Prabh Deep

Prabh Deep was born in the West Delhi suburb of Tilak Nagar to Jaswinder Kaur, a small-scale businesswoman and Manmohan Singh. His father, Manmohan Singh, had lost his father and four brothers during a killing spree by angry mobs allegedly aided by the Delhi Police and Indian National Congress during the 1984 riots in Nangloi Jat, Delhi. Despite the birth of Prabh Deep in 1993, Manmohan struggled with the post-traumatic stress of the riots and developed addictions. The family was, therefore, supported by the earnings through the hair salon run by Prabh Deep's mother, Jaswinder.[2]

Prabh Deep decided to drop out of high school right before his 12th standard board examination on account of the pointlessness of the Indian education system. His mother supported his decision to quit school in order to build his own path in music.[3]

The increasing financial troubles of the family, as well as bullying in school, eventually got him involved in a street gang, partaking in streetfights, petty jobs such as selling second-hand phones and motorbikes at a mark-up and acting as a middleman for money lenders. Later on, he also had a short stint as a salesman at a garment shop and as a call centre executive for three years before pursuing a full-time career in music.[3]

Around the summer of 2008, Prabh Deep and his childhood friend Happu (also a rapper now) witnessed a dance crew performing stunts in a park. Impressed by the urban dance form, he and Happu joined a hip-hop dance group in the neighbouring area of Vikaspuri and spent the next few years practising b-boying.[2][3] While continuing his jobs as a call centre executive and salesman, Prabh Deep maintained close contact with the Delhi hip-hop circuit while undergoing a slow transition from a dancer to an emcee.[4]

Through rapper ZaN Twoshadez and hip-hop culture researcher Jaspal Singh, Prabh Deep was introduced to the open mic nights and similar events in Delhi that laid the foundation of his rapping career. In 2015, Prabh Deep connected with indie music producer Sez on the Beat on Facebook and began co-producing music. Sez signed him to the indie record Azaadi Records.[4] The entire debut album of Class-Sikh was produced in Sez's home studio.[3]

Prabh Deep marked his entry in Bollywood with his song 'Sherni' for Anurag Kashyap's 2018 drama Manmarziyan.[5] He also wrote and performed the song 'Toofan Mein' for the original soundtrack of Amazon Prime crime series Paatal Lok.[6]

Prabh Deep was seen marking his presence to support the protesters at the 2019 Shaheen Bagh protest in Delhi, India.[9]

• Official website