Smriti Bishwakarma: Turning a hobby into a career

Smriti Bishwakarma, famously known as ‘Dmriti’, is a 22-year-old rapper from Jhapa, Koshi Province, who got well recognized in the Nepali music industry in a short period of time. Her journey began at the age of 16, right after completing her 10th grade. Rapping, for her, started as a hobby. In fact, she had never thought of becoming a rapper. But six years down the line, she is now fully focused on making a career out of it. Born in Kathmandu, Bishwakarma moved to Jhapa at the age of eight. Although there were a lot of changes she had to adjust to, one thing that always remained consistent, she says, was her family’s love for music. “No one from my family was a professional singer, but they loved singing now and then,” she says. Her childhood was mostly influenced by Bollywood music. And singing for her was a way of spending some quality time with herself. “I mostly got to be invovled in music during the three month break I had after I was done with school,” she says. She wrote her own lyrics and tried to incorporate it in a rap. In the process, she recorded one of her songs on her phone and posted it online. “That’s when my life took a different turn. The post got shared by Uniq Poet, of the best rappers we have,” she adds, “And that’s the reason why I continued doing what I did.” But she hadn’t yet decided to take up music as her career. Most families in Nepal prioritize education. Hers was the same. “They weren’t wrong either. I needed a degree because being an artist comes with a lot of uncertainties,” she says. She joined Nepal Academy of Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM) to pursue a Bachelor’s degree, while pursuing music on the side. The sad thing about that arrangement was that she had no time to invest in music. “I felt like I was starting to lose myself,” she says. So she decided to drop out. But her journey in the Nepal music industry had yet not begun. She got into the industry only after winning the rap battle organized by Break Station, a hip-hop community in Nepal, at the age of 20. “At first, my time within the industry was quite overwhelming. I didn’t know what I was doing and everything was happening so fast,” says Bishwakarma, “But I was having fun too.” She got to mingle with several like-minded individuals which, she says, was quite helpful for her to grow as an artist. She used to record songs in a studio before she came to Kathmandu too, but what she didn’t have were people who understood her work the same way she did. “Having so many people on the same page as me was the best thing I got to experience once I was officially a part of the hip-hop industry,” she says. She thoroughly enjoys her profession and the process of creating. But the best part, she says, is when she listens to the song she made for the first time. “It’s the most satisfying feeling,” she says. But sustaining within the industry, she says, is another challenge. The major problem is making a stable income. “Everyone is doing their best, but we still have a lot to learn in terms of properly distributing albums. Right now, we are solely dependent on live shows to make money,” says Bishwakarma. Secondly, she says that the hip-hop industry is quite male dominated, and some of them are reluctant to acknowledge female rappers. “Even when I won the rap battle, my opponent told me he wanted me to win since I was a girl. It seemed like he was trying to say that he let me win and I didn’t earn it,” she says. She further adds that most people  ask her male colleague if they helped her write the lyrics for her songs. “They don’t want to believe that I wrote it,” she says. Also, she sometimes finds working professionally as a rapper to be quite overwhelming. “Not that I don’t like my work. But everyone needs a break,” she says, adding that is why she likes to go back to Jhapa time and again to stay with her family as well as be by herself. Right now, Bishwakarma is working on an Extended Play (EP) which will come out soon this year. But she is in no hurry. “I want to be patient and create something that I’m proud of,” she says, and it’s the same when it comes to building her career too. She says that she wants to give herself enough time to grow and improve. As far as the future is concerned, Bishwakarma says she doesn’t like to plan ahead.  “All I can do is work hard and see where it takes me,” she says.