Gangs, Violence, Slum Life, Money, Bollywood & Salman Khan - @Stannyiseeyou | FO77 - Raj Shamani
MC Stan, the rapper and Big Boss 16 winner from Pune, discusses his journey from slum life and street struggles to fame, covering his early exposure to hip-hop, financial hardships, winning Big Boss, and his vision for spreading Hindi language pride through music.
Summary
MC Stan (Stannyiseeyou) appears on Raj Shamani's podcast to discuss his life journey, career, and post-Big Boss experiences. He begins by recounting how he started rapping in sixth grade after his brother introduced him to artists like 50 Cent, while growing up in a slum area of Pune near a railway station. His school life was chaotic, with friends skipping class and his parents eventually moving him to an army school to keep him away from bad influences.
Stan describes his neighborhood as having a heavy gang culture, with many peers being orphaned or without parental guidance. He drew parallels between the struggles of Black American rappers and his own community's reality, which made hip-hop feel deeply relatable. He taught himself English largely by watching movies, motivated by his desire to understand rap lyrics and culture.
On the financial front, Stan candidly admits to engaging in petty theft and scrap metal selling (including railway pipes) before his music career took off. He specifically mentions collecting and selling petrol bottles and doing catering work to fund a music video shoot around the time his song 'Wata' went viral. He emphasizes he never pursued rap for fame or money, but purely out of passion and a desire to spread positive messages.
Regarding Big Boss 16, Stan explains he initially felt like a misfit and nearly wanted to leave. He received a pep talk from Bigg Boss (the show's voice) to open up and engage more. He dismisses criticism that he didn't deserve to win by saying the public voted and that is the final word. He learned patience and people-reading skills from the experience, and credits Salman Khan for giving him honest, straight-talking advice about the challenges of fame.
On money and spending, Stan reveals he owns expensive items like 1.2 lakh rupee Amiri shoes and significant jewelry, but buys and resells luxury items rather than hoarding them. He has no formal savings strategy but plans to launch a clothing line and wants to send his parents to Hajj. His biggest stated mission is to spread pride in the Hindi language, pushing back against social stigma around speaking Hindi over English in India. He also touches on wanting to challenge the caste system in India, expressing frustration that caste is still asked about in modern Indian society.
Key Insights
- MC Stan says he never started rapping for fame or money, and that doing it for those reasons is 'wrong' — he started purely because he loved it and wanted to spread positive messages in his community, which was enough to reduce gang activity in his area.
- MC Stan admits that before his music career took off, he and his friends engaged in petty theft including selling stolen railway pipes and petrol bottles to fund recording sessions and music video shoots.
- Salman Khan personally warned MC Stan after Big Boss that people would put him on a pedestal and then bring him down, and that he would encounter fraudulent people — advice Stan says turned out to be entirely true.
- MC Stan says his biggest fear in songwriting is telling too much truth — he has literally torn up written songs because he felt they were too honest and would disturb or provoke extreme reactions from the public.
- MC Stan states his core personal goal is not a Lamborghini or wealth, but to send his parents (Ammi and Abba) to Hajj, and his larger societal mission is to make Indians proud of speaking Hindi rather than feeling inferior for not speaking English.
Topics
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