From the clubs to the colleges, the city is nurturing a vibrant hip hop sub-culture. Local MCs tell Amit Gurbaxani why 2008 is going to be the year of Mumbai rap.
It’s been 16 years since Baba Saigal released “Thanda Thanda Paani”, the unauthorised Hindi remake of Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” that became the first Indian rap song to permeate popular consciousness. Since that release, Indian hip hop has mostly appeared in the form of the occasional Bollywood rap hit. But more than a decade-and-half later, the genre has finally moved from the realm of novelty (see Bollywood rap) into that of a genuine sub-culture. Mumbai has been harbouring a rap revolution and all signs indicate that 2008 will be the year of reckoning. The next few months will see the release of at least six locally recorded English hip hop albums featuring Indian artists who were either born in Mumbai or who now live here.
In January, the Bengaluru-based Desi Media Networks, which claims to be India’s first independent hip hop record label, put out They See (Desi) Revolution by DNOAX, a collective of 20 rappers from cities across the country. Though acts from Bengaluru and Hyderabad are also represented, the CD mostly features contributions by members of Mumbai crews such as sKiZzOpHoNiC. Over the next ten months, the Indian division of UK-based company YourDamSelf plans to put out solo efforts by its founder Living In Sin (see profile) and his protégé Big Philly (see profile) as well as a series of mixtapes featuring such Mumbai-based artists as Spaz (see profile), college rapper Raja, and Encore and Sach, the duo behind the recently launched hip hop clothing line Graffitree (see profile). Other unsigned artists plan to release records independently in 2008, including Red Light hip hop night veteran Kunal Shah, multi-ethnic trio Qwaz, Scottish-Indian producer/rapper Infloence and Platinum, the duo comprising rapper Rameez and singer Biyi Fafunwa.
Shah, Rameez and the members of sKiZzOpHoNiC were born and raised in Mumbai and they’re indicative of the energy on college campuses, where kids struggling to gain a sense of individuality are increasingly discovering rap as the ideal form of expression. “I can write whatever I want,” said 21-year-old bachelor of mass media student Rameez, who along with 17-year-old Raja Mukerjee, is a familiar face at rap competitions, which along with hip hop dance contests, are gaining popularity at college festivals.
References to the city pepper the rhymes of Mukerjee’s mentor, DJ Living In Sin. Of the two tracks he’s released so far, “Mumbai” is a rap ballad dedicated to the victims of the 2006 train bomb blasts while on “Churaliya” he casts himself as the Kohinoor that was stolen by the British government. But Sin’s biggest contribution to the scene is as a producer. He decided to help wannabe MCs get a break when he realised that the city was filled with youngsters who are talented but wary of the demands of the music business. “They didn’t want to do the same ol’ same ol’ that everyone else was doing – the love tracks and the Bollywood remixes,” said Sin. “That was what made me want to come and say, ‘Let me try and set up something.’’”
Indian English hip hop is still uncharted territory for the major music labels. The few acts that have scored deals, such as Ishq Bector and Hard Kaur, are NRIs who’ve moved here and attached Hindi choruses to their English rap tunes to crack open the lucrative local market. It’s a compromise many city-bred rappers aren’t willing to make, especially since the niche appeal of international hip hop in a Bollywood-loving nation is what attracted them to the genre in the first place.
Hip hop may have a limited following, but it’s a loyal one. Event management company Fountainhead may have sold less than 7,000 tickets for 50 Cent’s concert in Mumbai in November but they must have been pleased that most fans seemed to know almost every word of Fiddy’s songs. Attendance at Red Light’s once hugely popular Wednesday night gigs has fallen by over 30 per cent recently, but it is still their most talked-about night of the week.
Sin, who has found a new audience in Nerul for his Candy Shop series of hip hop nights, believes that Mumbai’s love for the genre isn’t just growing in size but also in depth. “There are songs I couldn’t play two years ago that I’m playing right now and people go crazy,” he said. “You would [have] never been able to play [DJ Khaled’s] ‘I’m So Hood’ remix two years ago.”
It’s still too early to tell how many takers there will be for homemade hip hop in Mumbai, but most local rappers aren’t setting their sights so small. Unlike American hip hop, which is littered with region-specific references and is often categorised by its place of origin (East Coast, West Coast, Dirty South), it’s hard to distinguish Bengaluru rap from Mumbai rap. The themes Indian rappers rhyme about – partying, women, communal harmony, racism – are kept broad with an eye on an international audience. “We’re focusing on not just Bombay, but India and the world,” said Binoy Nair of sKiZzOpHoNiC. “We want it to go as far as it can.”
From the few Indian hip hop records out there, we can predict that it’s going to be softer and more melodic than its American counterpart and that like Indian rock, it will walk the thin line between derivative and imitative. “At the moment, my artists in London will floor any artist in Bombay hands-down,” admitted Sin. “But in a year’s time, you’ll see artists who can stand their ground.”
Over the years, Mumbai has embraced jazz and rock and currently seems to be entwined in a passionate affair with electronic music. Hip hop started gaining popularity roughly five years ago and it doesn’t look like the genre’s going to go away any time soon.
Source : Time Out Mumbai ISSUE 26 Friday, August 20, 2010
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