At the ripe age of 31, Abhi the Nomad is retiring. Citing the grind of self-promotion and the predatory practices of the industry, the Austin-based rapper announced plans to step away from music indefinitely.
The artist, born Abhi Sridharan Vaidehi, announced his retirement on Instagram Aug. 26. “As a society, I’m concerned by how little we value music,” he wrote online. “Corporations tell us it’s for sharing, yet refuse to share profits with us. I’m not comfortable with the state of disposable consumerism that’s been attached to art.”
In an interview with the Chronicle, Vaidehi revealed that he wrote the note last year, and began considering leaving music well before that. Among the reasons: In the TikTok era, where 15-second chunks of catchy music matter more to executives than considered, cohesive bodies of work, he says, “There’s no path, there’s no curation, there’s no tastemakers. It really is just the Wild Wild West, and has been for around two to three years.”
The streaming model, which allows subscribers to access all of the music in the world for $10 a month while the artists making the music receive less than a penny per stream, is another frustration. The rapper also notes the never-ending promotion required to maintain the interest of his 700,000 monthly Spotify listeners.
“I know people who went from being rappers to guys who know how to do crazy VFX on videos,” he says. “Because they have to, because there’s nobody they can pay to make videos for them every single day. It’s wearing too many hats, really.”
“There’s no path, there’s no curation, there’s no tastemakers. It really is just the Wild Wild West, and has been for around two to three years.” – Abhi the Nomad about the current state of the music industry
Despite his frustrations with the music machine, Vaidehi’s still got love for Austin. He recalls fielding his first autograph request here back in 2017, and says the city, best known for rock and blues, has developed a heightened local interest in hip-hop over the years. That’s why he’s excited for his Sept. 20 final bow at Parish, which kicks off an 11-date U.S. tour with longtime friends Khary and Harrison Sands.
He’s nervous too, though. “Usually when we play shows and I fuck up a word or two, or mess up a lyric or something, I’m like, ‘Ah, there’s always next time,’” Vaidehi explains. “But this time, there’s not. So I kinda gotta get it right.”
Abhi the Nomad will release an as-yet-untitled final album in 2025, which he teases as his most extreme yet. “It’s no compromises,” he says. “Every album so far in my career, even my very first one, I kind of compromised a little bit so that people would like it more, and it did work. … [But] since this is my last one, I said fuck it. It’s weird as fuck, to be honest.”
This article appears in September 13 • 2024.
