KRSNA (rapper)

For other people named Krishna Kaul, see Krishna Kaul (disambiguation).

Krishna Kaul, known mononymously as Krishna, stylised now as KR$NA, (previously as Krsna; known formerly as YoungProzpekt) is an Indian rapper.^[1][2] He was one of the earliest rappers to emerge in the Indian hip hop scene in the mid-2000s under the stage name Prozpekt. He is widely acknowledged within the Desi Hip Hop community for pioneering a lyrical revolution in the genre, infusing a new wave of poetic depth and lyrical complexity into hip hop's narrative.^[3] He was also briefly featured in the 2019 Bollywood film Gully Boy as himself.^[4]

KR$NA
KR$NA at SXSW Sydney, October 2024.
Background information
Birth name	Krishna Kaul
Also known as	KR$NA, Krsna, YoungProzpekt, Prozpekt
Born	(1989-10-04) 4 October 1989 (age 35) Delhi, India
Genres	Hip hop Desi Hip Hop
Occupations	Rapper Songwriter Producer
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Universal, Zee, Kalamkaar

Early life

Krishna Kaul was born on 4 October 1989, into a Kashmiri Pandit family in Delhi. He spent a part of his childhood in South London, where he was raised and schooled for a few years. Kaul started rapping at the age of fourteen in an effort to blend in with other children at his school in London.^[5]

Career

^[6] His first shot of success came with the release of the music video for "Kaisa Mera Desh" in 2010,^[7][8] becoming the first Indian hip hop song on YouTube and earning a #2 ranking as one of the most watched music videos in India overnight following its release.^[9] He also released a song titled "Vijay" in collaboration with international NGO Save The Children in 2013.^[10]

After sporadic underground releases, Kaul switched from Prozpekt to his current stage name KR$NA after signing a record deal with Universal Music in 2013.^[11] In May 2014, he released his debut album Sellout, an all-English effort on Universal Music with its lead single "Last Night" peaking at #5 on the Vh1 Music Charts in India.^[12] Kaul became the first hip hop artist in India to do a five-city album tour with a band.^[2][1] Following this, the music video for the title song "Sellout" was released but failed to make a large impact due to lacklustre marketing and shrinking label budgets.^[13][14]

After a 2-year hiatus, Kaul made his return in 2016 with his Hindi release "Vyanjan".^[15][16] Following the success of the song, he signed to the artist management agency DNH Artists (now Kalamkaar) in 2017 and became a partner in 2018, with the likes of Ankit Khanna and Raftaar. Kaul shares a brother like bond with Raftaar.

In 2020, Kaul accused the IPL and Disney+ Hotstar of permitting the plagiarism of his 2017 song "Dekh Kaun Aaya Wapas" when creating the 2020 IPL anthem "Ayenge Hum Wapas", an allegation which was dismissed by composer Pranav Ajayrao Malpe. Kaul responded by stating that "his team[...], will take the legal route and approach Disney+ Hotstar, which commissioned the song".^[17][18]

In the month of January 2021, Kaul was featured on American rapper Hi-Rez's song "Crossroads" along with Royce da 5'9".^[19] Later in July, another collaboration with Hi-Rez was released, titled "Playground" which also featured former Slaughterhouse member, KXNG Crooked. His collaboration in Hi-Rez's song "Overdrive", was released in November 2021, featuring A-F-R-O, Joell Ortiz, Bizzy Bone, Tech N9ne and Twista. The music videos were released on Hi-Rez's YouTube channel.^[20] In 2022, he featured on Karan Aujla's song "Ykwim".

Kaul with Brodha-V won the Radio City Freedom Awards 2023 on 31 March 2023, for the Best Indie Collaboration. The two won the Freedom Awards 7 for the song "Forever" which was released back in September 2022.^[21]

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Track	Artist(s)	Producer(s)
2014	Sellout	The Glorious First Step	KR$NA	Bradley Dhawan
		Faded	KR$NA ft. Cory Jones
		Sellout	KR$NA	Tony Fadd
		Getting Away	KR$NA	Breathtaking Beats
		Last Night	KR$NA	MetroGnome
		Erryday	KR$NA ft. Sonny Brown	Tony Fadd
		Tripping	KR$NA
		Last Song	KR$NA	Bradley Dhawan
2021	Still Here	Still Here (Intro)	KR$NA	Safin
		What's My Name	KR$NA	Raftaar
		Roll Up	KR$NA ft. Badshah	Josh Petruccio
		Villain	KR$NA ft. Karma & Ikka	Depo
		Dream	KR$NA	Deep Kalsi
		Fall Off (Interlude)	KR$NA	Kapellmaister
		Saza-E-Maut	KR$NA ft. Raftaar	Rill Beats & Young Grape Beatz
		Na Hai Time	KR$NA	J Caspersen
		Living Legend	KR$NA ft. Rashmeet Kaur	Didker

EPs

Year	EP	Track	Artist(s)	Producer(s)
2023	Time Will Tell	Kaha Tak	KR$NA	Jokhay & Umair
		NGL	KR$NA ft. Talhah Yunus	Umair & Rovalio
		Been A While	KR$NA ft. Talha Anjum	Umair
	FAR FROM OVER	Still Standing	KR$NA	Enigma Beats
		Prarthana[22]	KR$NA ft. Bharg	Bharg, Umair & Deep Kalsi
		Wanna Know	KR$NA	Sylvester
		Hola Amigo	KR$NA ft. Seedhe Maut	Umair
		Some Of Us	KR$NA ft. AR Paisley	JpBeatz
2024	FOR THE DAY ONE$	Shut Up	KR$NA prod. Subspace	Subspace
		What's Up	KR$NA ft. Lisa Mishra	Riz Shain
		Stay Away	KR$NA prod. Bharg	Bharg
		Role Model	KR$NA ft. Faris Shafi, Karma	Deep Kalsi

Singles and collaborations

Year	Track	Artist(s)	Producer(s)	Note(s)
2006	I Want it All	Young Prozpekt		Samples Queen's I Want It All
	Bitch Please (Remix)	Big T ft.Young Prozpekt		Remix of Eminem's Bitch Please II
2007	I Go Go	Young Prozpekt ft. Soldier Hard
2008	F$ck Wit Us	Pacifik ft. Young Prozpekt		From the album F1J1 Survivor by Pacifik
2009	Fancy Gill	Rabbit Sack C & Young Prozpekt	Rabbit Sack C	From the album BackLog by Rabbit Sack C
	Thats me / Shahzaade	Rabbit Sack C, Bluntz, Young Prozpekt & NYCE
	Yellow Taxi	Rabbit Sack C, Young Prozpekt, Big T & Slim Neil
	Naam Toh Pukar / Get Out Of My Way	Prozpekt
2010	Kaisa Mera Desh	Prozpekt	DJ Corbett
	Khatarnaak	Prozpekt ft. Sonny Brown
2011	Imran Khan – Amped Up (Amplifier Remix)	Rabbit Sack C & Young Prozpekt	Rabbit Sack C
	DISCONNECT	Su.1, Prozpekt & Ashish D'souza	Su.1
	Poocho na Yaar Kya Hua – Remix	Rabbit Sack C & Young Prozpekt
	Lokpal Freestyle	Prozpekt
2012	Peeche Na Dekh	Rabbit Sack C ft. Prozpekt	Rabbit Sack C
	Put Ur Lighters Up	Rabbit Sack C ft. Su.1 & Prozpekt	Rabbit Sack C
	Vijay	Prozpekt	DJ Corbett	From the album BackLog by Rabbit Sack C
2013	Whatchya Know About It	Rabbit Sack C & Young Prozpekt	Rabbit Sack C
	Cold Blooded	Prozpekt ft. Twisted Insane	MetroGnome
	How You Like Me Now	Lost Stories ft. Krishna Kaul	Lost Stories	From the album Music for the # Generation by Lost Stories
2014	Bang Bang	Rabbit Sack C, Young Prozpekt, Agrim Joshi & Nishit Bhatia	Rabbit Sack C	From the album BackLog by Rabbit Sack C
2015	Keep It Real	KR$NA
	NO HASHTAG	KR$NA & Su Real	Su Real	Released via SoundCloud
	I'm Back	KR$NA & FuzzCulture	FuzzCulture
	Patli Gali	Pankaj Awasthi & KR$NA		From the movie Yahaan Sabki Lagi Hai
	Beyond The Matrix	Rabbit Sack C ft. KR$NA	Rabbit Sack C
	Shots Fired	MojoJojo & Sound Avtar ft. KR$NA	MojoJojo	From the album Shots Fired by MojoJojo
	Jungle Raj	MojoJojo ft. KR$NA
2016	Vyanjan	KR$NA	Insane
	Desi Wrap Up 2016	KR$NA	Insane
2017	Meri Baari	Kidshot ft. KR$NA	Rekoil Chafe
	Tere Buss Ki Na Hai	KR$NA	KR$NA
	Dekh Kaun Aaya Wapas	KR$NA	Breathtaking & LAD
	Woofer	Deep Kalsi & KR$NA	Deep Kalsi
	Mumbai Se Delhi Tak	Emiway Bantai & KR$NA	Insane
	I’m Ready	KR$NA ft. Raftaar	Breathtaking & LAD
	Alag	KR$NA	J.P
2018	Hip Hop Holi (MTV)	KR$NA, Deep KalsI & Harjas	Deep Kalsi	Released via Facebook
	Aakhir Tumhe Aana Hai	Suryaveer ft. KR$NA	Boney John
	Delhi Times	KR$NA	Dhruv Ganekar	From Flirt with Your City Rap by Times Network
	Muqabla	KR$NA	KR$NA
2019	Voice of the Streets Ep.04 – KR$NA	KR$NA	Siddhant Shirodkar	Voice of the Streets is a capsule series from the movie Gully Boy
	Solo	KR$NA	Certi
	Warm Up	Deep Kalsi, Karma, Harjas, Kidshot, KR$NA & Raftaar	Deep Kalsi	Kidshot later replaced by Raftaar in a live version
	Janta Kyun	KR$NA	Deep Kalsi
	No No	Deep Kalsi, Harjas & KR$NA	Deep Kalsi
	Farak Nahi Padta	KR$NA	JCaspersen
	Aadat	KR$NA	JCaspersen
	Freeverse Feast (Langar)	KR$NA	Raftaar	A response to Emiway Bantai's Freeverse Feast (Daawat)
	Seedha Makeover	KR$NA	Call Me G	Diss track aimed Emiway Bantai, after his track Seedha Takeover
	Dum Hai	KR$NA	Dannyetracks
2020	Untitled	KR$NA	Dansonn
	Maharani	KR$NA	Dansonn	Diss track aimed at Delhi-based rapper, Muhfaad
	Sher	Deep Kalsi ft. KR$NA, Harjas & Karma	Xplicit
	Makasam	KR$NA	Deep Kalsi & KR$NA	Second diss track aimed at Muhfaad. The most brutal diss track in Desi hip hop.
	Quarantine	Young Stunners & KR$NA	Jokhay
	Damn	Raftaar ft. KR$NA	Raftaar	From the album Mr. Nair by Raftaar
	Down	Raftaar ft. KR$NA
	Tokyo Drift Freestyle	KR$NA	The Neptunes	Uses Tokyo Drift by Teriyaki Boyz Released via Instagram
	Window Shopper Freestyle	KR$NA	C. Styles & Sire	Uses Window Shopper by 50 Cent
	Bag	DIVINE ft. KR$NA	NDS, Stunnah Beatz & Progression Music	From the compilation SHUTDOWN by Mass Appeal, Gully Gang and DIVINE
	Hundred	Raftaar & KR$NA ft. Karan Wahi	Deep Kalsi	From the Hotstar Specials show Hundred
	Woofer 2	Deep Kalsi ft. KR$NA	Deep Kalsi
	Gallan	Deep Kalsi, Harjas, Fateh, KR$NA & Karma	Deep Kalsi	From the EP No Days Off by Deep Kalsi
	No Losses	KR$NA	Roclegion & Danny E.B
	Say My Name (Hindi Version)	KR$NA	Call Me G
	Say My Name (English Version)	KR$NA	Call Me G
	Saath Ya Khilaf	KR$NA & Raftaar	Raftaar
	The Key – Freestyle	KR$NA	Deep Kalsi
	Baap Se	Fotty Seven ft. KR$NA	Frisk	From the EP Asli Independent by Fotty Seven
	Bohot Sahi	J Trix, SubSpace & KR$NA	SubSpace	From the EP Bohot Sahi by J Trix & SubSpace
2021	Crossroads	Hi-Rez ft. Royce da 5'9" & KR$NA	Ryan Summer
	Khauf Hai	KR$NA	Haji Springer	Collaboration with Realme India
	Playground	Hi-Rez ft. KR$NA & KXNG Crooked	Ryan Summer
	Zaruri Nahi	Karma ft. KR$NA	Deep Kalsi	From the album Made You Proud by Karma
	Taazi Saans, Taazi Soch	KR$NA	SubSpace	Collaboration with Center Fresh and MTV India
	OG	KR$NA	Mandalaz
	No Cap	KR$NA	Enigma
	Overdrive	Hi-Rez ft. KR$NA, Tech N9ne, A-F-R-O, Joell Ortiz, Twista & Bizzy Bone	Ryan Summer
2022	Ykwim	Karan Aujla & KR$NA ft. Mehar Vaani	Yeah Proof
	Blowing Up	KR$NA	Flexus
	HIGH	Deep Kalsi ft. KR$NA	Deep Kalsi	From the EP WINNERSCIRCLE by Deep Kalsi
	ON	Raja Kumari ft. KR$NA	Nacho Larraza & Karan Pandav	From the EP HBIC by Raja Kumari
	Lil Bunty	KR$NA	Flamboy	Diss track aimed at Emiway Bantai, after his track Chusamba
	Batman	Aghor ft. KR$NA	AShock
	Machayenge 4	KR$NA	Pendo46	Diss track aimed at Emiway Bantai, after his track KR L$DA SIGN
	Forever	Brodha V ft. KR$NA	Tone Jonez
	I Guess	KR$NA	Kabu Beats
	Tony Montana	Karma & KR$NA	Josh Petruccio
	No China	Raftaar ft. KR$NA	Raftaar & Frisk	From the EP HARD DRIVE Vol.1 by Raftaar
	10 Pe 10	KR$NA ft. French The Kid	ditto & leiJA
2023	Touch Base	Talha Anjum ft. Talhah Yunus & KR$NA	Umair	From the album Open Letter by Talha Anjum
	Khatta Flow	Seedhe Maut ft KR$NA	Calm	From the mixtape Lunch Break by Seedhe Maut
	Zero After Zero	KR$NA & Talay Riley	Kshmr	From the album KARAM by Kshmr
	Paisa On My Mind	Deep Kalsi & KR$NA	Deep Kalsi	From the album Tunnel Vision by Deep Kalsi
	Woh Raat	Raftaar & KR$NA	lejJA
	No Mercy	Deep Kalsi, Raftaar, KR$NA & Karma	Deep Kalsi	From the album Tunnel Vision by Deep Kalsi
2024	Joota Japani	KR$NA & Mukesh	Umair	Samples the iconic Bollywood song Mera Joota Hai Japani, from Shree 420 by Mukesh
	Hola At Your Boy	Badshah ft. KR$NA & Prajina	Hiten	From the album Ek Tha Raja by Badshah
	Refunds	Rap Demon & KR$NA	Umair	From the album Rockstar without a Guitar by Umair

References

1. Sridharan, Apuurva (16 July 2014). "Krsna: Rap is about the situation you". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 August 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
2. Rodricks, Allan Moses (5 June 2014). "No Plan B for this rapper". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
3. Maheshwari, Aman (18 April 2023). "KR$NA And The Rise Of Indian Hip-Hop". Youth Incorporated Magazine. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
4. "The 4th episode of Voice of the Streets features rapper Krishna Kaul". Mid-day. 5 February 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
5. Understanding Rap ft. Kr$na, RAFTAAR, Rohan Cariappa, retrieved 19 March 2021
6. Joshi, Sakshi (20 May 2022). "How a Rapper named KR$NA changed the whole Rap scene in India". Medium. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
7. Solani, Dhvani (6 October 2010). "Desi rapper slamming CWG is a hit". Mid-Day. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
8. Anand, Kunal (26 November 2012). "'Yeh Kaisa Mera Desh: – Young Prozpekt's Rant against the Commonwealth Games". Men's XP. Archived from the original on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
9. Marwaha, Ekta (19 August 2013). "Hip hop hustle". India Today. Archived from the original on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
10. Bedi, Shibani (23 July 2013). "Young Prozpekt playing for change". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 7 August 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
11. "Contrabands signs on indie artist, rapper and hip-hop musician – KRSNA". Retrieved 26 December 2017.
12. "I live and breathe rap: Indian Rapper Krsna". Retrieved 26 December 2017.
13. "Krsna's 'Sellout' title track video released". Business Standard India. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
14. Ferreira, Verus (29 October 2014). "Musicunplugged.in : news". www.musicunplugged.in. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
15. Kaul, Krishna (18 November 2016). "How I made a rap song using the entire Hindi alphabet". www.dailyo.in. Archived from the original on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
16. Ray, Badsha (24 November 2016). "Rap Scene Today is Bigger, Less Friendly: KRSNA of 'Vyanjan' Fame". The Quint. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
17. Purkayastha, Pallabi Dey (9 September 2020). "Rapper KR$NA says IPL 2020 anthem is plagiarised from his 2017 track 'Dekh Kaun Aaya Waapas'". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 5 June 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
18. "IPL 2020 anthem faces plagiarism charges, composer dismisses allegations". Business Standard India. Press Trust of India. 11 September 2020. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
19. "Rappers KR$NA, Hi-Rez collaborate with hip hop legend Royce Da 5'9". The Siasat Daily. 2 January 2021. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
20. "New Music: Hi-Rez, KRSNA & KXNG Crooked – Playground". HipHop24x7. 2 July 2021. Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
21. "Radio City Freedom Awards (RCFA) 7 Winners". Radio City Freedom Awards. Archived from the original on 10 May 2023. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
22. KR$NA - Prarthana | Prod. Bharg | Far From Over EP, retrieved 31 August 2023

External links

• KRSNA at IMDb
• KRSNA at YouTube