The art in a city usually drives its personality, creates an identity and a vibe that becomes unique to the city. There are many artists in all the different cities in India and the diversity is what makes the cities interesting in their own way.

Afzal Minhaaj who is a hip hop producer based in Hyderabad is one of the many talented artists the city is home to. He is three music videos and six tracks old and has a vision of where he wants to go. The artist who is studying sound at an institute in the city at the moment reminisces on how he got hooked on to hip hop and rap.

Afzal’s family moved from Vishakhapatnam to Hyderabad when he was a teenager and his initial influences were Blue and Eminem. His influences however don’t dictate what he creates through his music. His beats are a mélange of western and Indian influenced patterns. He believes that he doesn’t fall into the category of producers who if they like Dr. Dre would make beats that are used in his music, Afzal goes after his own themes and rhythms and has his own style. He also thinks this is what music lovers ache for- the freshness and the newness in music.

Afzal is a sucker for perfection. He is definitely open to collaborations but he is definitely not willing to compromise on quality. He adores Dr. Dre for this quality, Dre apparently recorded one line 108 times just to get it perfect. That’s the level of commitment Afzal want to achieve.