Brooklyn Shanti is widely regarded as an accomplished producer, emcee, and pioneer of Global/Tropical Bass/Dancehall fusion, and is hip-hop's official cultural ambassador to India. Dubbed by Afrika Bambaataa and the Universal Zulu Nation as the Indian Bambaataa, over the last decade, Brooklyn Shanti's unique and innovative artistic voice has enabled the transformation of South Asia's appreciation for hip-hop. His diverse and wide-ranging talents have led him to work with some of the world's leading artists including Bollywood legends A.R. Rahman and Sohail Sen, electronic gurus Karsh Kale and the Midival Punditz, the Dum Dum Project, as well as Billy Martin (Medeski, Martin and Wood), Afrika Bambaataa, Thomas Blondet, and the Foreign Beggars, among many others. This spirit of collaboration defines and informs Brooklyn Shanti's larger vision as an artist and a musician. Of note is a project that came out on the infamous Rawkus Records and his involvement with Brooklyn's vibrant Dutty Artz collective which has cultivated a Latin/South Asian collaboration with DJ/producer, Geko Jones. He is also currently working on an album with Afrika Bambaataa and Karsh Kale for the South Asian market, with Camp Lo on a Bengal vs Bronx fusion project, and he has enlisted Cumba Mela's Thornato to work on a Bengali dancehall album. Shanti has also written and released a song based on author Vikram Chandra's stories, which Chandra has publicly stated that he wants played at his funeral. Shanti is also in the process of putting together a band with Karsh Kale to tour his current album, Bedstuyle.
Bedstuyle is Shanti's most recent album (out 9/9/14). Ambitious, gorgeous, and pulsating with range and verve, it is as much a travelogue of human emotion as it is an undeniable head-bobbing and foot-tapping musical experience. The title is a play on words derived from his neighborhood in Brooklyn, Bedstuy. Of Bedstuy's influence, Shanti states, "This album is a reflection of Bedstuy's past hip-hop heritage ranging from Biggie to Mos Def, its current incarnation as a hybrid space, and its future pulse electronically." From loneliness to longing, love to civic responsibility, Bedstuyle dreams big and pulls no punches. "Midnight in Paris," the stirring and quietly powerful first track, prepares us to find ourselves in all manner of contexts, both geographical and emotional. Its slow build to crescendo is enchantingly layered with choral voices and rich beats, and segues pitch-perfectly into the sultry depths of Bollywood starlet Evelyn Sharma's debut, "Something Beautiful," an electric ballad balanced by glimpses of Shanti's own voice. Its lyrics encourage us to remember that we all have radiance within us, no matter how difficult it is to believe.Videos