Bengaluru Beatsmith Peach Blok Teams Up with Smokey The Ghost and Joel Sakkari for ‘High And Getting Old’

Hip-hop artist Smokey the Ghost, producer Peach Blok and producer-guitarist Joel Sakkari team up on “High and Getting Old.” Photos: Courtesy of the artists

Bengaluru producer and bassist Rishii Rohra aka Peach Blok credits Chennai artist JBABE aka Josh Fernandez for helping him “directly and indirectly” towards making him take live performance more seriously, along with a focused, self-assured sound. We hear exactly that on Peach Blok’s latest slinky hip-hop single “High and Getting Old,” featuring rapper Smokey the Ghost and guitarist-producer Joel Sakkari.

The track is part of Peach Blok’s upcoming full-length album Iris, releasing early next year. “I’m looking forward to an eight-track release, which will also have some instrumentals,” Rohra says. “High and Getting Old” was created early this year, when Rohra was toying with the idea of using his voice on the record. “For some reason, this track worked, where I initially started off with some chords and laid down a basic beat and started messing about with my voice in it,” he adds.

Sakkari contributed keys and guitar to the track, while Smokey was a last minute addition. Rohra says, “I knew it needed a rap-ish sort of vocals through the track Having him on board was a big boost and belief that I could further trust my production process.”

Smokey – who has released seven singles so far this year and particularly honed in on Indian parenthood and nurturing on songs like “Dear Amma” and “Dear Appa” – wrote his lyrics for “High and Getting Old” in a similar universe. He says, “I had some lyrics I had been writing for a while that became a verse. The verse by itself was inspired by the personification of using a woman that I’m introducing to my parents (or people in general) to a joint. The picture in my head was that I was old on the hospital bed hallucinating about Mary Jane… The love of my life.”

Listen to “High and Getting Old” below. Stream on more platforms here.