- Source: Yanchan Produced
Yanchan Rajmohan (born March 8, 1995), known professionally as Yanchan Produced, is a Canadian-Tamil producer, songwriter, mixing engineer, and mridangist. Known for making beats with a South Asian twist, Rajmohan's release of solo and collaborative projects have garnered over 12 million streams on Spotify.
Yanchan helped build Emtee Music Group, an independent boutique record label and artist development firm for artists and labels both independent and major.
Early life
Yanchan Rajmohan was born in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario and is the son of Tamil immigrants. Rajmohan's parents fled their home country, Sri Lanka, as refugees from the civil war.
At the age of six, Yanchan's musical journey began with training in vocal and mridangam in Carnatic music. He was the youngest person in Canada at the time to perform his mridanga arangetram (or debut performance), at the age of eight. His first mridangam guru was Shri Vasudevan Rajalingam. He also received extensive training from world renowned players including Neyveli B. Venkatesh, Trichy Sankaran, and Karaikudi Mani. Yanchan also plays the khanjira, the ghatam, and the thavil.
While Yanchan was heavily involved in Carnatic music during his childhood, he was simultaneously exposed to hip hop and pop culture growing up. During high school at Woburn Collegiate Institute, he was inspired by music from artists like Drake, Missy Elliott and Timbaland, where he started to notice parallels with sonics from hip hop music and carnatic music. It was then that he started to explore the idea of making beats with a South Asian twist.
After graduating from high school, Rajmohan attended Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, although he later transferred to Trebas Institute where he received his diploma in audio engineering.
Career
= 2016–2019: Career Beginnings
=In November 2016, Yanchan released his first EP, Yours Truly. Rajmohan claimed, "The sound of my entire EP is rooted in the pain and experiences I’ve dealt with in the past. It is essentially a letter I wrote to all the people who tried keeping me down, a message to them and the world of what I’m capable of."
In 2018, Yanchan's single release "Yacht" granted him a feature in HipHop Canada and Complex Canada. He also got featured on Shan Vincent De Paul's single, "Slow Love," which Rajmohan co-produced. Through this collaborative project, Yanchan developed a strong relationship with De Paul which was the start of many future collaborations together between the two artists.
Yanchan released his debut album Sentimental Kids on November 15, 2019. The album consists of three singles including "I Know” which was featured in Rolling Stone India.
After the rising popularity of Yanchan and De Paul's hit "I Know," the two began collaborating and working on Carnatic Hip-Hop music through their Mrithangam Raps episodes. Mrithangam Raps is a series where Rajmohan plays the percussion instrument, the mridangam, and De Paul raps about Tamil culture, the immigrant experience, and representing brown rappers. The series received global recognition from the Tamil diaspora, kick-starting the growth of Yanchan's career internationally, particularly with markets in India.
= 2020–2022: OH GAWD! India Tour, Kothu Boys and The Scarborough Beat Tape
=In February 2020, Rajmohan joined De Paul for his OH GAWD! India Tour. The five city tour began in Pune at the VH1 Supersonic Festival. The VH1 Supersonic Festival was also the first-ever live performance of the Mrithangam Raps series including their popular hit “Best Friends.”
Following the tour, Yanchan Produced released two solo albums, The India Beat Tape in May 2020, and Picasso in July 2020. In November 2020, Rajmohan and De Paul released their collaborative album, Kothu Boys. Kothu Boys is a fusion album of hip-hop and traditional South Asian/Tamil music.
The album The Scarborough Beat Tape, which was also released in 2020, was created as a love letter to the city that raised Rajmohan. With the success of Yanchan’s Beat Tape series’, he began to shift the focus of his career onto production.
Highlights in 2021 include the release of The Vancouver Beat Tape, which was the first album to be created as a vlog. As well, Yanchan produced the single Hiyo for Indian cinema playback singer Teejay Arunasalam, professionally known as TEEJAY.
In May 2022, when Yanchan Produced released the single “Remember,” it gained instant popularity with thousands of people using the song for their videos on social media, including the likes of Shriya Saran and Trisha. The song now stands at over 1.4 million streams on Spotify.
= 2023–Present: Career Expansion
=Top tour highlights for 2023 include supporting Santhosh Narayan at The Sounds of the South' show in Malaysia, gigs in Taipei with De Paul, and opening for 50 Cent’s The Final Lap Tour with De Paul in Mumbai.
Yanchan Produced also released the Arul EP with Sandeep Narayan in November 2023 that focused on bridging the gap between North America and India through a five set song series, which was featured on CBC.
As well, in 2023, Yanchan co-produced “The Wind'' from Russ’ album “Santiago," and he co-produced the song “Cricket Rap” with Santhosh Narayan for his first Telugu film, "Dasara."
In March 2024, “Inimel” was released which was composed by Kamal Hassan and Shruti Hassan, and co-produced by Yanchan Produced.
Yanchan debuted the Yanchan Produced LIVE performance in Toronto in March 2024, followed by New York in June 2024. The show is a musical experience incorporating the culture bridging production that Yanchan is known for in addition to new remixes, classical flips and his mridangam playing, all on one stage.
In April 2024, Yanchan Produced performed at the much anticipated NBA game between the Toronto Raptors and the Los Angeles Lakers at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
= Emtee Music Group
=Yanchan’s involvement with Emtee Music Group has evolved beyond foundation building as he is currently the Chief Product Officer for the label.
Throughout his time, he has helped develop multiple artists to receive accolades in the music industry with his production and executive support. A few notable mentions include: wins for Mike Cannz and Fame Holiday at the Mississauga Music Awards, Ary Roberto touring with Karl Wolf, and Velvet K.O. touring with Bugus and Kisaki’s on the Anime North tour.
Yanchan has been a staple in the success of these artists and others as their mentor. He is also involved in producing for brands including Velour Beauty.
