Say rap, and one wouldn’t expect an orthodox Brahmin boy rapping to success. At least so far. Now, Hyderabad has its very own WazirXNFT presence, and his song Hyderabad Zindabad has become an anthem of sorts for the city. The 29-year-old Varun Rao Mandalika’s journey started when he first wrote his rap song following his father’s death. The rap number titled Safar was his first entry point. However, Varun says his mother was least confident about him making it in the rap scene.

As for Varun, who happens to be a data scientist and analytics executive in a US-based company, rap came naturally. He says one need not let go of a traditional job to pursue rap. In fact, has been featured in the world’s first NFT documentary directed by Ratee Apana, which was played at the Indian Film Festival in Cincinnati. Varun can rap in various languages such as Telugu, Hindi, English, Tamil, Marathi, Kannada, and Gujarati and is a verified artiste on the WazirX platform.

However, Varun’s philosophy is rather unique. He says rap songs need not be dark and be about issues like drugs, parties, girls, revenge, or alcohol. So, Varun has chosen to sing about the beauty of different states and sing about social issues like job crunch, middle-class lifestyle.

Next, Varun is working on a romantic rap track in Telugu, which is shooting right now. Being in the industry for three-four years, Varun says most rap artists are unable to find a balance these days as they just pretend to be cool. But he says there is more to rap than cursing and that there is no shortcut to success.

Hyderabad – bahut ne bola tere baare mein, is baar dekhle, such ayega na samne. Mama, Irani chai la re do 2 garam, bolna hai logon ko apne me kitna hai re dum... these are the lyrics of Varun’s popular song Hyderabad Zindagi. His YouTube channel is called Hyderabadi Chora and has 36,950 views, and his songs are available on Spotify and Amazon Music.