Unpopular Opinion: Sunny Khan Durrani is the best writer (and perhaps even the best artist) in DHH right now

SKD's pengame is absolutely unmatched. He's easily above all other Urdu rappers in the scene currently, be it Anjum, Jani, JJ, Hashim Nawaz, Farhan Khan or Ahmer. All these guys make it to my favourites list but SKD cannot be compared to them. The depth and complexity in his thinking is way above the title of a 'rapper'. I would go so far as to say that SKD is a proper Urdu shayar, the type to sit in a mushaira and narrate his ghazals.

For instance, all the songs on SKD's 2nd album Aetizaaz were written when he was in 8th grade. Although Aetizaaz is not purely a hiphop album, it's still more well written and thoughful than many albums out there. Rappers in dhh would be afraid to make an album like Aetizaaz which SKD had already done 5 years ago.

SKD's first album was Khabbarnama, released long before a proper hiphop scene was even established in Pakistan. I've written about the album in more detail on Genius. Although sonically some songs are a miss, it is still a very powerful project. The album was made over a span of 6 months when SKD had left his job and lost his dad, and thus the urgency and passion fueled him to create Khabbarnama. It still stands as one of the more interesting projects in DHH.

The reason why i said SKD is the best writer is because of his last 2 albums The Butterfly Effect and Siyaah. Both projects make it to the top 10 albums in DHH. I've planned a more detailed write up on both albums so i won't be spending much time on that now,

A fun fact most people don't know is that The Butterfly Effect was made over a span of less than 4 weeks. There is only a 26 day gap between the release of Aetizaaz and The Butterfly Effect, and each song on TBE was written, produced, and recorded in 2 days only.

It's not just his albums. SKD's singles are also filled with such depthful Urdu poetry it's hard for a person to fully grasp the ideas of what SKD is trying to convey. From 2020 onwards till now, there is not a single SKD song with trash filler bars. Each line serves a purpose and is written with careful contemplation so as to let the listeners to understand what is going on in SKD's mind.

Everyone has listened to La Haasil and Haasil but i urge you to check out his other tracks too. It's a shame that songs like Mere Log, Qissa Khwani, Taaray, Girhain, Aakhri Khat, Naqaabposh, Qaidi etc are not talked about despite having some of the best Urdu writing I've seen.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention. Except 1 or 2 tracks, every single song by SKD is written, produced, mixed and mastered by himself. Even the visualizers and artworks are made by himself. SKD is the single most complete and perfect artist in Urdu hiphop, and it's time we rightfully hand him his crown...