The murder and tragic death of Punjabi rap artist Siddhu Moose Wala, has sent shock waves through social media and exploded the internet, with controversy from many of his loyal fans.
The cremation of the Punjabi singer was held on Monday, as the 28-year-old, born Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, was shot dead on 29 May, while driving his car in his hometown of Mansa, a district in northern India’s Punjab state, a day after his security cover was withdrawn by the Indian government.
Fans, friends, family, and everyone who loved him paid their last tributes yesterday, as the last rites for the singer were performed in his village, at their ancestral agriculture land at Moosa village in Mansa district.
Six people have been detained in connection with the murder.
The attack took place a day after his security was removed by the state government sparking massive outrage from fans and political leaders. Punjab’s Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has ordered an inquiry – led by a high court judge – into the incident.
Video footage emerging on social media showed his car being showered with bullets, which according to sources was also evident in the preliminary post-mortem, done by a team of five doctors, where bullet marks were found on Moose Wala’s chest, feet and abdomen.
A sense of dramatic irony has overcome his fans, as the music video and lyrics to the song, which was an ode to American political hip-hop rap sensation Tupac Shakur, foreshadow the circumstances of his death and fate met by the rapper.
Fans were quick to jump on social media in a series of Twitter threads and comments on the YouTube music video, as they noticed similarities between his final song ‘The Last Ride’ and the circumstances in which he died this passing Sunday.
One fan shared a screenshot of his last song which is trending on YouTube Music with the caption “coincidence or something?”
The edgy Indian rapper, who like Tupac had a gangsta-rap aesthetic and died in gun violence, had released the song two weeks before his death, which depicts his own death to some degree, as many are claiming was due to the nature of his controversial career, political affiliations, and macho culture in his music.
The line “ni ehda uthuga jawani ch janaja mithiye”, means the funeral will happen in youth, as well as the iconic crime scene where American rapper Tupac was murdered in his BMW in 1996, was featured in the music video.
The music video also uses the car from Tupac’s assassination as the album cover, which is the same fate that was met by Moose Wala, in a drive-by homicide by unidentified assailants.
He kickstarted his career in the music industry with his debut song ‘so high’, where the rapper gained unprecedented success, as the video currently has 487 million views and 4 million likes on YouTube.
Produced by Humble Music, the viral video has an edgy and retro feel which features classic cars, graffiti art and the rapper in a gold chain and oversized orange raptors T-shirt, alongside the backup dancers wearing bandanas, orange balaclavas and gold grills.
The song was honoured by Brit Asia TV Music Awards, as his debut song with the Best Lyricist Award in 2017.
To South Asians, Siddhu’s music resonated with his fast-growing fandom facing cultural diaspora, identity issues and the youth of Punjab, as he had keen socio-political awareness and wanted to make a difference, as well as represent his hometown.
Despite his songs mainly being sung in Punjabi, most of his singles have an English title, and with the hip-hop culture and gangster aesthetic, his songs have transcended South Asian audiences, as his followers come from all walks of life.
An avid fan writes to Asian Sunday, to share how devastated she was, on hearing the news about her favourite South Asian artist and began reminiscing memories of listening to his music with her friends from John Moores Film School in Liverpool.
“When I heard the news, it just took me back two years, when I played his music in my uni friend’s apartment, we had no idea what he was saying, but his lyrics were so impactful.
“We just loved his music videos and we were just pure vibing to it on the TV,” says Emily Clarke, a 25-year-old avid fan from Liverpool.
Moose Wala was a controversial figure, in part due to his lyrical style. In 2020, police charged him under India’s Arms Act for allegedly promoting gun culture in one of his songs.
Regardless of the violent death end that the rapper met, his music has been dubbed legendary and influential, ranked with rappers like Drake and Tupac.
