Beat street revolution
Hip-hop, once an underground art form, is now grabbing considerable mainstream spotlight.
For all these years, hip-hop in India was associated with a slew of bass boosted Punjabi songs that vociferously arranged the words daru, ladki and drugs into a rhyme scheme. But while these songs blared at clubs across the country, at the same time, and almost in tandem, the country's underground hip-hop movement ripened in Dharavi's slums. The last couple of years have seen some of the early virtuosos of hip-hop grabbing considerable mainstream spotlight and Zoya Akhtar's upcoming film Gully Boy is one such offering that is set to catapult hip-hop into Bollywood's hall of fame and tell their stories from ground zero.
Based on the lives of Vivian Fernandes aka DIVINE and Naved Shaikh aka Naezy, who dropped the song Mere Gully Mein, the film sets the record straight for this genre. DIVINE explains the reason for this sudden acceptance and recognition of hip-hop in India, “If you go through the history of hip-hop from its beginning, it has always been a medium for people to express the realities and struggles of their lives. Hip-hop is that platform for the youth of today, and it's my story and the issues that other hip-hop artists are singing about have found resonance with people all over the country,” he says.
Abhishek Dhusia aka 39 aka Mumbai aka ACE is the first generation of artists from the city, and a pioneer of the movement in India. When ACE started out in 2006, he hardly ever imagined hip-hop could convert into a career option. Yet today, his wildest dreams have come true with Gully Boy in which he does a cameo, playing himself, along with a solo on the OST. He says, “I think a lot of brands want a piece of Hip-hop now because everyone knows Hip-hop is the next big thing at least for the next five to seven years.”
ACE currently heads the crew, Mumbai's Finest whose members also include artists such as Diefferent, Nasty Ninja, D Hood and I'n'Stine. His career spanning 12 years offers him a deep insight into the rise of hip-hop, right from writing bars for online rap-battles on Orkut to its commercialisation today, “It's only right now that people are beginning to take notice. Everyone understands that it's a movement, a culture and it's been like rags to riches story. I have always dreamt of a time like this back in the day when we used to just meet up with local rappers to jam. We have always been the voice of the streets,” he reminisces. The other initiative that gives credibility to this genre is a 15-week certificate course offered by Mumbai University that began this month with its first twenty students.
The idea germinated when Dr. Yatindra Ingle, a rapper, and the current hip-hop course coordinator at the university, wanted to formalize hip-hop. He says, “In the last two years, apparently the virtual spaces have played an impact on the popularity of this genre. Now underground music stands out to be alternate music. It’s on some or the other media, been liked, followed or subscribed to. There is uplift for this genre in terms of performing spaces and platforms due to which it's been widely recognized in our country today.”
Dr. Yatindra also reminds us that hip-hop has always been recognized in India, right from Baba Sehgal's Thanda Thanda Paani to Nana Patekar's Love Rap in Krantiveer, to Javed Jaffery's famous song Mumbai from the movie Bombay Boys that still beats hearts in most hip-hop circles.
But even though Mumbai University is the first varsity in India to give hip-hop its academic credibility, The Dharavi Project, which runs the after school of hip-hop, began training kids in this genre few years ago. This initiative nurtures and showcases the underground hip-hop talent in Dharavi, and is headed by Dolly Rateshwar who wants to establish hip-hop as a medium of social change, “So four years ago, when we met different crews — SlumGods and Dopeadelicz in Dharavi and asked them what they needed. They said we need a place to practice and jam and that's when we rented a small shanty in Dharavi and started giving them infrastructure support.”
The growth of hip-hop in the last two years has also been significant for The Dharavi Project that has over 75 students at the school currently. The group soon realized that one room would not be enough to contain this pool of talent, "So last month, we moved into a four-classroom set up where we teach the four different elements of hip-hop, i.e., boxing, rap classes, graffiti artwork and b-boying" shares Dolly, who also says that social media and the social nature of hip-hop is perhaps what has brought it into public consciousness.
The Dharavi Project and Mumbai University have collectively introduced a student exchange programme along with a certification course, which will enable students to learn beyond classroom sessions.
But in hindsight, the commercialization of this genre might do more harm than good for the community by perhaps killing the very essence of this movement. Since it emerges from the underground, going the mainstream route might severe it from its roots in the long run, but ACE asserts it is the only way to move forward in India. "India is majorly dominated by Bollywood and the Indian pop culture. This is the only way hip-hop will stand out. So the commercialization is helping us reach to the masses."
On the other hand, Dr. Yatin says, "We need to understand that the commercial markets and box office will work with the trending scenario of the society. We had the Indian cinema portraying the Indian hip-hop circles too, the only thing is it wasn't recognized earlier."
With a large number of artists mushrooming in Mumbai and other parts of India, hip-hop is here to compete with the genres that already dominate the mainstream. The current crops of artists are moving in this direction, with socially conscious lyrics. Emcees such as Vineet Nair, aka poetikjustic, who's working on his next album Kala Pani under a new moniker Trap Poju, which speaks of the societal jail we are stuck in, mirrors this school of thought, "In India, the culture was adopted from the same ideals and principles coming from the west. It was resistance music. It was also feel-good music. Earlier, mainstream Bollywood painted a half-drawn portrait of Hip-Hop. But now, with more and more artists popping up and spreading their word in their way, the form is getting the recognition it truly deserves. DIVINE, Raftaar, Ikka and Badshah, are painting the side of Hip-Hop that puts street knowledge and a certain level of braggadocio on the table," he shares.
Another artist Akhlesh Sutar aka MC Mawali who raps in Marathi and Hindi and is a part of the Swadesi crew that believes music and art can drive social change. He says, hip-hop will continue to grow in the future in unimaginable ways, "Nobody had a clue what hip-hop was, but there are people who are keeping it real. Hip-hop will take over the commercial industries and move towards social causes also. It would be ideal to see rappers turning into politicians and there will be a lot of talent flowing since it's open to all. The future of hip-hop looks promising," he concludes.