Naezy

Biography

Naved Shaikh (born 1993), professionally known as Naezy, is an Indian rapper, songwriter from Mumbai, Maharashtra, who first broke into mainstream rap with the song "Mere Gully Mein" (from the movie Gully Boy), featuring fellow rapper DIVINE. A fictional version of his character has been portrayed by Ranveer Singh in the Zoya Akhtar-directed 2019 musical film Gully Boy. He made his film debut with the hit song "Birju" from the 2015 film Hey Bro, the music video for which featured celebrated Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgn, as well as choreographer Prabhu Deva, with the film's lead actor Ganesh Acharya.
In 2024, Naezy was a contestant on the reality TV show Big Boss OTT Season 3, finishing as the runner-up.

Early life

Naved Shaikh was born in 1993 in Kurla, Mumbai, India. His father is Shahid Raza and mother Farhin Raza. His family originates from Amravati, where he still has relatives. He was raised by his mom as his father works in Dubai. He grew up in a tenement for the impoverished working class called Ram Bachan Chawl, located in the neighbourhood of Kurla, Mumbai.
He was raised as a troubled child mostly by his mother as his father was employed overseas. After a run-in with the law as a juvenile he directed his energies in creative expression of his and others' life struggles.
He completed his T.Y. B.Sc from Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Matunga, where he met his rapper friend Neykhil Naik aka NCube and formed a collective called The Schizophrenics.

Career

Naezy debuted with a DIY music video "Aafat!" which he made using an iPad in 2014. Naezy's debut single, "Aafat!', credited as the genesis track of the gully rap scene, was released in 2014, followed by his collaboration with Divine on their breakout 2015 hit, "Mere Gully Mein". The song brought attention to the Mumbai rap scene and eventually lead to the breakthrough for both DIVINE and Naezy. He also released "Tragedy Mein Comedy", a satirical song which was used as the intro track in the show On Air With AIB, which was created by the comedy group All India Bakchod.
Following the song's release, a documentary titled Bombay 70 (the 70 stands for the area code of Kurla West) about his life was produced. Bombay 70 was directed by independent filmmaker Disha Rindani. The documentary was awarded as the best short film at MAMI in 2014. Naezy featured on the track "Birju" from the film Hey Bro in 2015.
Their music caught the attention of director Zoya Akhtar and inspired her to make a film about the Mumbai rap scene called Gully Boy starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. The film is loosely based on the lives of Divine and Naezy who were consulted for the rap aspects of the film. "Mere Gully Mein" was remade for the film. In this version, Singh's character takes over Naezy's part. Singh re-recorded Naezy's verse for the film. He became the first rapper to be a featured artist on the Indian music streaming platform JioSaavn. He was also featured on the song "NY se Mumbai" with DIVINE, Singh and American rapper Nas, who also served as an executive producer for the film. The song was released as a promotional single shortly prior to the release of the film. Naezy has retrospectively added that the film negatively impacted his fame and that "its story was very far from reality and has annoyed him".
Naezy's music often addresses socio-political issues and he has spoken about wanting to create conscious hip-hop music to bring awareness among young people. His songs "Haq Hai", "Tragedy Mein Comedy", "Azaad Hu Mein" are some of the songs that deal with politics and issues that the common man faces.
He has faced issues convincing his family about his rap career, which was one reason he left the underground rap scene in 2018. Another reason he took this hiatus was to get away from the pressures of becoming more famous. The hiatus, however, made him realise his passion for rap music. He returned to the scene in 2019 with his new single "Aafat Wapas" which is a sequel of his first track "Aafat". The video was shot by Happy Mandal with whom he had worked with before and was shot using an iPhone XS Max. The following year, he released his debut album, comprising six songs, titled Maghreb.
In 2024, Naezy appeared in an interview, where he was asked about his possible upcoming collaborations with other desi hip-hop artists. Upon being asked whether Talha Anjum was one of the artists he was going to collaborate with, he denied knowing the rapper. This sparked a well-publicized beef between the two artists, with the latter releasing a diss track against Naezy, titled, "Kaun Talha", on June 9, 2024, a reference to Naezy's response to the question he was asked in the interview. This prompted Naezy to respond on his track "Kya Bey Shaane", the next day, as well as "Napaak", which was released six days later.
After this, Naezy appeared in the third season of Bigg Boss OTT, finishing as the first runner-up in the show. Naezy continued to release songs, like "Farishtey" and "Taafu", the lead singles from his EP Fateh, followed by the release of his EPs HATELI, Jaan and Alter. He also appeared on the track "Aflatoon" off fellow Mumbai rapper Emiway Bantai's sixth studio album FTSTTS.