Rap Revolution: Story of Indian Hip-Hop

Hip-hop is one of the biggest musical genres in the world right now. This is the story of India's hip-hop scene, from the 90s to 2020s, how it evolved over the course of last 30 years. And it is only going to get bigger from here.

Source: BBC UK

It was the American summer of 1973. Somewhere in New York City at a birthday party, an 18-year-old DJ (DJ Kool Herc) along with his emcee friend were unknowingly laying foundations of a music style that will go on to become one of the biggest music genres in the world. Now we globally know it as Hip Hop. As any genre, it has its roots in varied styles of music, cultures and was shaped over time by many different artists. Gradually, it transformed itself into a subculture of its own.

Ever since its inception, the whole hip hop scene has been travelling all around the globe. Youth from different countries are taking notes from the American rappers, sprinkling it with localism and making a sound of their own.

Couple of decades after that pivotal birthday party, hip hop wave reached the Indian shores. Baba Sehgal was one of the first rappers who brought hip hop to the country with his trio of albums. The Indian club scene welcomed it with grace, and his third album Thanda Thanda Paani was a hit. But at that time, 90s Bollywood music and indie pop was the dominating sound for most Indian ears. And the hip hop spark, as brightly as it emerged, started to fade.

The second wave was brought by a non-Indian man popularly known as Bohemia; a Pakistani-American rapper based in California who primarily raps in Punjabi. His first two albums, Vich Pardesan De and Pesa Nasha Pyar were major/monster hits in India which were released in the first half of the 2000s. This was also the time when an artist by the name of Panjabi MC was trying to blend the worlds of Bhangra and hip hop. His song Mundian to Bach Ke with Jay Z introduced sounds of Bhangra to a global audience. Years later, a remix of the same song was featured in the 2021 movie The White Tiger.

All this while artists at home were tuning their strings, trying to find the correct pitch. Sharpening their pens, training their vocal cords, and the microphones waiting to blare. At the same time, the desi audience were familiarising themselves with the hip hop culture, absorbing the sounds and warming up their eardrums - due to the popularity of the genre in the West – for what was about to come. The real explosion of hip hop and rap in India was yet to happen.

Wave number three came from 2 sides. First was the brewing underground scene, both in North and the South of India. Groups like Machas With Attitude and Street Academics were perking up ears in the South. While in the North, five individual rappers got together and formed a group called Mafia Mundeer. They had names like Yo Yo Honey Singh, Badshaah, Raftaar, Lil Golu and Ikka. Though their glory days were short lived, they ended up giving a lot of popular Punjabi rap songs. This would soon pay off.

Second major thing to happen was the commercialisation of hip hop music through Bollywood. The Punjabi rap scene was making substantial noise and soon Bollywood jumped in/heard that. Big Hindi movies started to feature Punjabi rap songs and the rappers were finally getting their due recognition. In no time this music became an integral part of Indian clubs, house parties, weddings. Music labels like Sony and T-Series started to sign rappers. And the hip hop wave had finally reached the mainstream.

As hip hop was growing in India, so was the internet connectivity. Youth drawn towards this style of music now had exposure to the works of world-class rappers and the global hip hop culture. They soon realised rap can be utilised as a tool to express their inner life and struggles. This was the beginning of the gully scene, which was just about to explode.

On the streets of Mumbai, two stars were carving a voice of their own. Naved Shaikh and Vivian Fernandes who were soon going to be known as Naezy and Divine, were rapping about stories of their life on streets and publishing their music on Youtube. They had sharp writing, groovy rhymes, and constructive storytelling. Soon their names started to circulate outside of the gully. In 2015, Sony Music Entertainment signed Divine as an artist. The two rappers collaborated on a song Mere Gully Mein which was about to revolutionise their lives and the Indian hip hop scene.

Their music soon reached the ears of the famous filmmaker Zoya Akhtar. She was so impressed with the story of these two young boys that she wanted to make a movie about their life. Calls were made, scripts were written, shots were shot, and India got their first movie on hip hop, Gully Boy. The film featured many rappers from the country and the soundtrack was done with the help of approximately 54 contributors. One of their promotional singles also features the legendary American rapper Nas.

Post the success of Gully Boy, doors have opened for the underground rappers. The culture has spread across the whole country. Now you can see rappers from Kashmir (Ahmer), from the Northeast (Khasi Bloodz) and other lesser-known parts of the country. New homegrown independent labels have sprung up like Kalamkaar (owned by rapper Raftaar). Even names as big as Def Jam Recordings have opened their division in India. As rapper Shah Rule said in one of his interviews, this is the “renaissance phase of Indian hip hop.”

Apart from the commercial success, hip hop has become an identity, a voice of the people. From protest songs to celebratory, artists are diving deep in the wells of their mind and drawing out art that they resonate with, their truth.

And it’s safe to say, this is only the beginning of asli hip hop.