knows that the hip-hop space is growing with every passing minute with rappers emerging in every town, but he states that most are filling this space with mediocrity. “Most of their music is bad and quality is not good. It won’t work. I make catchy sounds and that is my strategy. Once one grooves into the sound they are introduced to the rest. I also use a lot of Indian music to connect with the masses,” stated Mohanty.

The rapper used the crowdfunding platform to produce his first EP, but he managed to collect just one-fourth of his budget through crowdfunding. “I got 1.5 lakhs from crowdfunding, but my budget went up by three to four lakhs. 2016 was a great year for me in the jingle space and music production. I made some money there and put it in my EP,” confessed the artiste.

While Big Deal put the EP together, Qyuki is helping him market and distribute the product.

Furthermore, the rapper stated that he is drawn to both music production and rapping and he wants to take it further. He has produced music for brands like Nissan and Red FM amongst others. “I would love to enter movie music production. I want to grow my career as an artiste.”

Check the EP here -