Eva B

Some Lesser Known Facts About Eva B

• Eva B is a Pakistani rapper. She struck stardom with the Pakistani music TV series ‘Coke Studio’ (2022) in which she rapped for the song ‘Kana Yaari’ alongside Kaifi Khalil (the lead vocalist) and Wahab Ali Bugti (Tambura player).

• She spent her childhood in the notorious neighbourhood of Lyari, which is known for its violence, gangsters, and drugs.

  

• Eva B’s parents separated during her early childhood, and she was often bullied for it at school. In an interview, while talking about her school days, she said,
  

  My parents are separated. We would have to hear taunts about that. I have been expelled from two schools, in Class 5 and Class 9, for fighting with girls who made mean comments about my family.”

• Once, during her teens, she went to pay a household bill. When she put her hand across the counter to hand over the cash, the man at the other end grabbed it. Although she screamed seeking to call attention to the man’s audacity, no one spoke up for her. Such incidents, where she witnessed patriarchy and discrimination against women build up a rage inside her, which she converted into words and started writing raps.

• Growing up in Karachi’s urban-slum area of Lyari, she was introduced to rap music via a folder on her second-hand computer, which consisted of songs by the popular American rapper Eminem. In an interview, she talked about her first encounter with Eminem’s songs and said,
  

  I was blown away and fascinated by what I had heard. I went on to ask my friends what this music is really about. I never thought that music could be like this”

• Intrigued by Eminem’s songs, she dreamt of becoming a rapper one day, but the conservative society of Lyari became a barrier in her musical journey. In an interview, she said,
  

  Through my rap I wanted people to hear my story and the story of women in Lyari. I come from a place where only a few girls got to work and my society doesn’t consider a girl who raps to be respectable – I wanted to challenge that.”

• In 2014, Eva B began her career as a rapper after learning the basics of the musical genre through the internet.

• On the contrary to her supportive mother, her brother opposed her decision to become a rapper claiming that rapping wasn’t a womanly profession.

• Determined to fulfil her dream, she started a YouTube channel, but every time she posted a video featuring her freestyle raps, her brother’s friends would tease him for having a rapper sister. This resulted in endless quarrels at her home. As a consequence of her brother’s disapproval, in 2015, she quit her profession for a while.

• Despite discontinuing her career as a rapper, the zeal to create music and write about societal restrictions on girls in her did not fade. One of her raps includes the lines,
  

  Socha rap chhod dun, kalam tod dun, par kalam mein tou meri khoon ki siyahi hai (I thought I would give up rap, snap my pen, but the pen has the ink of my blood).”

• She made a come back to the rap circuit through the Pakistani music streaming platform ‘Patari’ in 2019. Patari had approached Eva B to write and perform a song for it.

• Lack of music and audio equipment led Eva B to record her first official song titled “Gully Girls” (2019) using her mobile phone. Featured on Patari and produced by the record producers Sunny Khan Durrani and Zari Faisal (CEO of Patari), the song was immensely appreciated by the audience.

• Instead of her real name, the rapper used the pseudonym Eva B to release her song. Using a pseudonym gave her a sense of security from her orthodox conservative brother who wanted her to quit rapping. Thereafter, she started lying to her family to go to rehearsals. In an interview, she said,
  

  I  would have to lie to my brother if I had to go for recordings. I would say I was going to university…I lied back home about having to attend a friend’s wedding. I would ask everyone to schedule me before nightfall so I could make an excuse at home more easily.”

• “Gully Girls” was inspired by the 2019 Indian musical drama film ‘Gully Boy.’ In the song, Eva B questioned the gender and social norms that restricted her dream to pursue the male-dominant profession of rapping. She performed alongside the Pakistani singer Momina Mustehsan at the Lux Style Awards (2019). At the award show, Momina Mustehsan’s song “Ruke na wo ruke” was collaborated with Eva B’s rap from “Gully Girls.”

  

• Other songs released under her independent label include Quarantine Baji (2020) and Turond’e Gap (2021).
  

• Other popular songs by Eva B include ‘Qalam Bolega’ (2020) and ‘Tera Jism Meri Marzi’ (2021).

  

• The rapper is signed with the Pakistani Record label ‘No Limit Muzik’ (as of 2022), which released her songs Mukhtasir Baatein (2021), Bayani Rog (2022), and Khushnawees (2022).

  

• She collaborated as a rapper with the Pakistani rapper-singer Mudassar Qureshi for his songs Kehndi (2020) and Siyasi (2021).

• In 2022, she rose to prominence with the 14th season of ‘Coke Studio’  in which Eva B collaborated as a rapper with the Pakistani vocalist Kaifi Khalil and Tambura player Wahab Ali Bugti for the song ‘Kana Yaari.’

• Although after watching Eva B’s popularity her brother came on board with the profession, he put forward the condition of wearing a hijab and continue to rap anonymously. A type of veil or head covering, a hijab is worn by some Muslim women in public to retain their modesty.

• Eventually, the veil became a part of her personality and she decided to continue wearing it. In an interview, she said,
  

  I don’t feel comfortable or can’t perform well if I don’t wear it. The veil just covers my face; it cannot cover or take away the talent I have.”

• In an interview, she revealed that her pseudonym ‘Eva’ is derived from the ‘Eve.’ Just like ‘Eve’ was the first woman on Earth, Eva B is the first female rapper from Pakistan. ^[7]The Guardian On the other hand, the letter “B” represents her Baloch roots.

• The rapper was slammed for wearing a hijab for doing ‘haram’ (forbidden in Islam). She garnered criticism from the conservative population of Pakistan for wearing a garment linked to religion to rap. ^[8]The Indian Express While talking about the same in an interview, she said,
  

  But it is not like I put on the hijab only to sing. I have been wearing it since Class 7. For Balochi people, hijab and burqa are cultural things too. Little girls wait for the day they can grow up to wear one. Why should I have to remove a part of my identity to pursue my passion?”

  She also said,

  I may reveal my identity someday, but I will not remove the hijab. Wearing it comes naturally to me, it is a part of who I am.”

   

• Her pet cat’s name is Simba.