Kedar Ramanathan has been a musician since the age of 4, when his aunt taught him to play the piano. But as a college student, his taste has shifted from his classical roots to the world of rap.

INDO, a rapper from New Jersey, has been on the rise in the East Coast after his performance at The Great New York State Fair and the release of his single, “International.” The song recently passed 10,000 spins on SoundCloud.

Ramanathan, who goes by the stage name INDO, played the clarinet and bass clarinet. With a developing ear and constant creative exposure, he began exploring other genres of the musical world.

“I think it is nice having played hymns on piano and having played classical music,” Ramanathan said. “Being musically diverse has helped a lot. It gave me wider capabilities.”

In sixth grade, Ramanathan discovered rap music when Eminem came out with his album, “Recovery.” The sophomore Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries student was taken with the album, listening to it nonstop and learning all the lyrics to every song.

One evening in 2011, at a friend’s house, the friend’s mom overheard Ramanathan rapping Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now.” Impressed with his ability to keep up with the fast-paced and advanced level of music, she told him he should be a rapper.

“It was the first time an adult had told me to go for it,” Ramanathan said. “And I was like, ‘Why not?’”

He began writing a couple of lines here and there, a method he still uses to write songs. The words are kept safe in the “Notes” section of his iPhone. When inspiration strikes, he types the lines in there. From there, he pieces all his little ideas together and turns them into verses.

The first full song he ever wrote was a remix of the song “Beautiful” by Eminem. Ramanathan wrote his own verses to the beat while he was upset over a girl.

The next remix was of 50 Cent’s “I Get Money,” and was Ramanathan first SoundCloud upload. Both have since been taken down by SoundCloud, but “I Get Money” got 721 spins.

In his senior year of high school, Ramanathan wrote a remix to “The Way I Am” by Eminem. It is the fourth most popular song on his SoundCloud clocking in at more than 2,300 spins and exceeding its download limit.

Then he came to Syracuse. After only a few days, he met his now-producers, Jon Rahi and George Schaefer. All three linked up because they produced music in high school.

“Kedar is great to work with in the studio,” Schaefer said. “He is so hard-working and talented.”

Ramanathan’s first project in college was a single called “Ugly.” It was inspired by something one of Ramanathan’s family friends told him his freshman year of high school: “You must have mad game because you mad ugly.”

He couldn’t get the words out of his head.

Ramanathan thought he was ready to release it in mid-September. He wrote “Ugly” with no beat in mind. He downloaded a random beat from the internet and planned to publish his song that way.

After hearing the song, Schaefer and Rahi wouldn’t allow it to be released in that condition. Two weeks later they went back to him with a new beat, five months later, Ramanathan released an improved version of “Ugly.”

Today it has more than 4,000 hits on SoundCloud.

Ramanathan went on a family trip to Egypt not long after. While there, he wrote “International” and filmed the scenes for a music video.

He said one of the most difficult things about producing music independently is getting and retaining fans. It takes a long time to produce the next song and it’s hard to keep people’s interest. Ramanathan said he hopes to put out more music at a much faster pace. He also hopes to do more live performances, but he will settle for a job in production.

“Regardless of what I end up doing, I want to work in the music industry,” he said. “Working closely with artists, helping to create content. The title doesn’t matter to me, as long as I’m making music.”

Published on September 26, 2017 at 11:07 pm