During a morning of housekeeping a few years back, Yashraj’s mother came across a box of his father’s old clothes and showed them to the Mumbai rapper. But these weren’t just any old shirts. “They were all weirdly printed: cheetah prints and floral prints,” the artist tells Apple Music. “I had only ever seen my father in a ganji [vest] or in striped shirts at home, so I was like: ‘Who is this person?’” Yashraj—aka Yashraj Mehra—went to his father to ask him about the unique shirts. This led to his dad opening up about stories from his youth, including decades-old tales of his frequent visits to discotheques with friends in what was then Bombay, now Mumbai. These stories stuck with Yashraj; the idea of a buzzing disco culture in old Bombay ignited a creative fire in the rapper’s mind, swiftly leading to the narrative basis of MERI JAAN PEHLE NAACH. Across seven tracks, Yashraj steps into those discotheques of yore, conjuring up a sound that wouldn’t be amiss in old Bombay—if it weren’t for the modern 2020s hip-hop vibe and ultra-clean production that accompany the record. Disco, funk, electronic music and rap fuse seamlessly throughout as we follow the journey of an adrenaline-fuelled protagonist who eventually crashes after a euphoric session of partying. MERI JAAN PEHLE NAACH is hardly a sudden shift in sound for Yashraj, with his 2022 breakout dance-floor hit “Dhundhala”—crafted alongside Dropped Out and Talwiinder—and his 2024 single “Toast” featuring brass-backed funky elements. But it is certainly a new foray into that classic disco vibe. “[‘Dhundhala’] introduced me to a new way that people could groove at my shows,” he says. “It was really interesting, looking at people just letting go and dancing.” Yashraj worked with several producers—and even took over the production on one track himself—to create MERI JAAN PEHLE NAACH, which pays homage to disco in all its forms, from the music his father danced to right up to his own modern-day sounds. Of course, hip-hop glues it all together across each number. Here, Yashraj takes Apple Music through the upbeat album, track by track. “GABBAR” “I think the idea with the intro and the words ‘Ek saans andar, ek saans bahar’ [‘Breathe in, breathe out’] was just about getting new lungs, like a new life. This is like a very acid bass—an electronic yet retro disco aesthetic. A random tiny detail we used to nerd out on while working on the track was how the first half has a very ’70s sound up to the acid bass and, after that, it’s a more modern, lush disco sound, like the one from ’75 onwards. “I feel like this track has no particular hook in it. It has key elements that you keep coming back to, just to feel that rush again. I’m really happy that the project begins with this sort of energy. The narrative begins here with the injection of adrenaline—when there’s some new life given to you, you’re just ecstatic about it.” “Studio - 29” “I was just researching about Studio 29. It was the longest-running active disco club in Bombay and that’s where Bollywood partied, where all of these celebrities used to go. The stories that surrounded the place were as dark as they were exciting. So I wanted to capture the duality of that place in a way, where I was almost stuck there, partying, and I needed to ground myself back into having a good time. That’s when the second beat switch happens, and you realise the intent of why you are in this world and what you’re supposed to do with it.” “Daae / Baae” “In a very beautiful way, this was the most easily digestible song out of everything. I found a lot of security in the disco-pop sound. I didn’t want to do more conventional-sounding disco than this because I was very confident about the composition we achieved here. This song comes after grounding yourself and finding confidence in being in this place, very securely. “The first verse is [told] from a girl’s perspective. It’s about how she feels like she’s being judged by everybody around her. So then the conversation is about me saying: ‘I’m in your world now. You can blur out everybody else. It’s just you and me in this situation. Don’t look left and right—it’s only us.’ It’s like I’m talking to her and her conscience. I tell her to just let go in this place.” “Theme Music!” “I think ‘Theme Music!’ is a conversation with a girl that happens and then I almost feel like I am grabbing her hand and running with her. You can probably plug this song into your earphones the moment you get up and your day’s tone is set. We were just talking about producing a beat and we were like: ‘This song should be the kind that people play and it becomes their theme music.’ I would listen to this, get up and feel like I could take over the world right now.” “Kaayda / Faayda” “[Bengaluru artist] bebhumika is a phenomenal singer and I couldn’t think of anybody else for this song because she’s super versatile. With Akash [Shravan, producer], whenever I sit down with him, I think it just brings such a new dynamic to the entire project. He really cements the pace on this. It has a very R.D. Burman sample-like feeling. When we heard it, we thought it was perfect and we can finally talk our shit. “Talking about song structures, I think this is one of my favourites. It is both usual and unusual in its structure. There are these beautiful segments where bebhumika is harmonising with the saxophone. Then there’s the hook section that comes in. There is an entire drum section towards the end that almost feels like a crowd is there. I know DIVINE used the term ‘Disco Rap’ with his song [of that title] and, no disrespect to anybody, but this album feels like it’s very truthful to that term in its truest form. I just probably wanted to live up to that in the most honest sense.” “Custom Fabric” “On ‘Custom Fabric’, I had reached a point where I wanted to make 10 more ‘Daae / Baae’ or ‘Kaayda / Faayda’ type songs, where I was referring to the previous tracks just to make something new. ‘Custom Fabric’ is almost like a session of me trying to jam out ideas on an MPC [music workstation] or an analog drum machine, where I’m just looping these elements and seeing if this works or not. I was making fully fledged demos and selecting the ones which work in the best way possible. “It’s just literally me giving you a piece of embroidery and saying: ‘Hey, I’ve stitched this project together. I stitched these two ideas together [of disco and hip-hop] and this is what it is.’ In the narrative, after ‘Daae / Baae’ happens, there’s the adrenaline rush and, when you come down, you start talking sense. Then, ‘Kaayda / Faayda’ is where you start talking about the real shit you’ve been through and the insecurity kicks in. On ‘Custom Fabric’, you start doubting yourself.” “F.G.H.M” “I think we wanted to reach a point where something gives you closure but it also wants to make you feel like you’re still stuck in the loop. When you go through this entire journey of getting something new, you get excited. You get high off of its power, then you calm yourself down and you present yourself with confidence. Then you start enjoying the confidence too much. You start sobering yourself up and you get a little unsure about it. Once that insecurity kicks in, you feel like: ‘Damn, I’ve been in this place before.’ “‘F.G.H.M’ stands for ‘Fas Gaya Hu Mei’ and so it’s about getting stuck, not just with your artistry, but also with relationships—with people that you find yourself just repeating yourself with. It’s the end chapter—that’s where everything comes crashing down. This not only concludes the project in a very nice way, but I feel like it also sends you back to ‘GABBAR’ in a way, where you want to listen to this entire thing you’ve just been through once again because it’s a wide range of emotions. That’s the point where the project brings you back into the loop and tells you that you’re stuck in this club called life.”