Putting his heart into his music
Rapper, dancer and pop singer Yashan de Silva always knew he was made for the limelight, and that he’d “make it”. But after 15 years of music making, numerous songs and videos that have become local hits, his own TV show and some impressive collaborations, he is still discovering how much more there is for him to do.
Yashan. Pic by Indika Handuwala
Yashan grew up on Eminem,Timbaland, Magoo, D12 and Snoop Dogg, modeling his flow on theirs. He first rapped in public in 2000, featuring on a friend’s performance of “Siri Sangabo” by Bathiya and Santhush at a hip-hop night in Kandy. From that point on, Yashan, then known as RedRum continued to rap with different crews, breaking out from school shows to larger getups across the island. His performances were mostly covers of tracks by the “gangsta” rappers he emulated, with the scattered original, but by 2008 he was thoroughly tired of that.
“When we were kids, we worked so hard to get here,” he says, almost disbelieving. Yashan is one of the lucky artists that didn’t get stuck under a 9-5. But after eight years of being in “the game,” he knew that the hip-hop court was not easy to play either. He began to feel the need to “do something new, original, something [his] own.” So he took a break from performing to figure out what this “new” thing was.
“After all the drama and struggle I just took some time off,” he explains. “I read, met new people, heard stories and got ideas.” Then he sailed back into the music industry with the original Sinhala track “Sandawathuren” followed by his debut album “Sandawathuren II”. He also had a new identity – his real name, Yashan.
“Sandawathuren” was that “break” he always knew was coming, but despite its success and that of following tracks like “SiththamakVage” (on which he collaborated with Anarkalee in 2011) and numerous other singles and videos, Yashan didn’t stop searching for his purpose. Singing was not in his agenda, so far he was only rapping, but when his producer suggested it he tried. “We got a good response!” he laughs, “so next time I tried harder”. In 2012 Yashan began venturing further, breaking out into pop, R’n’B and disco music. He was gaining a bigger audience, but he still wasn’t satisfied.
Then, after a period of silence in 2013,Yashan released something completely different – a single with an unlikely title for a hip-hop track, “Hallelujah”. A religious song, it received good listenership on local mainstream radio, Yashan believes, but his peers in the music industry weren’t so convinced it would work. “They liked it, but it also confused people,” he says. “When I did that track, everybody was asking me why!”
“It was about my personal experience, how I was trying to find the meaning of life,” he says quietly. Yashan grew up in a Catholic home, and always wanted to know why people believe what they believe, and now he believes he has found the answer. Yashan recently released his latest single, “Yesuni”, a simple and lyrical religious song composed under Shenuka H. Peiris’ musical direction with backup vocals by Shanudrie Priyasad. The track i s to be released on radio and web, and made available on all mobile networks for download soon after.
Yashan is not in the least concerned that a money oriented market will not like his religion.“Hip-hop is about the heart,” he explains, “you can’t commercialize it. If you’re doing real hip-hop and rap, it’s about putting yourself out there.” And now, Yashan is much more interested in putting his heart into his music, than just making sure it will sell.
“It’s not that all my music will be religious now,” he reassures, smiling, “but my focus has changed.”And unlike before, when he was grasping to find fulfillment in his music, Yashan is now driven, a music-maker with a purpose. “It’s like everything is clearly laid out for me,” he says, smiling. From first performing a BnS number in 2000 to filming a McDonald’s commercial with Bathiya in 2015, the rapper/singer/dancer has come full circle and hit a completely different level.
He has “made it” in many people’s eyes, but “I’m not there yet,” he says. “I have a long long way to go.”