“I think Dum Dum Project came along at a time when there really was no S. Asian Rap music to speak of, and very few Hip Hop experiments. When I started DDP the whole scene was immersed in Drum n Bass and based in the UK. In NY there was Basement Bhangra, which also played a lot of the UK stuff as well. We started a weekly party called Air India that was very focused on funky Indian breaks – from old Bollywood records to Sitar Freak beat stuff to beats that I was making in my bedroom on the Lower East Side. That was the birth of DDP. Then I found Shanti and he was the ONLY S. Asian MC in New York at that time in the late 90’s. So when our albums started making their way across the pond into Rough Trade, Honest John’s and some other specialist shops in London, we had a fresh sound to the UK Desi music heads. When we toured with Shanti on vocals, a girl (Renu Hussain) on tablas and Jason Goodrow on sitar, there was no other act like us anywhere in the world – how could there be?

Haha…

A few years later we made Punjabi Five-0 as a piss take because suddenly Bhangra was big in style on the back of a four year old record by Panjabi MC, which we thought was funny. Also a lot of people that used to diss Bhangra were suddenly playing it, which was ironic. Being from NY we were always allowed to get away with whatever we wanted over there, because we weren’t really part of any cliques – but kinda down with all of them. I think DDP helped make S. Asian Hip Hop credible, because Shanti was a legitimate MC with underground US street cred and we were making original beats, while most of the Bhangra scene was just copying US radio Hip Hop. Big ups to Bobby Friction and Nihal who recognized that on BBC Radio 1.”

- Sean Dinsmore aka DJ Cavo

“DDP has had a significant impact on contemporary Asian music. When i first got involved with DDP it was hard to name any South Asian American acts making an impact in the UK. It was very much a home grown market of Bhangra, Bollywood remixes and what was then called ‘The Asian underground scene’. The sound that DDP created was very different to what had come before it here in the UK. I think to many people the strong New York influence really did change the game in many ways. Our unique combination of backgrounds and influences has had much to do with this. Shanti who comes from very much a New York hip hop background, Sean is heavily influenced by world beats and I love classical and folk styles. I guess it is this eclectic combination that has come to form our sound. I also believe that it isn’t enough for any band or collective to merely have diverse influences to carve out their own genre and this is where DDP has been so special. Despite our different musical standpoints what brings us together is our respect and value for good songwriting. there is a cohesive and very clear idea of what we want each song to achieve. This combination of diversity and unified focus has given DDP a very interesting musical window.”

- Niraj Chag