From being asked to do some work in Haryana to singing chartbusters like Ghani Sayani and Laado in the studio, this seemingly simple journey was one of soul discovery for Abhishek Bensalah or MC Squire. “I was a science student, there is an equation e=mc squared. That’s how I came up with my stage name,” he shared.
Climbing the ladder of popularity by singing for films like Selfie (2023), the rapper-singer says earlier he thought rap was only about girls, cars and alcohol, which is what he heard.
“Earlier I thought so. I am a desi man, what did I know about rap? Whatever I heard, I took it as rap. I would listen to Mafia Mundeer. But then a song by Badshah Bhai came – Baatcheet. Then I was surprised and thought ‘Achha yeh bhi rap hota hai?’ Then I realized rap is just a way of putting your POV across,” he says.
This 24-year-old came to fame when he won a music reality show Hustle 2.0 in 2021. He started the show thinking that he would be able to get some shows and earn some money for respect. “I come from an affluent family, so it was never about money. I never knew I wanted to be a rapper. We kids used to jokingly convert Bollywood songs into bhajans, then I heard my first English song Mockingbird when I was in 11th class. I memorized it. Then I started writing poetry, created a YouTube channel, used free beats and made my own raps. I got 2500 views on it and I was like, ‘This is great!’,” the rapper told us, who recently came out with his song Mat Maari.
Growing up in a joint family, his other siblings—six brothers and seven sisters—got jobs while he could not manage even one. “I took admission in civil engineering in a private college without knowing what it was about. I thought it must be something about civil or criminal cases. Although I knew in my mind that I wanted to be a star somehow. There would be fights at home every day and I would give logical answers. And if you do, the housemates say you’re arguing,” laughs MC Squire.
