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Welcome to South Asian Trailblazers! 👋🏼 I’m Simi Shah, and here, I dive deep into the journeys of trailblazing South Asians. Listen to the podcast that inspires this newsletter on Apple, Spotify, or any major podcast platform. Follow us for updates on our events and more on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, & TikTok.

At South Asian Trailblazers, we’ve long been dedicated to elevating extraordinary leaders. Our new initiative, The Trailblazers Agency and Expert Network, marks the next step toward fulfilling that mission.

The Trailblazers Agency

If your organization is looking for fresh, diverse leaders to speak at your next Summit, Conference, or Event, or to represent you in your next Brand Campaign, get in touch — especially as International Women’s Month and AAPI Heritage Month approach! If you're looking for specific expertise on a project, reach out and we can plug you into our Expert Network of Trailblazers across industries. And of course, if you’re a speaker interested in representation, get in touch!

January 14, 2024

For our first episode of 2024, we caught up with the revered RAJA KUMARI. Born Svetha Rao, Raja Kumari is a Grammy-nominated, international singer, songwriter, and rapper.

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With over 43 million monthly Spotify streams, she has launched multiple hit singles and albums and collaborated with John Legend, AR Rahman, Iggy Azalea, and Fall Out Boy. Drawing from her Indian roots, she is trained in multiple styles of Indian dance and is regarded as one of India's top female rappers. She has been featured in Billboard, Vogue India, Elle India, and Harper’s Bazaar India, was the global face of MAC Cosmetics, and served as a judge on MTV’s "The Hustle." She was the first female rapper signed to artist Nas' record label in 2020.

She recently founded Godmother Records, her own label, to have the freedom to pave her own way in music. She has toured globally, performed at Coachella, and most recently, released the debut album of her own label, The Bridge.

Read on for episode excerpts, which we’ve edited for clarity + brevity. Curated by our Content Fellow, Nikki Zinzuwadia. 👇🏾

Raja Kumari on Instagram

January 14, 2024

Simi Shah: Was there a clear inflection point where you believed you could sign with a major record label? What advice would you give to aspiring artists who are trying to get to a stage where that’s within the realm of possibility?

Raja Kumari: It has been one step in front of the other the entire time. I had this vision. I saw this crowd and I felt the energy of that crowd. It was like I zoomed out on my body. And right after I thought, ‘How do I get there?’ From that point, I became a student. I feel like the most important thing is people should be students of the craft. So I started learning songwriting. I took apart songs written by artists like Mariah Carey, looking at the mathematics of: How many times do things repeat? Are the melodies similar? I was taking apart songs and trying to find the structure in it. Because I wanted to understand: Why do I remember these songs? What makes them memorable?

In college, I was just making music by myself. I remember spending some money to record some songs I wrote. And I was like, ‘How do I make this my life?’ I figured out that if I wrote songs for other people, I got to be in the studio every day. I remember consciously thinking, ‘If I want to get a record deal and make music the way I want, putting my Indian culture forward, I need to prove I can sell a million records.’ So before I got a publishing deal, I was friends with people who were writers, and I co-wrote with them. That’s how I got discovered. I was able to plant so many seeds this way, with people that are now multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning producers.

So my advice is… it really starts with that belief. You have to have the audacity to believe that vision that came into your mind and believe that you're worthy of it. The second you say you're worthy of it, it begins. The universe starts to unfold to bring it to you. That's why the vision board is a really beautiful exercise because you're actually defining to the universe this is what you want the future to look like.

January 14, 2024

Simi: You’ve collaborated with a range of artists: Fall Out Boy, Gwen Stefani, A.R. Rahman, and John Legend — to name a few. What have been some of your favorite collaborations? How have you navigated working with diverse musical styles while also staying true to your own artistic vision?

Raja Kumari: Collaborations are the most fun because you can break your own rules. You can step out of your box. As an artist, I've used my collaborations to shift perspectives and allow myself to try different languages. As a songwriter, I used to write songs for other people. When my career took off, I was only writing songs for one character — Raja Kumari. But I need other characters and people to write for sometimes. I feel that every time I get in the room, there's always one thing I'm going to learn from each person. I've just collected those learnings and kept them in my mind. And when you collaborate, you get introduced to new audiences.

My favorite collaboration is probably Sidhu Moose Wala on his last album. I had an opportunity to make a friendship with him, and I had looked up to him and what he was able to create. I have gone through a lot in the industry and felt alone. When Sidhu came into my life, I felt really protected. He respected me in a way that was different from what I was experiencing in the scene and in India at the time. That was an attempt to blacklist me, but I thrived. Sidhu reached out to me during that time. When he passed away, I realized I wouldn’t allow anyone to treat me any less than how he treated me. It was a call to cut off toxicity and be on my own journey of healing. 

Simi: Identity is such a huge motif in your music. You’ve faced no shortage of obstacles in your journey, partially due to identity. Can you share how these experiences have contribute to your perspective and path as an artist?

Raja Kumari: Growing up in LA in the 90s, there was no representation. And whatever representation was there was usually a stereotype. Being South Indian especially, even within Indian culture, I didn’t see myself in the mainstream culture. So I felt non-mainstream in both places. I didn’t see myself anywhere, and I wanted to become the artist that I needed. That’s how Raja Kumari was born — the daughter of the king of kings.

Identity has always been a part of the music since the beginning. But so many crazy things have happened. I’ve been told ‘Indian girls don't rap,’ or ‘We think the bindi alienates the public.’ Even when I was signed to a label in India, I don't think they understood really how to work with a female South Asian rapper. They would say stuff like, ‘I want to make sure you don't look too Indian’. I can't even imagine if someone said, ‘I want to make sure you don't look too black or too white.’ I’ve experienced it all — the racism in America and the patriarchy in India. That's why songs like NRI exist, because it was like I say, ‘I'm too brown for the label, too privileged for the cosign.’ But then India wouldn't let me in because they were like, ‘You're not Indian.’ I wasn’t Indian ‘enough.’ And the craziest thing is that after seven years, after all these deals, after learning to do every job myself, looking for that validation, I figured out I was only one that could do it. After searching for all this validation, it doesn't mean anything. So there's been so much healing in this tour. I've been saying on stage that Raja Kumari built the bridge, but now Svetha gets to walk back across it.

In this episode, Raja Kumari reveals how she first fell in love with music, the obstacles she's faced along the way, and how she endeavors to set the next generation of talent up for success. LISTEN to the full episode now on Apple, Spotify, and our website!

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