KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian hip-hop star Yogi B won an award for being an inspiration for rap music in Chennai, India recently.
The 44-year-old rapper, whose real name is Yogeswaran Veerasingam, shared this news with his fans and followers on Facebook recently for the accolade he received at the Behindwoods Gold Mic Music Awards ceremony.
Yogi who is also popular in India, uploaded a photo of him holding his trophy with a caption that reads: “Nandri Behindwoods for this honour. Immensely grateful to have won the Gold Mic Award Icon of Inspiration for Rap Music.”
“I dedicate this award to my global Tamil hip-hop family and my music fans worldwide," he added.
The awards ceremony, organised by Behindwoods.com, India's leading digital media organisation, took place at the Kalaivanar Arangam auditorium last Sunday.
Yogi founded the band Poetic Ammunition (or PMO) in 1990, with his school friend Anand in 1990, and when the latter left the duo, it evolved into Poetic Ammo, with Yogi joined by Chandrakumar Balakrishnan (a.k.a. Land Slyde), Nicholas Ong (Point Blanc), and Sashi Kumar Balakrishnan (C. Loco).
In 2008, Yogi collaborated with the duo Natchatra — rappers Dr Burn and Emcee Jesz — on the album Vallavan. It brought Tamil hip-hop to an international audience, and soon fame, in Kollywood.
He has also performed alongside legend SP Balasubramaniam, rapped and appeared in a video clip with Vijay, and even rapped for an AR Rahman-composed number in a movie starring Indian superstar Rajnikanth.