Entertainment
Want rap to grow as a genre: Badshah
Mumbai: The popularity of rap in the country, especially via Bollywood, has given rapper Badshah of “Abhi toh party shuru hui hai” fame a reason to cheer. But he hopes it doesn’t fade away and instead grows as a genre.
Currently riding high on the success of his latest song “DJ waley babu”, Badshah, whose real name is Aditya Singh, told, “I am a bit concerned about my genre. Like EDM (electronic dance music) was a phase, right? Bollywood came to the EDM wagon and then it faded out. Similarly, I think they are picking up on rap. I just don’t want it to fade out. I want rap to grow as a genre.”
The “Get up jawani” crooner says Bollywood has come up with a “whole new genre” of rap music and it should be aptly called pop rap or Bollywood rap.
“Right from its roots in the west, it has always been touted as rebellion music but in India, I think we have created a whole new genre. I won’t call it rap. I would call it ‘pop rap’ or ‘Bollywood rap’, which is about parties,” the rapper said.
And he has cashed in on it fully by delivering multiple hit songs like “Abhi toh party shuru hui hai”, “Proper Patola” and “Saturday Saturday”. Badshah makes no bones in admitting that it is because of Bollywood, he has got the “pan-Indian reach”.
“It’s now that I know a lot of people (who) listen to me….and it’s now that I have got the pan-Indian reach since I am in Bollywood,” he said.
But Badshah also believes in being a socially responsible talent.
He says he knows he has “responsibilities”. So, through his songs, he wants to create awareness about social issues but in an “entertaining manner”.
“I realise that as an artist I have a responsibility towards the society… I have made a song on female foeticide, ‘Pinjra’ is another song that tackled the issue of honour killings in a subtle way,” he said.
“Today’s generation doesn’t want to be preached…so you have to give out a message in a way that entertains them at the same time and makes them realise something,” he added.
After his song “Saturday Saturday” got picked for Shashank Khaitan’s directorial “Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania”, which has become a huge success, the musician’s other song, “Chull” will be featured in an upcoming Karan Johar production.
The “Bandook” rapper, who started his musical journey in 2006, also cleared the air surrounding a song he was going to be doing for “Welcome Back”. In fact, he will be doing two songs for the film “Kapoor and Sons”.
“I think the ‘Welcome Back’ song is not happening. I’m definitely doing a song in ‘Hero’. ‘Chull’ would be in Karan Johar’s next and I have done another song for the same, which not a lot of people know. So I have got two songs in that movie ‘Kapoor and sons’ and I am doing a song for ‘Jazbaa’,” Badshah said.
Entertainment
Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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