Exonerate” which means to absolve someone from a guilt or set them free is the inspiration for Ravi Khatri’s stage name Xonarrate and he chose this name for his music as a symbol of liberating himself. He is an alternative rap/hip hop artist currently based out of Mumbai. Born in Haryana and having lived in Delhi for the most part he moved to Mumbai to learn sound engineering. He has been working on original music since before he moved to Mumbai and he started putting them out in 2017. So far he has released four singles “Expect me”, “Intro”, “Wisdom Verse” & “The Walk”.
His musical style can be best described as dark, raw & experimental. Being an ardent poet he is heavily inspired by the lyrical hip hop of the 90’s and gives lyricism paramount importance in his music. With complex lyricism he creates constructs that pull you into his world with sharp multi syllable rhymes, uniquely fused together rhyme schemes & unpredictable switch ups. Being a trained sound engineer his sound on the other hand is fresh, modern and experience evoking. His music depicts a complex persona with dark
melodies, intricate poetry and reticulated experimental elements. He embeds his personal struggles, societal issues and philosophy in his music along with tastefully and fastidiously infused elements from different genres such as R&B, Punk Rock & Trip Hop giving it a distinctive flavor. Put together with thoughtfully produced music videos his music creates an intense experience for the viewer.
Ravi believes that it’s an artist’s responsibility to talk about things that are not often being talked about and to shed a light on what’s hazy or shadowed but in the modern world artists are resorting to following trends. He believes the world needs more original thinkers than trend followers. He wants to make music that impacts people without worrying about it’s commercial acceptance. He wants to make music for people who might have the same struggles as him or share his view of the world and believe in the same ideas and also for those who are not paying enough attention to the things that
really matter.
His latest single “The Walk” has been well recieved by the audience and is a lready at over 170k views on Youtube. “The Walk” is about an artist’s journey as he’s trying to find meaning in what he does and the uncertainties he lives with. It depicts a point in an artist’s life where he has come far from where he began but there is still a long way to go. It’s also about the philosophical questions that he has as he tries to make sense of the world around him, questions about happiness, God, meaning of life and our significance as a specie.
