Pakistani rapper released a track that every salaried employee can relate to

Writer, comedian and rapper Hassan Bin Shaheen teamed up with two of his friends and formed the group Qaumi Coup. Together they released a new music video, ‘9 se 5’ and it’s an ode to every struggling worker who feels trapped in the corporate world.

According to Qaumi Coup, “This song is dedicated to all those who work hard and grind it out for a better future. To the 9-5 workers, to the people cleaning our streets, to anyone trying to hustle, to anyone trying to make a living, to the struggles they face and the labour they put in, this song is for them”

Hassan stated, “As a performer, I’ve been doing comedy and I have been rapping for a while. What I used to do earlier in my performances would be to incorporate my rap into my comedy. But mostly that would be joke-driven and rhyme-driven.”

Along with art director, Eruj Hadi he decided to bring ‘9 se 5’ to life.

According to Hassan, “the line, ‘9 se 5 pe, 9 se 5 pe, zindagi jalti hai iss aanch pe‘ was the first revelation that came to me. I was like this is what I want to talk about; I want to talk about how capitalism burns people out. So it was coming from a real place because I had worked 9-5 before and I wanted to talk about how often times we don’t have a choice, because of a lack of privilege and economic conditions.”

“People are stuck in jobs they don’t want to, possibly for the rest of their life. This is nothing short of benign slavery or benign servitude, for that matter. You are bound by the rules of the corporate sector, there’s a lot of power play in place and often times it takes a toll on your mental health as well. You don’t look pretty but you have to do it because you’ve got to pay the bills. There was a lot that was going through my mind, and essentially when the lyric revealed itself to me, I knew I wanted to talk about my own experience and that of an average worker.”

“The thing about this project is that even though this song features me, it is a community project. All of my friends are in the video, all of my friends made the video and have had a major role in supporting me in this particular venture. What Eruj did was, she assembled the team of amazing filmmakers as well.”

He added, “Essentially, this was the first project of its kind where so many people from so many different disciplines came together. I got to work with my friends and we did this thing together and I am so grateful to them.”