Desi Trill: Taking brown music to the world

“Punjabi aa gaye oye!” One of the most memorable moments from Punjabi singer and actor Diljith Dosanjh’s recent appearance on the talk show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, was of Dosanjh getting Fallon to utter this catchphrase. Days later, those words proved to be the perfect ice-breaker as I sat down for a video call with Tyran “Ty-Ty” Smith and Shabz Naqvi, co-founders of music label DESI TRILL that was launched in September 2023. While they may not have any professional connection with Dosanjh, that moment, for Smith and Naqvi, felt like the thumbs-up sign they needed for their music label whose core vision is to create a new, eponymous genre of music whose sound is a blend of “hip hop, R&B and south Asian music”.

“The whole concept of DESI TRILL was conceived about three-and-a-half years ago. At the time, Diljith Dosanjh’s appearance on Jimmy Fallon wasn’t confirmed, his Coachella performance hadn’t happened yet nor had RRR won at the Golden Globes. So, just to see all that’s happening now excites us because our label is built on the idea of South Asia’s music culture being seen across the globe,” says London-based Naqvi while commenting about how South Asian music is on the verge of becoming something bigger. “South Asian music is going to be the next big thing...1,000%. It’s no question in either of our minds,” adds Smith, who is based in New York.

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As friends and colleagues, Naqvi and Smith have over 20 years of experience in the music industry between them. Having grown in Brooklyn’s public housing complex The Marcy Projects, Smith’s blazing career trajectory saw him evolve from being rapper Jay Z’s road manager to co-founding entertainment company Roc Nation with Jay Z in 2008. Smith is credited for developing the careers of Rihanna, Wale and Ne-Yo.

Born to Indian parents in south London, Naqvi started as an amateur music producer at 16 before tasting fame as a member of the successful UK garage and hip hop collective, So Solid Crew. While Smith’s and Naqvi’s paths crossed when the latter joined Roc Nation as an A&R executive in the 2010s, DESI TRILL is where they have aligned.

Since the launch, the label has taken baby steps towards its vision by steadily releasing singles and EPs of artists signed to the label. The first single, Desi Trill—Gur Nalon Ishq Mitha Flip by British music producer and songwriter DJ Lyan featuring Punjabi bhangra singer Malkit Singh and British rapper Chip, was released in October 2023. Since then the likes have been coming fast for tracks like Tension Mat Le and The Intro by rapper Yung Sammy, a Nigerian who grew up in Delhi and is proficient in Gujari and Hindi. The easy-on-the-ear song Gulzar by Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Natania Lalwani has gone viral on Instagram. Smith and Naqvi say this is just the beginning. Edited excerpts from the interview:

What’s your criteria for signing new artists to your roster?

Smith: It’s all about passion and raw talent. A lot of the artists we all love today didn’t come in at 100%. They believed in themselves, had somebody who saw their talent and helped them develop it. It’s the same with us. If we see someone with raw talent, we are going to bet on them.

What is the kind of mentoring or guidance that you will be giving the artists who are signed with you?

Naqvi: Music is becoming so mechanical nowadays, everyone is looking at what someone else has done and thinking, “Oh, he did it that way, so I am going to do it that way”. Our advice to our artists is to “always just be unapologetically you”. We are here to support them. For us, it’s really about building the community. That’s how hip hop, R&B and rock and roll grew—they all started from a small community of people who shared a similar mindset and resonated with the music.

Is your slogan, “Brown is Everywhere” about unapologetically telling the world that “we are brown and we are here”?

Smith: Let me start with telling you how the name came about. One day when Shabz and I were on the phone, he just said, “Ty, brown is everywhere”. I said, “Shabz, that’s the slogan”. It’s a line you could put on a T-shirt or hoodie, which if worn by someone brown could be like their Superman cape. It’d be like them coming out and saying, “I am brown and proud”. It was that whole mindset that I fell in love with when we came up with that line.

Are you going to be tapping into regional musicians and rappers who sing in languages that you may not know?

Naqvi: To answer that question, I’ll say look out for DJ Lyan who’s going to be coming out with his debut EP, Thank You Come Again. On that he has an incredible surprise with (Malayalam rapper) Baby Jean who is from south India. I’ll say DESI TRILL is built on inclusion and everyone is welcome.