Los Angeles-based rapper/songwriter Svetha Rao aka Raja Kumari drops a Matt Alonzo-directed video for “I Did It,” a spicy single and visual expressing her combined American/Indian roots.
An Epic Records signee since 2015, Rao says the label has at times has struggled to make sense of her unique sound. “They didn’t know what box to put it in,” Rao explained in a Billboard magazine interview with Sowmya Krishnamurthy. “Instinctively, I relate to hip-hop. I don’t like a song if it doesn’t have bass. If the 808 doesn’t knock, I don’t care. That’s the kind of music I like.”
With writing credits that include penning tunes for Gwen Stefani, Iggy Azalea and Christina Aguilera, Epic anticipated her music would follow the same edgy-pop path. “Just because I wrote a certain type of song for Christina Aguilera or to get to Demi Lovato doesn’t mean I wanted to be that kind of artist,” she said. “That was a struggle we went through. Luckily, I’ve always been clear with who I am, and I had to show them.”
Enjoy “I Did It” below and checkout Rao’s appearance last summer in Janine the Machine’s “High Places” visual here.
