By Varushka Bhushan
From teenagers having rap battles on Orkut group chats and playing the one rap song that made it across the seas on a burned CD on repeat – the story of the rapper on the rise is now a national phenomenon. The underground hip-hop scene has been prevalent in Mumbai for years and has now gained momentum on the international stage with Zoya Akhtar’s “Gully Boy”, the breakout film of 2019.
While Gully Boy has made massive strides for Bollywood, it has also played a major role in the limelight the Indian hip-hop scene is enjoying right now, an example of which would be Divine’s album “Kohinoor” that includes collaborations from Nas and Dave East. Somehow “Desi hip-hop” or “Gully Rap” has managed to go from a niche to making a place for itself in mainstream media. The question is, how?
Mumbai’s hip-hop scene started over a decade ago and took off through the help of the internet. Teenagers were introduced to old school rap, artists like Eminem, Nas and 50 Cent, usually by their friends or relatives. They dived further into the genre and started writing their own rhymes. It was as if these teenagers had found a purpose. They were no longer slum rats trying to simply survive. This led to the development of online groups like Insignia Rap Combat on Orkut where they tested out their writing and began conducting rap battles. Many gangs in the Mumbai scene today credit their formation to these group chats. The next step was to battle it out in person: many rappers, like A-List, consciously started organised cyphers or events during open mics.
Hip-hop in India did not suddenly appear from thin air, it has been years in the making. Earlier it was identified by the works of Raftaar or Yo Yo Honey Singh. One has to credit Naezy and Divine for the sudden spotlight that allowed for a change in the definition of hip-hop. In 2013, Divine released his first single, “Yeh mera Bombay” and Naezy followed soon in 2014, releasing his first single, “Aafat”. They both released their music on YouTube with whatever equipment they had, recording the lyrics on headphone microphones, using hand held cameras and having their friends direct and record the videos. Their talent, however raw, still stood out and for the first time, an independent music scene seemed to compete with mainstream Bollywood. Soon other rappers, like Emiway and Kaam Bhaari, surfaced. It was around this time that Divine signed with Sony Music India and other artists started doing independent work for Bollywood. The end goal may seem ‘making it to Bollywood’, however, most artists complained of having little to no artistic freedom, saying that Bollywood wanted to take this niche and exploit it. This sent rappers back to square one, to write, produce and record their own music with no investment.
When there was chatter about Gully Boy, it was as if the golden ticket these rappers were waiting for was finally handed to them. Gully Boy was truly the hit everyone anticipated it to be, giving rise to more independent record labels like Azadi Records and Inclnk, which led to the creation of more documentaries, multiple articles, more attention to regional rappers and rise of other issues within hip-hop in India like the lack of female rappers.
Today, hip-hop in India garners millions of views and rappers remain true to themselves and their music. However, one has to question whether the scene would have grown the way it has if it wasn’t for Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy or would the artists have continued to struggle with their music?
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