Over the past couple of years, many have started talking of the rise and evolution of Indian hip-hop and rap culture in India, more so after the release of the film Gully Boy, starring Ranveer Singh, in February 2019.
However, in reality, the genre has been around in this country for nearly three decades. Things changed while hip-hop became a part of the mainstream.
Summing it up, Shah Rules tells Firstpost, “We are currently in our renaissance phase of Indian hip-hop, which means we are witnessing in real-time, new sub-genres, and regional languages come into the forefront, extreme innovation not only with songwriting all over the country but for music video production, marketing, touring, and more.”
Rapper in 1990s
Let us go back to the 1990s, the upsurge in desi Indian rap music saw light after the time Tupac Shakur aka 2Pac rose to fame in the West. Hip-hop became popular abroad, mostly rising out of the American ghettos.
A few months later, Bali Brahmbhatt released the song ‘Patel Rap’ in India. The following year, the success of Baba Sehgal’s ‘Thanda Thanda Pani’ encouraged the genre, and it became the biggest-selling album of its time. It used bhangra and reggae as base but UK-based Apache Indian music used rap elements too. Suddenly, remixes became a thing during the second half of the 1990s, and it was a common practice to include a rap portion in the middle of a song.
Very often, these portions seemed totally out of place, but the trend became fashionable. In those days, Indian rap music was part of the mainstream Indipop movement. It was just a sub-genre, like bhangra-pop or Hindi rock, but fell under the overall umbrella of Indipop.
Rapper Karma feels that the current hip-hop scene in India is good. He says, “Every artist is growing constantly, and everyone is pushing their art to do better. There was a time when hip-hop was not considered an art form in India but now, I guess everybody wants a piece of it or they want to be a part of it.”
The audience of Indian hip-hop, Karma says, is constantly changing its taste. “I am adapting and experimenting through my songs. I try to keep a balance between hardcore hip-hop songs and some commercial songs as well because that helps you to grab both kinds of audience. Anybody who can adapt with the audience can make it, so I see myself here only, doing great things.”
Not many would know but Karma works under Kalamkar, a music label owned by rapper Raftaar. He found his love for music when he was in standard 11. “I was an introverted guy, and rap was the only medium where I was able to express my thoughts.”
Rappers in 2000s
In the early 2000s, a non-Indian man provided Indian hip-hop with the spark it needed badly. Bohemia (Roger David), a Pakistani American rapper living in California, along with a hip-hop producer Sha One (Seth Agress), released his debut album 'Vich Pardesan De'. He rose to prominence with his first full-length Punjabi rap album 'Pesa Nasha Pyar', which became a sensational hit in India.
Bohemia inspired many, and soon, a group of five individuals, including Yo Yo Honey Singh, Lil Golu, Badshah, Raftaar, and Ikka, together known as Mafia Mundeer, came crashing into the Punjabi rap scene. Unfortunately, the glory of this group was short-lived. Soon, many members parted ways, and started working independently.
2010 onwards...
Then in the early 2010s, Punjabi rappers took over Bollywood. Raftaar made it big with ‘Swag Mera Desi’, and Badshah gained fame with 'DJ Wale Babu.' Then came Naved Shaikh (Naezy), and he dropped his first track ‘Aafat,’ that went viral in no time. Another young rapper from the streets of Mumbai started making his presence felt – Vivian Fernandes, better known by his stage name Divine. In 2013, he released his hit song 'Yeh Mera Bombay.' In 2015, Divine and Naezy collaborated on a song called 'Mere Gully Mein.'
Director Zoya Akhtar listened to Naezy and Divine’s song, and was impressed. She decided to portray the stories of both these young rappers, and made Gully Boy.
The success of the film proved to be beneficial for all the young underground rappers who possess exceptional talent and skills, each of them hustling to become one of the best rappers in India.
Diss culture
Hip-hop also has another side to it – The diss culture. D’Evil tells us, “Hip-Hop music is about expressing yourself. Hence rappers express their disappointment with other rappers in form of a diss track. Rap battle has a fair amount of audience. It’s just another way to express your emotions.”
Adding to the same, Karma explains, “Diss tracks are no doubt a part of hip-hop, and are important, but in India, I feel the recent songs are killing one very important element of hip-hop, that is storytelling.
People are taking less interest in storytelling, and more into diss tracks and insults, which is kind of sad.
It’s alright if they are doing it to express your feeling, but not if you want to get that instant fame for a short period. I think that takes away the seriousness of the culture.”
Shah Rules has a different opinion. He feels that things often get toxic between fans. “I don’t think it takes away from the seriousness. A great diss track comes with a lot of intricacy and depth, which the average listener will miss 99 percent of the time.”
Why rappers dress in a certain way?
Have you noticed that rappers dress in a certain way? D’Evil gives us an insight into the baggy and blingy clothes that the rappers wear. He tells us that it is a part of the thrift culture. “America would have these thrift stores, which would sell cheap clothes to people who are living in poverty. Since there were only donated clothes available, there were no choices for size. Hence people would just wear oversized baggy clothing, which later on became the fashion. Most of the American rappers come from the ghetto, and have always bought clothes from thrift stores. And as they became iconic with their music, so did the baggy and oversized clothing. However, you will always see a change in the way rappers dress as they evolve. Their clothes evolve with them as they succeed. Successful rappers wear luxury brands now like Gucci or Dior etc.”
Karma explains it further for us. He says, “Dressing plays a very important role for an artist. That is your character. And hip-hop is a very serious culture so you gotta be serious about it. You just cannot force yourself into it. Just because you rap, does not mean you are hip-hop. It is a completely different league. Sneakers also have a concrete place in hip-hop because every sneaker and every shoe that comes out plays an important role, and has a story behind it so it's important to carry that as a souvenir of culture.”
For Shah Rule, the inspiration is from the culture, and in close to five decades, trends and styles have evolved. “Whether it’s Run DMC sporting Adidas tracksuits, bucket hats, and gold rope chains in the ’80s, to Coogie Sweaters and Versace sunglasses brought forth by The Notorious BIG. in the mid-’90s, to baggy jeans and XXL tees along with silver diamond-studded chains hanging till your stomach, pushed by 50 Cent and his generation of rappers. It’s all a part of the culture’s history. Streetwear has always evolved in parallel to hip-hop and Skate culture, and it always takes a few trendsetters to set the tone for their era.”
Why are there not many female rappers?
Even after so much evolution and changes, we still do not see many female MCs in the hip-hop world. D’Evil feels that there are many female rappers but he also agrees that the ratio between male and female MCs is not equal.
“We need female rappers as they can inspire a whole generation of girls to do something unique and different. I would also say that parents need to be more open-minded towards girls choosing their careers. The Indian culture and the point of view towards women is also a major reason for us having very few female rappers getting into hip-hop.”
Agreeing with D’Evil, Karma tells us, “Actually, there are a good number of female rappers in India. Sometimes, it's not about the artist but the audience. I feel that it's just the start of hip-hop, and as we grow as a culture and as a society, there will be more female rappers coming up into the scene.”
Shah Rule also tells us that there are plenty of talented female rappers in India. “We, as an audience, need to wake up and give them their flowers and help them shine brighter because there are many, and the numbers are growing.” He shouts out to some of the veterans he has personally worked with – “Raja Kumari, Meba Ofilia, Dee MC, and Siri. Some recent and new names to watch out for are Agsy, Mrunal Shankar, and Trichia Grace Ann.”
Use of cuss-words in raps and objectification of women
While talking about hip-hop and rap culture, things that irk us are the use of abusive words, or objectifying women. While discussing the same, Shah Rules asks, “The majority of us in society use certain words in our communication as a source of expressing our emotions, so why wouldn’t it be fair to use it in your art where you are supposed to creatively not be bound by any limitations for expression?"
He adds, “When it comes to objectifying women, hip-hop is always put under the microscope but Bollywood will casually do it in every item song/ music video and movie, and get away with it. We, as a society, have to grow and do better for women all over. This issue is deeper than rap, and I can’t speak on behalf of the genre, especially when we are just growing an extension of it here in India, and its origins are in the US. We have that responsibility and the voices to uplift and support women through our art, and that has always been my stance.”
Karma takes it as a responsibility to not use cuss words or to objectify women in his raps. He explains, “I am conscious about not using such words. As an artist, you also have to uplift society, and I know my audience consists of young children as well, so I don't want them to shout these kinds of words in society. However, rap is the most expressive part according to me.”
Challenges...
From the big labels to streaming giants and brands, they are all saying the same thing: hip-hop is the hottest independent music genre in India in 2022, and it is only going to get bigger.
Initiatives like Gully Gang Entertainment, Kalamkar, Dharavi Dream Project, and Haq Se Hindustan are doing their bit to promote Indian hip-hop. Recently, rapper Raftaar independently released his album, Mr. Nair.
While things are changing, a few challenges remain. The audience for hip-hop is restricted to those under 25, and people still compare it to film music and Indipop. The lockdown has also impacted the genre just when things were showing promise.
source https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/tracing-the-rise-of-indias-hip-hop-scene-baba-sehgal-bohemia-to-raftaar-divine-karma-shah-rules-devil-10283401.html
