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What brings you to Dubai?

We're gonna have a show on the Le Meridian Mina Seyahi Beach where we'll be performing to a gathering of about three to four thousand people. The same gig that we did last year. It’s gonna be quite cool.

We have never had a real big mainstream Asian singer who sang in English. Do you think you can change or have changed that?

You are totally right. When I was young I always used to wonder that there is no Asian doing R&B or hip-hop music when there were so many out there listening to it. Being the first British Asian to be doing that kind of stuff has got me hoping that I can be more successful at my music. I want to make people recognise that Asians as a whole can do a lot more than just become good doctors, lawyers and engineers. You know what I mean.

You did the title track of 'Hum Tum', a Bollywood movie. Why do most Asian musicians from the UK end up doing stuff for Bollywood? Is it considered to be the ultimate sign of recognition?

I think Bollywood is very important. It is integral to all of us. At the end of the day what is India renowned for: India is known for its cricket, its hockey, its kabaddi, its curries and Bollywood. Bollywood, after all, is the biggest film industry in the world. So to get a song on a soundtrack like that is a big thing. We don’t take Bollywood lightly. If the offer comes to us, we give it serious consideration.

Are there more Bollywood projects in the pipeline?

The recent Bollywood project that happened to us was Bride and Prejudice. A movie by Gurinder Chaddha, which is an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. It is an Aishwarya Rai film and Rishi has done a song for it. Also I kind of turned the table around and asked a Bollywood actress to be in my video. And that’s how I got Bipasha Basu in my next video Stolen.

Tell us more about that.

Stolen is a very important track to me, because it is quite an emotional song. It is a very matured song and I wanted the video to match that. I wanted it to be a bit filmi as opposed to just a club number to dance to. As soon as I realised I wanted it to be filmi I thought who better to get than a Bollywood actress. Bipasha is my most favourite Bollywood actress at the moment. I think she’s hot and to get her to do my video was a massive compliment for me. When she listened to the track she loved it. She told me she listened to it 45 times with her sister and her boyfriend John Abraham. John was actually the one who egged Bipasha on to go ahead and do the video. She’s really happy.

Does your new album 'Me Against Myself' mean goodbye to Rishi Rich Project?

Not at all. Look at Eminem. He’s a solo artist in his own right, but he’s still very much part of D12. The same with me. I am doing my own thing but will always be part of the Rishi Rich Project crew.