After a tough competition among five finalists, Faridabad's Abhishek Baisla, better known by his stage name MC Square, has been declared winner of "Hustle 2.0". He bagged a trophy and took home a cheque of Rs 10 lakh.
Tanishq Singh from Delhi was declared first runner-up and Mumbai's Nihar Hodawadekar is the second runner-up.
Judge Badshah, together with the Squad Bosses -- Dee MC, EPR, Dino James and King -- joined rapper Ikka Singh to give entertaining performances on some of the famous dance numbers.
Ikka of "Trap Munde" fame shared his happiness after seeing Badshah's performance. "He is indeed the rap supremo of India. I just love it whenever I see him on stage," he said.
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After completing 20 episodes in ten weeks, the rap music-based reality show "Hustle 2.0" judged by Badshah concluded on Sunday.
The top five contenders were Abhishek Baisla (MC Square), Tanishq Singh (Paradox), Akshay Poojary (Gravity), Shubham Pal (Spectra) and Nihar Hodawadekar (Nazz), but Abhishek just overshadowed them with his performance.
"It was my childhood dream of becoming a star and now I can proudly tell my mother that her son is indeed one," MC Squre said.
"The love and support from Badshah Sir and my co-contestants kept motivating me -- it all added up. I dedicate this win to the entire rap community. Hip-Hop for life," he added.
Talking about MC Square's victory, Badshah said: "Our talented contestants have amazed me week-on-week with their storytelling and skills. Abhishek has undoubtedly proven to be the next rap voice that the Indian hip-hop community was looking for and I couldn't be happier for him."
Squad boss Santhanam Srinivasan, popular by his stage name EPR, added: "I'm elated at MC Square's win! Not just because he belongs to my Squad, but also because of his humble demeanour that defies the popular 'rapper' persona and continues to inspire everyone, including me."
EPR, the Season One winner, said he was proud to pass on the baton to MC Square. "He is an OG hustler with unique storytelling prowess. I feel like my unfinished story of Season One has finally found a fitting epilogue with his win," EPR said.
Farmer's son, civil engineer and now rap champ: MC Square's stellar journey
Rapper Abhishek Baisla, who is better known by his stage name MC Square, has proved his mettle by giving a tough battle to his co-contestants and bagging the trophy of "Hustle 2.0".
After receiving much appreciation from judge and famous rapper Badshah, the 23-year-old is on cloud nine and opens up about his journey from being a son of a farmer to a winner on the rap-based reality show.
"Coming from a farming background it was a little tough for me as in our area they don't even know what is hip hop or rap. Plus I come from a family where even talking about hip-hop and all is not considered decent and it took me a lot of time to convince my family regarding my rapping career."
Abhishek is a civil engineer by profession but his first love always remains music.
"When I was pursuing my B. Tech degree, I was only thinking about what can I write next and how can I be better at music... I was quite good at my studies. Just because as an artist, I knew how to think and do something logically and studies came to me naturally."
He never took formal training in his chosen career. "I don't have any formal training regarding music or rap, I used to listen to a lot of poets and rappers. I started off by writing poems and then slowly I tried to be more professional."
Recalling his first day on the show, MC Square adds: "I was not nervous at all because this chance for me was like one in a million shots, and I just knew that I was gonna kill it.
"I remember listening to Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' before going on the stage, and it gave me a lot of motivation, and Badshah sir was quite impressed with what I did on the floor and secondly, I think my song was quite relatable to him as he too belongs from the same background. So, thanks a lot to Badshah Sir."
He continues to share about the memories he will cherish forever: "There are a lot of memories that I will cherish forever. We all were living together under the same roof for 3 months and we all became a family. It was an emotional moment for us to go our own ways, but that's how life works and that's how the world works."
Showering words of praise on the judge, he said: "There's no such thing as a limit, everything is limitless, when he said that he wanted to be the biggest rapper on this planet, it was quite a big motivation for me to never stop and keep going. And he is one of the most real people I have ever met. I never felt as if I was meeting him for the first time."
He further opens up about his parent's reaction to his victory and says: "I have had very little time to talk to them in the last 3 months but they are excited to meet me and celebrate this victory together. My mom is the closest companion I have so I am very eager to meet my mom and a few of my friends and all of my family members. My Dad must be so proud of me, I know for sure."
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The 'Hustle 2.0' winner concluded by sharing his hopes for the future. He says: "No plans as such. My journey on the show is the most beautiful part so just gonna make sure that it becomes more and more beautiful. In the future too, I am going to focus more on my craft and drop a lot of music for my people."
"Hustle 2.0" aired on MTV.
