Sharlaine Menezes, a young woman from Margao, who had all the tools to master classical music, surprised many by choosing to rap.
She makes her own music at a time when most aspiring musicians try their hand at covers or soulful interpretations of popular tunes.
She has established a name for herself as a result of this, and has released songs such as ‘Hush Baby’ and ‘Going Back.’
One of her raps has lyrics that says,
“It’s not about the muscle, it’s about the toughness of the soul. This is what we do, it’s the real hustle!”
I find it difficult to produce a lot since I work on other projects in addition to music, plus I’m asthmatic, so I need to learn to breathe better before I rap.
Having said that, I sincerely hope that I can motivate many Goan youth, particularly women, to achieve their goals. She exclaims, “We need more female rappers!”
“I’ve heard a lot of ‘new’ or’ modern’ music, and I really like the beats and melodies.” What irritates me, though, are the lyrics and ideas, which mainly revolve around love, sex, or heartbreaks. This prevents me from playing them in the presence of seniors. My goal is to use thumping beats to produce songs that are truly about life or truth. I want people to realize that our generation isn’t just about ‘noise’ as opposed to music,” she beams.
“I may not compose the ‘greatest music,’ but I am confident that what I do is unique,”
We spoke to her about her beginnings from the urban lands of Margao to creating her own empowering music for all ages.
Humans of Goa is our original and official series that shares inspirational stories from the lives of Goans. We speak to talented and contributing individuals from this wonderful tiny state.
Tell us about yourself…
I think I’m just a crazy person with a lot of passion. I am also a big time workaholic. My sun sign is a Leo which means I feel like I was born to be a sort of leader not in a bossy way but just help and inspire others to grow and do better. I’m a media person during the day and a musician at night.
My loved ones call me Coffee as coffee fuels me, pain helps me grow, and what most people don’t know is that I fancy auto racing. I also enjoy writing for blogs or corporations.
I’m Goa’s first female rapper with original tracks and the only Indian Artiste selected for the IBIS campaign 2020-2021. I won the PRCI YCC Best Youth Blogger of the Year Award, 2021.
What was that one moment that changed everything?
I was always a musical child, but that one steal-the-show moment would be when I replaced someone for a competition to rap and people were impressed at the fact that females rapped too. As sexist as that may sound, it is the true state of affairs in the country.
Any funny or inspiring childhood story or memory you want to share that shaped your life.
I think just being a musician’s daughter puts so much pressure on me, and since my Dad is a violinist, everybody expected me to be one too.
Also my Dad really wanted me to be great at the piano but I couldn’t keep up to that either so I took a break from music for about 3 to 4 years where I stopped singing I stopped listening to a lot of music for a very long time and then there was a breakthrough when I got to the higher secondary phase of my life and took part in one of my competitions to regain my confidence. Rapping too came to me then.
The funny story is that wrapping came to me by accident. I actually did not intend to wrap.
I was just replacing another colleague for a competition and then while everybody was impressed I thought why not give it a shot and then soon started composing my own raps. It’s funny because I still don’t listen to a lot of rap music.
What’s the biggest challenge when pursuing this full time?
I think the biggest challenge while pursuing a career in music especially as an independent artist is that money doesn’t come easy, you have to work really hard for it even if you have couple of albums with a couple of songs out you may still be broke and as well as being a female in the music industry specially hip-hop is not really that easy because of course it’s a male dominant industry so to get fame or success, is also pretty difficult.
A bit about your role models
I mean a lot of people keep different artists as their role models or just people in their life but for me I think I am myself and my own role model for a simple reason is because I have seen myself grow from nothing to something and I continue to push myself to grow even when there are days I do not want to wake up or I do not want to do anything but I manage to be productive.
What role did family and friends play? Any quick incident you recall?
Initially, not everybody was supportive but as I started believing in myself everybody realized what I’m doing is probably the best. Family and friends eventually supported me even when I thought I would not be able to do some of the things I wanted to do.
There’s one friend – Shikha Lagali, who always pushed me to my limit. She was always there for my shows and my recordings and I remember the first time I was asked to compose and perform an original for a project, I rejected the offer until Shikha kept telling me you have to do it and that was probably the best decision I ever made.
What would you tell yourself if you went back in time?
If I could go back in time and tell me something I think it would be the words “You got this! Stay amazing, and keep doing what you’re doing”
Any person/celeb you’d want to meet? Why?
I think I’d want to meet Jacinda Ardern, because I believe she’s a really great leader and as a woman who has multiple roles to play, I’d love to have a little talk about how she manages all that and also gain some inspiration to learn as much.
What is the legacy you want to leave behind? And for whom?
Music can be made without mentioning a break up or containing foul language. I want the youth to know that a good song doesn’t need crazy lyrics or objectifying women.
The older generation needs to know that rap or “modern” music is not noisy and can be well composed too.
The last thing would be for all the women in India who aspire to be rappers to never be intimidated by their male counterparts, and soar higher in whatever they do.
You can catch a snippet of this conversation on ItsGoa‘s Instagram page. Humans of Goa is our original and official series that shares stories from the lives of Goans. ‘Humans of Goa’ celebrates the spirit of every Goan.
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