Only if There is Betrayal He Can Consider Himself as an Artiste~ Stylomannavan

Every time he left the music industry thinking it is for good he came back 10 times better than before. Little did he knew that he will grow to who he is right now. Tamil Hip Hop un-doubtfully is the base to his life and it made him be who he truly is now.


Back then I had two different lives. I had a corrupted life as I was racing illegally with my childhood friends and another life was b-boy where I was involved in hip-hop culture.

I was always afraid that I can't bring pride to my mum. My mum was smiling when she saw my interview in Vizhutugal, that's when I felt like I have achieved something.

I studied electrical engineering and graduated in the year of 2003. Early of 2004, I started working. Dancing is my passion and I didn't want to give up on it though I have started working.

Though I didn't learn break dance professionally, looking at my passion, Jack Chakra Sonic taught me on how to break dance professionally from top to bottom at Wangsa Maju Hip Hop Generation.

Hip Hop has 4 elements b-boying, graffiti writing, DJing, rapping and the unofficial element will be beatboxing. I wanted to conquer it all. I started off as a b-boy and I didn't have any idea on how to rap back then.

My childhood friend Prakash was interested in Hip Hop and he persuaded Rubern and me to collab. Having the privilege of knowing Yogi B back then, we decided to approach him for guidance.

We were clueless when we approached Yogi B. We wanted to rap but we had no base. We don't even have a name for the team. Slowly we grew with Yogi B's guidance.

Karmatic Riderz (KRZ)  happened. Since we are bike riders so we rapped about bikes and we tried to spread a positive message through our rap. We performed a lot as KRZ.

Initially, I was known as U-ONE and then coincidentally I got myself a name which is Stylomannavan while working on a lyric. Since then I am known as Stylomannavan.



Everything was going fine but slowly I started to hate hip-hop. I wasn't even well established but there were too many manipulative games going on in the scene.

I was backstabbed and I slowly got sick of it and left the group. I decided to quit rap world for good. Unfortunately, music is a drug and I got addicted. I had all the three major elements for hip-hop.

In a talent competition, I got second place for beatboxing and won 5 000 which was telecast on television. In that particular period, Dr. Burn approached me for Zurazamharam compilation.

While chilling with Dr. Burn, I met Shevan Raj who is better known as Sheezay and we clicked really well.

I worked on Vaigasi Masam and then I worked on Thunda Clap along with Young Ruff. Right after Zurazamharam, it was a commercial breakthrough.



Switch Lock Up is my childhood friend and he came into the picture when Amigo Sugu offered us an opportunity to do a theme song in a movie name Garuda.

Then, Switch, Sheezay and I worked together where Sheezay and I collaborated and named us as DIWAN and Switch became a founder of it. Switch and DJ T-Bone is a prominent person behind the collab.

As DIWAN we released our first single named Aramban featuring Helen. That song was in THR Raaga's top 10 list for 8 weeks straight.

DIWAN was a huge success because we were in top 5 nomination list of Anugerah Industri Music. We collaborated with Rabbit and started performing in every state.

DIWAN and Psycho Unit was the talk of the town. Soon due to commitments I had to join work so I couldn't commit as much as I did before.

Sheezay preferred to go solo and joined Psycho Unit. Due to my commitments, I started to share my knowledge with my boys instead.

Kavin Thiran a.k.a LilSiriyavan, Rabendrenath a.k.a Bayne, Raj a.k.a Raj Young King, Navinn a.k.a Vinndicator and formed Illaiya Hustlaz.

Jayram a.k.a Wo Shi Jay, Nithiyan a.k.a Nithravidan, and Gomagan a.k.a GMG formed Aathitiyanz and together with Illaiya Hustlaz they formed Flow Hustlaz.



I recognized their talent and formed them together into a group so they reach greater heights. Yogi B taught me a lot but I had no direction to go though I knew how to drive back then.

I didn't want to do the same with  Flow Hustlaz. I gave them a direction on what to do and what not to do. For 4 years straight they did stage performance in colleges and they did a lot of free shows.

My first solo track was KL Kudimagan. MC Sai wanted to do a song with me when I was in a collaboration with DIWAN. After being solo I worked with MC Sai on Sirikki.

Must be one of the first songs that breached Euro Tamil song market. It blasted real high. The second song EY also reached high

Mastermind approached me in 2011 and we planned to do Raising The Bar a rap showcase in Tamil. I named it as TRAP which means Tamil Rhythm and Poetry mainly for the Tamil Hip Hop.

I recruited the crews and made it happen and it was the first Tamil Hip Hop underground gig.

TRAP went viral as we live streamed it to the online audience. It was a surprise to many. A lot of information was shared among us the TRAP.



Mastermind and I went to Denmark to represent TRAP. I met IQON Music, Steve Cliff, Twin Star, Anukshan from JR Media works and most of the Europe Tamil artist.

The connection grew stronger. TRAP came to an end when we had management issues.

That's when I realized that Tamil Hip Hop is like Nokia. It connects people all around the world. When I was in Denmark I was exposed to a number of things.

Tamil culture in Europe is much stronger when you compare it to Malaysia. I was truly impressed when Steve Cliff a music producer did Bharatanatyam Arangetram.

That's when something hit me real hard. In Malaysia, the importance to learn our mother tongue is not strictly implemented like how it is being implemented in other regions like Singapore.

While we are spending millions of ringgits to build a temple but we are not doing the same for Tamil schools?

Well, beautiful temples are a great investment to get the tourist attention but if they invest the same amount of money to build a Tamil school then it is a lost as it doesn't generate any profit.



Though there is no initiative to establish vernacular schools I personally believe that Tamil Hip Hop is one of the reasons to why Tamil is still alive among teenagers here in Malaysia.

Before we started to rap in Tamil we actually took the effort to learn Tamil so we can come up with a good and meaningful lyrics. Some are using Tanglish but yet we are still taking the effort so the Tamil language doesn't extinct slowly.

Since then, I started to create awareness on the importance of our mother tongue.

In 2012 I started my own music record label named Superfly. I was running it alone and Krush KRZ and Aathitiyanz joined me.

Under Superfly 2 songs titled Kadhal Neeyadi by Krush ft. Dr Sakti and me and Unnai Thedi Varuvain by Aathitiyanz ft. Arvind Raj was released.

Now I have launched Superfly Fashion where 3 types of T-shirt with prints I Love Tamil Hip Hop, Work Like Adimai Live Like Mannavan, and kolam themed print was launched.

Then I worked on KL Kudimagan in 2013 and Rakkama Baby in 2014. I sent Rakkama Baby's chorus in a voice note and Princeten Charles finished the song within 3 to 4 hours.

We featured Psychomantra in that song as well. Rakkama Baby went super viral and conquered the Europe market. It was played in Singapore and London's Tamil Radio Station.

In 2015 I worked in Vidai Kodu and in 2016 I didn't release any track as my dad passed away when I was about to release one.

Right now I just recently release #letchumie. The officially lyric video is on Youtube now. It is about money from all around the world and about how I perceive each currency.

#Letchumie was recorded in Sundar Of Seventh Heaven MW's studio and in fact, right now I am working with Sundar to produce Sundar's album.




Life has not been easy for me. I have been through hardship as my mum is a single mother. I was always afraid that I can't bring pride to my mum.

My mum was smiling when she saw my interview in Vizhutugal, that's when I felt like I have achieved something. Tamil Hip Hop is undoubtfully is the base to my life.

Only when you get cheated, backstabbed and struggle you're a real artist. These are the stages that you have to go through in life and when you overcome it you will unlock a new achievement.

Under the lime light, I saw lots of fake people. I just want to be myself. I don't want to be too commercialized.

My top vision is to have Tamil Independent songs to play on MTV internationally. Oppa Gangnam style and Despacito were played on MTV.

It's proven that in music, language is not a barrier. It doesn't necessarily have to be my song. It can be anybody's song. As long as it is in Tamil.

Somebody has to reach the international market like how Joe Flizzow and Sonaone got featured in Fat Joe's hit single "All The Way Up" Asian remix and like how Yuna entered the Billboard.

When it comes to Malaysian Tamil Hip Hop how far have we went?

Most of our artist's ultimate goal is to hit the Kollywood industry. I personally think it is more than that (Athukum Melle).

Last but not least, my mum has taught me that "No matter what people do to you even though it is bad, always do good to them."

~When your dream is big, achieving it is what your dream should be~