Hip hop at 50: The best of Indian hip hop right now

The list of Indian hip hop superstars is long and growing rapidly: DIVINE, Badshah (above), Rajakumari, Prabh Deep, Seedhe Maut, Raftaar, Emiway Bantai, KR$NA, Diljit Dosanjh, AP Dhillon, MC Stan, Karan Aujla, Arivu command large fan followings. (Photo courtesy The Dharavi Dream Project)

On August 11, 1973, a teenager from the Bronx in New York City decided to throw a back-to-school party for her apartment building’s community centre. She asked her 18-year-old brother, who owned a hefty sound system, to be the DJ. Neither could have anticipated that this little block party would go down in history as the day that hip hop was born.

Clive Campbell, the brother, better known to the world as Kool Herc, used a pair of turntables to play music in heavy rotation: Break beats without a break, late into the night. Hip hop began at the DJ console, spreading out into New York clubs and parks in the 1970s. As a musical genre, it came into its own when MCs began to take the mic, using those bars being dropped by DJs as background for their verse.

No one can be certain about the first hip hop song, but in 1979, New Jersey-based The Sugarhill Gang’s iconic track “Rapper’s Delight” hit the airwaves, and hip hop had liftoff. Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank and Master Gee’s call to “boogie to the boogie, the beat” was heard and obliged across the US, where it became the first rap single to become a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

Hip hop has not looked back since. A musical genre that was dismissed in the 1980s as a fad, and one that institutions like the Grammys did not take seriously for decades, now dominates the popular music landscape. New superstars have risen, as have new audiences, new platforms and new ways of moving in and thinking about the world we live in. But hip hop is so much more than an art form. It is a lifestyle, informing and shaping youth culture around the world.

In India, too, hip hop has struck a chord unlike any other music form that can be called ‘imported’. In 2006, Bohemia, the Pakistani-American rapper, put together the world’s first full-length Punjabi-language hip hop album for a major international label, Pesa Nasha Pyar. By 2008, Hard Kaur had emerged as a name from Birmingham who spit verse fiery enough for Bollywood to take notice. In the decades since, hip hop has impressed itself upon practically every pin code area in the country.

A lot of the OGs of Indian hip hop ran in crews. Around the same time as Bohemia’s “Mundiyan To Bachke” was reverberating in clubs all over North India, a rag-tag bunch calling themselves Mafia Mundeer emerged from Delhi. The group disbanded in 2012, but its members—Badshah, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Raftaar, Lil Golu and Ikka—are among the biggest names on the Punjabi rap scene even today.

The same year, in Mumbai, a rapper called Ace put together his own collective—Mumbai’s Finest—and organized the city’s first rap battle and battle league. Inspired by Tupac Shakur and the New York-origin hip hop culture as it emerged on MTV, Mumbai’s Finest held cyphers, incorporated b-boysm beatboxers and graffiti. Orkut and the streets would be their playground, the city’s uneven topography, social and geographical, their muse.

Orkut was where Chennai citizens Adhi and Jeeva met in 2005. Their shared passion for music would result in the creation of Hiphop Tamizha, among the first known rap crews from the south of India. Their 2000s mixtape, Viswaroobam Arambam, and their 2012 debut album, Hip Hop Tamizhan, remain part of the canon. Even more intriguing, Kerala’s Street Academics is a crew that got its spiritual start in 1999, when founder Rajeev M began to build pause tapes and try to meld spoken word, without any knowledge of hip hop.

No talk of Indian hip hop OGs can miss Brodha V from Bangalore, whose career began over text battles on the Orkut forum Insignia Rap Combat; and who launched Machas With Attitude, along with Smokey The Ghost and Big Nikk—who had their own film music career, thanks to collaborations with Indian indie music legends Raghu Dixit and Vishal Dadlani. Brodha V and Smokey the Ghost have built successful solo careers since; with their own cult followings.

Evidently, hip hop culture in India mushroomed online, over social media and evolved to become part of mainstream culture. The list of Indian hip hop superstars is long and growing rapidly: DIVINE, Badshah, Rajakumari, Prabh Deep, Seedhe Maut, Raftaar, Emiway Bantai, KR$NA, Diljit Dosanjh, AP Dhillon, MC Stan, Karan Aujla, Arivu command large fan followings.

But Indian hip hop has also followed the global trend: Emerging from the streets, going global over the internet, and returning to the hyper-local niche it was born in. Voice, verse and vernacular: These are the cornerstones of Indian hip hop right now. The form’s immense accessibility has allowed for artists to emerge in every district and language; and speak of their own very personal, yet universal, experiences.

Delhi’s burgeoning Punjabi-oriented rap scene now includes Muhfaad aka Gaurav Pal, a headstrong rapper with a discography of over 30 booming tracks. Fotty Seven aka Ankit Gudwani’s distinct voice and unique fan interaction keeps the capital city on its toes. KING aka Arpan Kumar Chandel’s star continues to rise into stratospheric realms on the back of his brilliant album Champagne Talk, while Raga’s flow and beats keep the crowds flocking to the bars.

In Punjab, in the wake of Sidhu Moosewala’s untimely demise, the mic stays on. Sikander “King of Mohali” Kahlon's trap-influenced tracks and annual “20XX flows” have amassed him a national following. Moosewala protege Wazir Patar stands out for his old-school gangsta rap on tracks like “Notorious” and “WahzirInTheHood”. Chandigarh-origin Jassa Dhillon has earned cross-border fandom with international collabs and excellent flow.

Mumbai’s rap OGs have mentored and raised a new wave of promising hip hop artists. Bantai Records’s superlative roster of artists includes Shez, who has turned to the classic beat of the Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, an icon of hip hop music culture, to produce a truly unique sound. Dopaedelicz’ frontman Stony Psyko has stood on Dharavi’s hallowed ground and been a deep influence on what is commonly dubbed “gully rap”. From the same neighbourhood, MC Altaf has risen into the upper echelons of Indian rap, joining DIVINE’s Gully Gang label, and bringing his boisterous energy along with him. Also essential on your playlist and live experience-bucketlist right now, from Dharavi, are 7’Bantaiz, a crew that tells stories of the “ghetto life” that’ll have you vibing hard in the front row.

From Dehradun, artists like Karma and Dakait are stealing the limelight with their tight rhymes. Spitfire, aka Nitin Mishra from Madhya Pradesh, writes Urdu verse and is referred to as “little Ghalib” by the actor Ranveer Singh, with whose label IncInk he has signed. Dino James, from Betul, has sent such a high-voltage current through the musical landscape that he has now transcended into the world of reality TV. From Pune, Vijay DK taps into drill to drop rhymes about crime and the hustle life.

From Bangalore, Hanumankind’s pensive lyrics, fire delivery and energetic live sets are inescapable. In Kashmir, MC Kash and Ahmer deliver missives about their bittersweet life in the Himalayas, what it is like to live in paradise that is perhaps not more than a gilded cage. In Shillong, Reble aka Daiaphi Lamare follows in the footsteps of breakout star Meba Ofilia to produce and speed rap assertive lyrics fired at her critics. Kerala’s TribeMama Marykali fuses her bilingual lyrics with equal parts soul, funk, jazz and rap—only buoyed by her eye-grabbing live performances.

It is perhaps no surprise that this is just the tip of the iceberg. True hip hop hounds could name a dozen in your own neighbourhood. But why has hip hop resonated so far and wide? At the core of all hip hop is a celebration of the highs and lows of life. It is braggadocious, it speaks truth to power, it is a mould for selfhood in a way that not many other music genres allow.
At its best, hip hop is reflective and reflexive—and always highly personal. There’s something incredibly powerful about this blend of verse, beats, movement and art. The most compelling hip hop is the kind that resonates with its audience—and India’s best artists have their ear to the ground to find their flow.

Also read: Badshah on Dharavi Project: God has given me the opportunity to be the voice for the voiceless and I ain’t gonna let Him down