Rapper Geroge Watsky during his Delhi performance. (Source: Satyarth Shaurya Singh (Lights on Films) Rapper Geroge Watsky during his Delhi performance. (Source: Satyarth Shaurya Singh (Lights on Films)

About a month ago, when George Watsky first announced his debut India show on Twitter, no more than 10 fans showed interest. After all there aren’t enough fans for the young American rapper-poet in Delhi to even fill up a room. But Thursday night, at antiSOCIAL in Hauz Khas Village, was a revelation for the rapper, as he performed for a houseful audience. He has been brought to India by Mumbai-based company Only Much Louder.

An hour before Watsky went on stage, he looked around clueless, wondering if anyone even knew him or his music. Dressed in a varsity jacket and a baseball cap, the 28-year-old rapper looked a bit out of place in a room full of beer guzzling beards. But when he started rapping Never let it die, from his 2014 album called All You Can Do, people stopped and listened, eventually breaking into a dance while singing the chorus. “I try to write about choosing between being successful, earning money and leading a happy life and not being too obsessed with your own achievements; and about being aware of the struggle,” says Watsky. Never let it die preaches just this as he sings “…cause I know that it’s tough, but it’s gotta be somebody, so then why not you?”

While it was his slam poetry that brought him into the limelight about eight years ago, it was his video titled Pale Kid Raps Fast on YouTube that earned him a million hits and a performance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2011. “I perform with a full band, nine members to be precise but I couldn’t fly them to India, which is why I am performing with DJ Mikos Da Gawd during this tour,” says Watsky, who is now working on a book — a collection of essays — which will be published by Penguin. “It’s autobiographical in nature, with humourous essays. It’s not my memoir, I don’t think years from now people would care who I am. They shouldn’t,” he adds.

His poems, which he often mixes with his rap set during performances, give a glimpse into his life, his ideas, and themes that occupy his head. His half-Jewish identity, lisping, juvenile epilepsy and a stage dive gone wrong find place in his songs such as Seizure boy, Fireworks and Ink don’t bleed. His last album’s cover has a picture of his father, and the alternate cover is a photograph of his mother. “It’s dedicated to them. My mother was a librarian and my father a poet,” he says.

Excited about his debut India visit, Watsky performs in Pune on January 22, followed by a gig in Mumbai the next day.

📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Delhi News, download Indian Express App.