When they came together for the first time in 2016 for their collaborative EP Katal Kalaa, Swadesi got it's socially relevant lyrics and Bandish Projekt aka Mayur Narvekar brought his Indian classical roots and electronic beats to make sonic magic. Three years later, they are back with the six-track Khulle Naagde, their second project that is more of a follow-up. Talk about how they get their div­erse genres to complement each ot­her, and Narvekar ex­plains that their music is a product of the different cultures they hail from. "100 RBH aka Saurabh Abhyankar brings his hardcore Amravati roots, MC Mawali aka Aklesh Sutar and MC Tod Fod aka Dharmesh Parmar bring the Mumbai flavour, Maharya aka Yash M Mahida gets his Bengali vibe and I contribute with my Gujarati bit," he says. This also explains why they rap in regional languages.

And because the multi-lingual aspect of their lyrics is a known and organic aspect of the hip-hop crew, it came as a surprise when the first gig of their tour in Bengaluru this past weekend was interrupted by the venue when a few members of the crowd protested the Malayalam songs that Kerala-based Street Academics were playing. "The venue was aware the band would perform in Malayalam when they booked them. The ironic part is that the people who had a pr­oblem with the so­ngs, asked the band to sing in Kannada or En­glish. We got on stage after things calmed down and perfor­m­ed in Marathi and Gujar­ati, and no one had any issue. This is the first time I've seen something like this," says the artiste who has been performing since 1997. "It was a sad situation but that's our culture now — getting offended by everything," he adds.