Three years ago, seven cool boys from Rawalpindi decided to pay a tribute to their city in their own unique way and came up with Pindi Aye. The hip-hop track featuring seven solo rap stars became an instant favourite of the Zoomers and Gen Alpha. The collaboration featured Osama Karamat, popularly known as Osama Com Laude (OCL), along with Hashim Nawaz, Ghauri, Zeeru, Shuja Shah, Khawar Malik, and Hamzee.
The viral hit is still popular and relevant and its view count on YouTube has reached 22 million. So, the boys have geared up and come up with a new, more electrifying and catchy 2.0 version of Pindi Aye. And this time it is not just a collaboration. The seven solo artists have formed a music band — Pindi Boyz — to take their musical journey to the next level.
In order to find out more about this musical venture, Something Haute got in touch with Osama Karamat. The rapper shared the vision behind rehashing the original Pindi Aye and the bigger surprise that was revealed in its music video.
Why did you guys decide to make a newer version of Pindi Aye, rather than choosing a completely different theme?
“History has seen great sequels with films like The Godfather Part II, The Dark Knight, The Empire Strikes Back and so on. Only recently the culture of sequels, or 2.0’s, started happening in music, more frequently in Bollywood. While they do more of a remake or ‘newer’ version, our track is definitely not that exclusively. The idea of Pindi Aye 2.0 was a no brainer because since we decided to finally officially form a group, it was only right that we launch ourselves with Pindi Aye 2.0,” Osama said.
For their fans who want to see Pindi Boyz rap about something entirely different, Osama assured that this is just an introduction of them as a band and there is lots more in store.
“The first one was such a welcomed blessing three years ago; even with Covid happening a month after its release, it still went on to do massive numbers and became a worldwide hit. We had a huge task in front of us when making the follow up, but it happened so fast and organically that it was like we never missed a step. And as far as a completely different theme goes, we have plenty of new flavors ready for our fans in the upcoming weeks,” he shared.
If you haven’t seen the music video or any of its clips, then brace yourselves as Pindi Aye 2.0 features the OG King of Pindi aka Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad. Getting a political figure on board in a music video is a Herculean task, one that is also unprecedented in Pakistan, as far as I can recall. Osama shared an anecdote on how it happened.
“We wanted Sheikh Rasheed for Pindi Aye 1.0 but due to limited resources and time, we weren’t able to make it happen. So, this time around, we wanted to go bigger, bolder and definitely badder. I was lucky enough to be in touch with a very dear friend, Fahad Malik, to whom I pitched the whole idea and told him to just get us a meeting with Sheikh sahab. It was a wild chase for about two months, given the political situation of the country, but eventually the tide turned in favor of Pindi Boyz and we got our golden opportunity with Sheikh sahab. Zeeru and I had already planned and storyboarded out the intro and we had to rush to get to him immediately because his every minute is precious. One thing led to another and we ended up with what might be the most iconic footage to exist in all of Pakistani music history. Not only that, but I managed to get Sheikh sahab to help us do a TikTok trend also, how cool right?”
Pindi Aye 2.0 is entirely new this time; from the song and its lyrics, sound, scale of the music video, its production, VFX to the hip hop dancers that feature in it. The techno-savvy theme, their performance as a group, the introduction of each rapper and a few hints in the lyrics are certain elements that remind you of the older song. That is why the tune evokes a sense of nostalgia. However, the addition of powerful lyrics flashing on screen and more colour in the video definitely raises the bar.
“I think what you’re referring to is the nostalgia factor and connecting our individual parts to the original. Again, with any great sequel, it’s very necessary to sprinkle in references from the first part to not only make the connection, but to bring the audience back and make them realize what made them fall in love with it in the first place. Of course, there is growth, with each artist, but the connection to the original must exist in order for the fans to fully appreciate the evolution of each artist,” Osama explained.
With seven talented members in a music band, the process of writing and composing must have been interesting. Do all of you write your own lyrics or do you contribute to each other’s parts?
“Every member of this group is highly skilled and talented when it comes to writing, so yes, everyone writes their own parts. We definitely help each other with delivery and tweaking slight things here and there, but 99% of the time, everyone comes with their own lyrics and melodies.”
Written and performed by Pindi Boyz, the video is directed by Zeeru and OCL. Watch Pindi Aye 2.0 here which has already garnered 450K views in 4 days:
