10 Things You Didn't Know About Emiway Bantai
Emiway Bantai is an Indian rapper, songwriter, and music composer. He was born on 13th November 1995. His family has roots in Karnataka. His real name is Bilal Sheikh. He went to Lakshdham High School, Mumbai.
Emiway Bantai made his debut with the English rap song ‘Glint Lock’ which featured another artist, Minta. He came into the limelight with the 2017 song ‘Sadak’ which he sang in collaboration with rapper Raftaar.
In 2018, Emiway Bantai got into a diss battle with Raftaar. This started because Raftaar said in an interview that rappers like Emiway Bantai won’t be able to earn money anytime soon. Then they went back and forth releasing one diss track after the other. It ended with Emiway’s diss track ‘Giraftaar’.
His song ‘Machayenge’ has over 200 million views on YouTube. He has released 3 other versions of the song. ‘Machayenge 4’ is the latest edition, released on 12 July 2022.
Here are 10 things you didn’t know about Emiway Bantai.
1. His stage name ‘Emiway’ is an amalgamation of the names of his two favorite rappers - Eminem and Lil Wayne (Emi + Way).
He takes inspiration from both the rappers. Their styles of writing and singing are visible in Emiway’s songs.
2. Initially, Emiway Bantai rapped in English. His first song, ‘Glint Lock’ was an English rap song.
The song has over 1 million views on YouTube. Another rapper Minta also featured in the song.
3. Emiway Bantai’s first Hindi rap song was ‘Aur Bantai’ released in 2014.
Emiway’s father advised him to rap in Hindi as it would give him a wider audience to sing for. Aur Bantai was a huge success for Emiway. It has over 10 million views on YouTube.
4. Emiway Bantai auditioned at India’s Got Talent where he got a lot of appraisal for the song ‘Aur Bantai’.
Karan Johar praised Emiway for his style of rap. He was very impressed with Emiway.
5. Emiway Bantai did a cameo in the Bollywood movie ‘Gully Boy’ where he played himself.
‘Gully Boy’ is the story of Indian hip-hop artists from the streets. Emiway had a rap battle scene against rapper MC Altaf.
6. Emiway Bantai won the Radio City Freedom Award for his song “Aisa Kuch Shot Nahi Hai”.
Emiway’s song ‘Aisa Kuch Shot Nahi Hai’ has over 18 million views on YouTube. He won the Radio City Freedom Award at Hard Rock Cafe where he used to work earlier.
7. Emiway Bantai won the People’s Choice Award for the ‘Best Hip-Hop Artist’ category. He also won the award for the "Best Indian Act" at the 2019 MTV Europe Music Awards for his song "Freeverse Feast".
Emiway’s song Freeverse Feast has over 30 million views on YouTube. He has gotten recognition for his music and won several awards.
8. Emiway Bantai’s nickname is Sharukh Sheikh.
Emiway’s favorite actor is Shahrukh Khan. That’s why his friends call him Shahrukh Sheikh.
9. Emiway Bantai’s first job was as a helper in the Hard Rock Cafe.
10. Emiway Bantai owns the music studio ‘Bantai Studio’.
Emiway records his songs in the ‘Bantai Studio’. He has been very vocal about being an independent artist and owing his music studio shows his commitment to it.
Emiway Bantai has been getting a lot of attention lately due to his diss battles with other rappers. These days he is in a feud with the rapper KR$NA. And he is being criticized by the public for the inappropriate language used by him in the song ‘Machayenge 4’.