01x02 - Episode 2

[bunniefuu]

[ambient music]

[AP] You know, I left as
a different person when I went back home.

I went back home as, like, AP,

so you know, even for my family...

they didn't know what to expect either.

You know what I'm trying to say?

They didn't know
there was going to be people

lining up outside my house.

They didn't expect
none of that sh*t, right?

[cheering]

[AP] But this love that we got
from our country...

it gave us a little boost, and a kick.

Like, work harder.

[ambient music intensifies]

Like, when we started making the music,

it wasn't about getting fame.

We wanted to create something
that stays for generations.

Now it's our chance to show, you know,
this is what we are capable of.

[sings in Punjabi]

[in English] I just want
our people to be proud.

We're changing the world, right?

Yeah.

[Gminxr] I'm almost ready to go back
and get that hype.

[laughs] Yeah.

[Gminxr] I'm kind of ready
for a tour again. [chuckles]

Yeah, yeah.
No, but it's time to make music, too.

[dramatic music]

This is the work we have to go through
to get to that level.

[birds chirping]

[sings in Punjabi]

[Kevin, in English] The last year,
it's been, just like, super chaotic.

Now we have a tour coming in six weeks,

we have an EP
that's supposed to drop soon,

we have a lot of work to do.

[Herman] Yeah,
we're making this tour happen,

in, like, a very small time frame,

you know, if you look at big
artists that are putting together tours,

they usually have,
like, a year of preparation.

[sings in Punjabi]

[in English] So, we left India,
we kind of decided to take a step back,

take a break
and just be normal for a little bit.

[indistinct chatter]

I still had to kind of focus on
planning this tour,

figuring out which partners
we want to work with,

figuring out how to work with them.

It wasn't really apparent to me
how quick the clock was ticking.

[sings in Punjabi]

[Kevin, in English] So when
all that had finally been done

and I was like, "Okay,
we actually have a tour

in, like, less than two months."

And we were starting from scratch.

[upbeat music]

Welcome to our life. [chuckles]

Welcome to our life of spontaneous,
like, non-stop work.

[Kevin] We're not some industry pros
and we're not some big...

experienced people with mega teams

following any sort of textbook model.

All this work we gotta do,
it's an opportunity for us now to grow.

It's more than just a business now,
it's like,

you know, it's a cultural-defining moment.

[ambient music]

The announcement will happen today
that we're doing a North American tour

and now we have to officially
make our post and do our part.

We need a caption.
It should be one sentence.

Yeah it should be like
"Seven years ago I came to Canada..."

You want him to write an essay?

Yeah, "Seven years ago I came to Canada,
now we're going out of this world."

[Herman] "I've been
waiting for this for so long.

Can't wait to take you guys
out of this world."

That's it, it's good.

[laughs]

[AP] It's posted.

[Herman] Look at the video, though! Yo!

[Kevin] Five thousand likes
in five minutes,

I'm thinking it's good, but...

we'll see how tickets sell,
then we'll know how good it is.

All right.

[AP] We just posted that video,
we announced the tour,

we don't have other sh*t
organized right now, you know.

[laughs]

[radio announcer]
This morning, AP Dhillon

has sent social media into meltdown,

as he announced his first ever
North America tour.

[upbeat music]

AP's gonna play to arenas
of up to 20,000 people

on a multiple-city run.

Just like everything else we do,
you know we love taking the risk.

We're all in, we bet on ourselves. And...

we just have to execute,

and give our fans what they want.

There are a lot of little puzzle pieces

to put together and make sh*t happen.

Basically, we have to
figure out, like, everything.

Gotta figure out production and our crew

and techs and the layout,
the setup, like, everything.

[AP] We're working with, now,
people from outside our group.

We're about to do arena tours,

we're entering the big leagues,

this is like dealing with
a lot of people.

Everything to do with this is crazy.

We're going full steam ahead

with no time, no preparation.

To program one song on lighting console

and laser consoles, this is about a week.

[Herman] We have such
a massive production.

There is very little room for error.

[indistinct chatter]

[AP] I wanted to bring some art into it,
like choreography.

I was just trying to work myself
out of comfort zone

to do stuff differently.

Not using the typical things
that we are known for

in Punjabi music.

It's just good for our culture,
like it's moving us forward.

So that's when he comes back
on the stage on this track.

[man] Okay.

But these tracks,
they're going to play it live,

so the band's going to run
this one live, right?

[man] Oh, I see.

[AP] Like, what would be the look,
individually standing like?

I'm worried about, like,
actually making it happen

in, like, the time frame.

[Kevin] October 8th, Vancouver,
October 9th, Calgary.

October 16th's Toronto.

Most important eight days that we've had.

The Canada shows are obviously
the biggest shows.

There's going to be three people
in a band,

that's like 30, 35 people
that are rolling with us.

[band playing "Excuses" by AP Dhillon,
Gurinder and Intense]

It's gonna be fun.
Like pop, it's gonna be fun.

To be honest, in the beginning,
when AP told me he wants a live band,

like, I didn't fully understand.

And I was like, "Okay, I don't know.

-Like, we have a lot of trap music."
-Yeah.

Like, as minimal,
we can go with the trap,

-with the drum.
-Okay.

[AP] Like, you know.
But the drip was sounding hard.

It's tough to, like, step out
of your comfort zone.

[man] What if the drums
are just the high hats?

[Gminxr]
But then during rehearsal,

when I saw the guys
vibing out to the music

and like, adding their parts,

adding their keys, their strings
and their drums...

["Takeover" by AP Dhillon playing]

it really kind of
brought everything together

and it kind of just...

It felt like we're putting on a show.

[sings "Takeover"]

[in English] You have to
take risks to, like,

being able to do what you wanna do.

This is first rehearsal with the band,
let's go! [chuckles]

It's last minute because we're trying to

put together a team that we don't have.

I'm just seeing a lot of work
in front of me.

[music plays in distance]

People don't realize you need everything,

from the look to the music,
to management, to business.

You need everything right
in order to make it.

What's good, bro?

Okay, is Mo here?

[woman] Mo, are you a superstar today?

-[AP] He is.
-[MoCutz] No, not me.

This guy that thinks he's cool is.

[woman] Oh, are you a superstar?

-No, I think I'm cool.
-He has a tour coming up, so...

So...

Yeah. So do you have barbers for the tour?

No, you're coming.

What do you mean I'm coming?
For what, the stadium one?

Yeah.

[chuckles]

I like the shape of this beard.

[MoCutz] More fade maybe.

Did you ever thought
you would be cutting AP's hair?

[laughs] Did you ever think
you would become AP?

[AP chuckles]

'Cause when I knew you,

you were just a regular guy.
Lest we forget.

Two or three years down the road
he's gonna be like,

"Yeah, it was an honor."

He's gonna have my picture
right there with my hairstyle.

Because I don't have to
cut you anymore?

-Yeah. [laughs]
-Oh, thank God!

[MoCutz] Five years ago? Quiet.
Wasn't even cool.

Smart, though. Always smart.

[indistinct chatter]

[AP] There's AP and there's Amrit.

[in Punjabi] When I released
my first song, I got my identity.

[in English] The AP,
what you see on Instagram, TikTok...

and Amrit is like, um...

like, I'm just a regular human being, too.

I'm a normal human being, you know?

[in Punjabi] I like my name Amrit more.

[in English] Honestly,
I like the way it's going now.

Nobody knows me, who I am.

[man] Can I get a picture?

[AP] Yeah, sure.

-[man] Sorry, buddy.
-[AP] No worries.

We just bought tickets to your show today.

-Fire.
-Yeah.

-Thanks, appreciate that.
-Thank you, thank you!

Nice meeting you guys.

Let's do it.

I keep my personal things away from AP.

[shutter clicks]

I f*cking hate takin' pictures.

AP is a guy who wears multiple hats.

[Herman laughs] You're
looking like a terminator!

[AP] He produces too,
he mixes and masters too.

-[AP] Can we do red?
-[man] Red?

[AP] He runs the label side of it.

Overlooking the art...

and I'm trying to find
the time to do the music.

[indistinct chatter]

It's just so hard to do music
when you're trying to do business.

[Herman] It does get stressful.

Hundred percent, it gets stressful.

No, no, no, no, no. Please, please,
please, please. Please, please, please.

Just balancing days
we can get into the studio,

we can get AP free,

you know, his mind is not flooded
with other things,

and paperwork and stuff that he has to do.

I see. Okay.

[AP] But I think music
is just, like, life to me, basically.

Like, all I have to this point
is because of... music.

At this very moment, we don't have
enough songs to complete our set-list,

so it's super important
to complete this EP.

[Gminxr] This next
project is kind of like,

we're testing
a new genre of music, you know?

[sings "Arrogant"]

[Kevin] But like, a
little bit of a pause like...

-[AP] No, we have to do a pause.
-Yeah, yeah.

[AP] The next track,
there's no beat for that right now.

So we have the beat,
but like, it's not done yet.

Final thoughts...

Originally, I made it on my beat,

and then it didn't really sound good.

[AP] It's 155.

I just wanted...

like, real music kind of thing.

Not just like all these gangster tracks.

Yo, how we can nicely switch
from F minor to E minor?

Is there... Is there a way we can do it?

We were rehearsing and this guy played
some chords... Latch.

[all] One, two, three, four...

[AP] Then we made him record
those chords

and I just started performing on that.

We made a beat.

[sings "Final thoughts"]

[in English] Final thoughts,
it's the flow that doesn't exist

in our industry.

[continues singing "Final Thoughts"]

[in English] I'm just trying
to always progress.

[continues singing "Final Thoughts"]

[in English] Yo, I kinda wanna...

Yo... Where is Shinda?

[Shinda, over phone] Hello?

[in singsong voice]
♪ Where you at, Singhy? ♪

[Shinda] Just leaving the house.

♪ Where you at? ♪

[Shinda laughs]

♪ P's missing you ♪

[in normal voice] Where you at, yo?

[singing "Takeover"]

[Shinda] Being in the process with AP
and GG and everybody,

it's a situational basis.

When I write a song, it's majority on
the situation you're going through

or something you saw and certainly
wanna write a song about it.

[sings "Final Thoughts"]

Ah!

[AP, in English] Shinda is a singer,
he's a songwriter.

He's a g*dd*mn GOAT. [chuckles]

What do you think? Oh, sh*t.

Shinda is a legend.

Everything he does,
he brings so much energy to the table.

[continues singing "Final Thoughts"]

[Shinda, in English] How I think is,
there's just two businesses in the world.

There is a business of hope
and there is a business of fear.

[continues singing "Final Thoughts"]

[in English] Hope comes with everything,
happiness and joyfulness.

And fear comes with sadness, you know,

all those dark emotions.

[continues singing "Final Thoughts"]

[in English] So when you have a track
like "Bentley Bentayga",

it has that optimistic feeling to it.

And you want the people,
when they listen to it, they're like,

"I want to have all the things
that were said in the song."

Their dynamic in the studio is unmatched.

It's a dream team,
to tell you the honest truth.

["Final Thoughts" playing]

[Herman] I'm f*cking excited, bro.

Sales have opened up,
Ticketmaster's bumping,

the website's bumping,
we're grinding right now.

Kevin's on the phone f*ck' all day long.

He's doing meetings in his sleep.

[line rings]

Yo.

[Kevin, on phone] By the way,
we have a tour, with tickets on sale.

I'm not sure if you guys know.

People have already resold tickets
for like six, seven times,

f*cking asking price.

That's crazy.

So, the VIP tickets,
meet-and-greet package?

[Kevin] Yeah, that yeah, yeah,
they're getting a lanyard and...

Are those all sold out?

Like, they're already
probably all gone, right?

-[Kevin] Yeah.
-[AP] Okay.

[Kevin] So did you know this guy has to do
100 meet-and-greets per show?

-You're lying.
-f*ck, Kevin, yo.

You're lying.

So there's ten shows?

[Kevin] Yeah. Yeah.

So there's thousand
meet-and-greets sold out?

[Gminxr] That's f... holy f*ck!

[Kevin] It's gonna be quick, bro,
don't worry.

[Gminxr] Holy. A
thousand meet-and-greets,

that's still... that's still
processing right now.

[AP] It's a lot of pictures, yo.

[Kevin] You know, it's going to be
just young people just so happy.

You're going to make their lives,
you know, like,

this literally going to be the moment,
the highlight of their lives, so...

look at the benefit of it,
the positive aspect of it.

I know, you're right.

[Kevin] I know India...
India's given us PTSD, that's what it is.

[laughs]

The whole moment,
first time going back home,

it was nuts.

[horns honking]

People were chasing the car,
hotels were crazy.

[clamoring]

It was not easy to deal with,

and I tried my best to be
the AP Dhillon that people want.

[clamoring]

[clamoring]

[in Punjabi]
From the moment I landed,

I started getting threats.

[indistinct chatter]

Herman started getting
messages on his phone.

My hotel room numbers were getting leaked.

And my team members' numbers.

-[in English] Oh, they're still there.
-[man] Yeah.

[in Punjabi] They were

targeting specific people.

Sidhu and I were on tour
at the same time.

[Sidhu, in Punjabi] It has
been a long time. Let's meet up.

Absolutely.

[Sidhu] When will you come?

Hey listen,
when I come back to the village...

And they thought that us artists
will start giving them money.

[crowd cheering]

[Kevin, in English] AP looked like a deer
caught in the headlights.

It was kind of hard in the moment
adjusting to that.

[clamoring]

[in Punjabi] The show
at Chandigarh was quite stressful...

There were a lot of security issues.

[light explosions]

[man, in English]
Guys, move, move, move!

[clamoring]

-[clamoring]
-[man screams]

[AP, in Punjabi]
There were so many threats.

But somehow we got through it.

[in English] Bro, I'm
going to finish this EP...

-[Kevin] Yeah.
-[AP] ...a little bit.

I need time for that.

Still have a goal of trying to put out
six to eight tracks before October eighth?

-What do you think?
-[Gurinder] Sixty-eight?

-Six to eight.
-[Kevin laughs]

[Gurinder]
I'm like, what the f*ck is this guy? 68?

-[AP] The maximum.
-Why not?

We'll be blessed, we'll be blessed.
I'd be down. f*ck it, a track every day.

-[AP] It's gonna be five tracks coming.
-[Gminxr] Okay.

One is going to be trap
and one is going to be acoustic.

The actual music itself is not the issue,

it's making the time to get this guy
into the studio

with everybody else there
at the same time,

we're kind of racing
against the clock here

but we're trying to do
everything we can, like,

to the best of our abilities.

[AP] And do, like, guitar.

You play it in different ways too,
slow it down a little bit.

But, uh, what do
you think about that?

-[Shinda] Yeah, that's three, four.
-Just doing something on a show,

I was just thinking about
the idea, you know?

[guitar plays]

Or shouldn't do something like this?
What do you think? What's your idea?

-[Gminxr] No, think it's super fire.
-Yeah?

I think the song is fire,
the melody's fire.

It has three verses.
That's a nice amount of time.

Yeah.

[in Punjabi]
♪ I'm getting lost within myself ♪

♪ No one is there looking for me ♪

♪ Why do I wander around angry? ♪

♪ Because my eyes haven't cried yet ♪

♪ The time of the day isn't late ♪

♪ My night hasn't fully arrived yet ♪

♪ I didn't hide my mistake from anyone ♪

♪ The mistake of calling you mine ♪

♪ Love sways and changes ♪

♪ What do I do?
I can't see the road ♪

♪ Someone show me the way ♪

♪ I kept calling you all night ♪

♪ You have no idea
What my heart is going through ♪

♪ I can't take a rest ♪

♪ A breath of relief... ♪

-Is there another verse?
-[Shinda] Yeah, there is.

I only know the first two.

♪ Am I the only one who stays awake? ♪

♪ Or are the lights
Of the city alive, too? ♪

♪ I don't want the blowing winds ♪

♪ To destroy the palace of my love ♪

♪ The strings of love have
Abandoned my hands ♪

♪ I am left with my hopes ♪

♪ I didn't stay close by you ♪

♪ All that's left are
The earrings I gave you ♪

♪ All I go through now is pain ♪

♪ I wasn't patient
I forced my heart... ♪

[indistinct chatter]

[sings "All Night"]

[in English] The tour is coming
and we're trying to

do this live recording.

The prep is going crazy.

Don't remind me of the tour, yo,
you're stressing me out now!

Yo, I gotta drop EP this Friday
and it hasn't got mixed yet.

[Herman] We know the pressure's on,

It's a part of the hustle, bro,
it's a part of the hustle.

[man] Okay. Camera speeding.

Let's go.

One, two, three...

[music starts playing]

[sings "All Night"]

[man] Cutting!

I was going to release this project
in summer first, but then...

Uh, I didn't put it out because...

of what happened with Sidhu.

It didn't feel right.

[reporter] We've got some breaking news
that's coming in right now,

Punjabi singer Shubhdeep Sidhu Moose Wala

has been shot dead in Mansa.

Two cars can be seen in these images,
cruising behind the singer's car,

and moments later the singer was shot dead
with at least 24 of 30 b*ll*ts.

[reporter 2] Sidhu Moose Wala
was receiving

threats from these gangsters.

[AP] He's the greatest rapper
on this Earth, yeah.

It impacted me a lot.

Because, bro, I literally
talked to the guy two days before

that all happened.

We built a relation
through "Brown Munde."

He started putting music way before.

It's like "Oh, this is
something different."

It's not the traditional Punjabi music.

And, uh, he k*lled it, bro. He k*lled it.

For a while, I was just like,
"Bro, I don't want to listen to music."

Yeah, it was tough time, man.

[in Punjabi] Sometimes
you think of giving up.

[AP, in English]
There's so many times I'll just drive

in my car in the middle of the night.

Sometimes I think,
"Is it worth losing your peace?"

Is it worth staying away from family?

Then again, like seeing the smile
on millions and millions of people.

Like, that just keeps me going.

[in Punjabi] People who leave legacies,

we need to promote that.

[in English] It's our responsibility
to carry what this guy left,

you know what I'm trying to say?
Keep it going.

We all are brown.

If we can't bring each other up,
who else gonna do it?

[distant sirens]

The EP is out.

Yo, we have a surprise for you guys.

We're dropping an EP tonight. At 9:00.

We sold out arenas.
And it was my first show. Yeah.

To me, that just like, it's crazy.

We're doing something different.

We're doing something new.
I just wanna make it perfect.

Definitely the pressure is there.

Some of the greatest artists
have performed at Rogers Arena...

Drake, Billie Eilish, Jay-Z...

Just talking to you, kind of... [laughs]

I'm thinking about it. Oh, sh*t.

That's crazy. [laughs]

Yeah. That's actually crazy.

["Arrogant" by AP Dhillon, Shinda,
and Gminxr plays]