“If I weren’t a rapper, I would have been a criminal or dead by now” were some of the first words I heard Asif Balli say.
Son of a scrap collector and a housemaid, Asif was born and grew up in the Buffer Zone area. He also collected scrap from an early age to support the family. His everyday routine included waking up at 4AM, walking the streets to collect scrap in a big sack, then walking four kilometres to his school in Gulberg. He would grab breakfast made by his mother and eat it on the way to save time and arrive at the school on time. After school, he would go back to work.
“I used to skip lunch. We would get Rs3 sometimes but you can’t even buy a samosa for 3 rupees so I would save it,” says Asif. “Once, I saved Rs700 to buy a bicycle.”
Hard work and hustle was never a problem for Asif. But somewhere along the way, he got involved in criminal activities. He started stealing and dealing drugs.
“There were gang wars and a lot of crime where we lived,” he says. “I’d also pick up things from shops here and there. I started to enjoy that I was getting money. Then I got involved in drug dealing, courtesy of the local gangs. Because we were kids, the police didn’t suspect us.”
From saving Rs3 to selling Rs200-250 worth of drugs a day was a big change for Asif. But once he started getting a reputation, he quit. “My parents didn’t know that their child was involved in all these activities.” He went back to stealing since he thought “nobody would find out”. jewellery
And so it happened that while struggling to carry a big sack full of stolen jewellery, plastic, phones and many other things from a house, Asif was caught.
“They caught me and everyone gathered to beat me to a pulp with sticks and pipes. I was beaten up so bad that my body was all blue and I was barely even conscious,” says the 26-year-old rapper. “But someone took mercy on me, called the cops and told them that a kid is being beaten up and tortured for stealing. When they arrived, I had almost fainted due to the severe beating. I was unable to even move but my mind was conscious and I could hear the cops telling the crowd that they were behaving like animals beating a kid to death.”
While Asif spent two days in prison, his parents were unaware of his whereabouts. “They thought I had died. There was a stream/drain near our house and kids used to fall into it and die. And at that time, someone my age had also fallen in and died there and they were waiting to find out if it was me. They didn’t know I was in prison and they were scared for my well being since we live in Karachi and anything can happen here. It’s not safe.”
As his family visited police stations and even Edhi to find their son, Asif spent his days in jail with three other men who were arrested for gambling. Perhaps out of mercy, cops imposed a gambling charge on Asif as well despite him confessing to his crimes in court.
The hearings continued for a couple of years and Asif sounded concerned about it disturbing schooling. But soon, he was bailed out and resumed his studies, while keeping the reason for his absence a secret.
“If I weren’t a rapper, I would have been a criminal or dead by now.” He meant it literally.
A Bohemian shift
After the incident, Asif’s family moved to Lyari to escape the criminal environment. “My father suspected that I’d end up dead too if I kept on this path.” In Lyari, they didn’t have a house, just a piece of land where they set up camp.
“We had small walls and our home didn’t have a gate for three years. We slept under an open sky and earth. My father put us here in a sort of a jungle. No friends, nothing at all. This is where hip hop started for me.”
Once at a family wedding, Asif’s cousin played Bohemia’s Ek Tera Pyar and it moved him. He had listened to Eminem, Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent but never connected to them due to the language barrier. But listening to Bohemia, “I had goosebumps. The music attracted me.”
The beatdown and going to prison had changed Asif. He had decided never to “do anything wrong that would hurt my parents and live a good life and work hard.” He went back to collecting scrap, saved up a few hundred rupees to buy an MP3 to listen to rap while he worked in the streets.
“I would play Bohemia on my MP3, put on my earphones and collect scrap everyday. This is how I got into rap. I memorised the lyrics and would rap along. I realised that this music was good, it gave me peace. I could say things through rap, express myself and motivate and inspire others too. So I decided to pursue it.”
Over years of hard work, Asif slowly built up his reputation from scratch as an artist. At the same time, his five-year-old brother Kaky Thou$and, also known as Waqas Baloch also got interested in rapping. And Asif chose to support him and give him every support that he didn’t receive. At the age of 8, Kaky had debuted as a rapper.
Since then, the brothers have accumulated a significant fan base in the underground circuit in Pakistan and have even made waves internationally. They have collaborated with Raftaar, Lazarus, The Game, Hi-Rez, and Lil Eazy (son of the legendary Eazy-E). Some of their well-known collaborations include tracks such as Atmi Bomb, Bande Kharab, Day Ones, Death Note, Chal Bhai Nikal and Urta Teer.
But Asif’s dream came true when they were asked to work with Bohemia’s label Kali Denali Music (KDM). KDM got in touch after their viral hit Apna Dour which amassed 18 million views on YouTube and the whole Sony Music India’s copyright controversy where it was alleged that the track was a copy of Apna Time Ayega; Asif won the claim based on their original lyrics and composition and YouTube restored it. For KDM, they produced another hit, Nasli Kaam.
Contentment
Asif is content with his life now. “I am happy that we have come this far. We used to live in a hut. Four of my sisters died even after my father sold everything and took loans to pay the hospitals. Now I was able to marry off my sister, and even get married myself. We have a home with five rooms and a small studio to work in. I took on all the responsibilities.”
He continues to produce music, collaborate with local and international artists, support and promote the emerging rappers from Lyari and across Karachi, especially Kaky who has amassed a following of his own.
“I came from a life of crime. I saw a lot in life. And I can express it through rap. I can explain through rap all the mistakes I made, so that others don’t do it. We show our slums, our people, our issues through rap. We talk about the crime that happens here. It’s based on my experiences and how I used to be involved in it too.”
He adds, “I pushed the underground hip hop scene here too. I set up a small studio to help emerging artists. I continue to support them and share whatever I have. I’m not interested in hoarding it all for myself. We all eat together and don’t ask for more than our appetite. I am blessed that God gave us all of this.”
Asif still feels they are treated differently in part because of their Baloch identity but more people are starting to accept them. “Rap changed my life. People who listen to me, especially in the slums and in Lyari, started coming into music. There is respect now. The new generation is also more educated and they have a purpose. Rap is a way to connect to people. For me, a rapper should know and face things in life to be a good rapper. You can’t be born with a silver spoon and be a rapper.”
“We faced a lot. We saw death, debts, and pain. That’s what made me an artist. That’s why I also help other artists and support them.” Asif is glad to see hip hop’s progress in Pakistan because “at least you are not involved in criminal activities when you are busy rapping and creating music.”
And while he’s grateful for his career, Asif continues to dream bigger. “I hope that my name lives on and people think of me as a rapper from the slums who made it.” He also dreams of collaborating with Eminem, Joyner, and Kendrick. “It would be big for us and for Pakistan. I want to take the Pakistani hip hop scene to new heights.”
“If I weren’t a rapper, I would have been a criminal or dead by now.” His words weigh heavier now.
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