Shaheen Bagh, CAA, Farmers바카라� Protest: Hip-Hop Is The Voice Of Dissent In India

바카라�Barack Obama, Former US President

With his chiselled body and dimpled smile, Rahul Rajkhowa could be the quintessential chocolate-boy hero in a Bollywood romcom. Throw in the pose-with-the-rose and the picture of the guitar-strumming lover-boy is complete. But that is not what Rahul is. Not even close. For, the 26-year-old is a rebel. A rapper. A hip-hop star. A young crusader who uses music as a weapon to fight for causes that affect the world around him. Just like Duleswar, 28, who goes by the fancy name of Dule Rocker. He is a rebel too. A Chemistry graduate from a government college in Kalahandi in Odisha, he once worked as a waiter in a hotel, even cleaned tables and washed plates as a migrant worker in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. But even in the tough times, he never forgot his roots바카라�his agrarian family back home. Last year, as parts of India erupted in anger against the three new farm laws approved by Parliament, Dule Rocker vented his anger through a song titled, I Stand With Farmers바카라�a song in Hindi, without any music and shot with a mobile phone in his village. Weeks later, young Indie artiste Young Daku composed another song in support of the peasants바카라� agitation. Calling it the Farmers Rap, the singer became one of the most prominent voices of dissent against the farm laws.  

Across India, young, brash and little-known art­istes with strong views are using hip-hop as an outlet to speak up and speak out, picking up even politically and socially-sensitive issues to vent their anger. And they are doing it in local languages, taking their messages to the hinterlands, creating awareness among people who don바카라�t speak English and/or Hindi. India is witnessing a hip-hop churning with the genre throwing up new voices and  fresh perspectives바카라�lungi-clad artistes demolishing the stereotyped image of hip-hop star in hoodies and metal-studded caps. It바카라�s a brave new world where hitherto unknown rappers are hogging the limelight, speaking truth to power through passionate takes on burning iss­ues. The genre which took seed and grew on the sidewalks of Bronx, New York, as a means of dissent among Black-Americans has gone hyper-desi.  

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Dilin Nair aka Raftaar, one of India바카라�s first rappers who broke through the mainstream music industry dominated by Bollywood songs, formed the country바카라�s first hip-hop group 바카라�Mafia Mun­deer바카라� along with two other rappers who would go on to become big stars바카라�Yo Honey Singh and Badshah. The group바카라�s first album International Villager was the first non-film music album to have enjoyed mainstream success in almost a decade. Their music was, though, mostly about shiny cars, fine wine and beautiful women바카라�a genre that straddled rap and hip-hop but without the protest element. Over the years, Indian hip-hop became synonymous with pop, almost blurring the line between the two genres.

The Hip Crowd (Clockwise from right) Deep Kalsi, MC Altaf, Shah Rule, D바카라�Evil, Raftaar, Rahul Rajkhowa, KRsna, Dule Rocker, Big Deal and Mary Kali.

Raftaar parted ways with Honey Singh in 2013 and the break-up turned out to be the breakthrough event year for Indian hip-hop; Raftaar바카라�s 바카라�dissing바카라�바카라�strong criticism바카라�of Honey Singh in his song Swag Mera Desi introduced competition among Indian rappers, which in turn fuelled expe­rimentation with different elements of the genre. It was the first time one rapper openly called out another rapper in India. 바카라�It wasn바카라�t anger. It was disappointment, because he (Honey Singh) had given me so much hope, and suddenly I see that he is taking all the credit due to me,바카라� Raftaar says. 바카라�Hip-hop is real life. It will have consequences. If you are not doing anything real, then it won바카라�t work,바카라� he adds.

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By that time, India was already on the digital highway and internet penetration deep into the country had sparked a boom in mobile telephony바카라�with high-speed 3G coverage reaching even the remotest areas of the country. And together with the spread of social media platforms, time was just ripe for young talents to emerge. 바카라�The rapid spread of digital devices presented the art­istes a never-before opportunity to show and tell바카라�Production and distribution of content bec­ame very easy,바카라� says Sanjay Ranade, an associate professor at the University of Mumbai, who has been studying popular culture and music in India (see).

In 2019, just after the BJP-led government at the Centre introduced the Citizenship Amendment Bill바카라�which would later bec­ome the Citizenship Amendment Act바카라�JNU graduate Rahul Rajkhowa switched on his mobile phone and shot his now-famous rap: Let바카라�s talk about citizenship amendment/The Constitution kinda feels redundant/Kinda feels like secularism is redundant/Coz바카라� you are back to divi­ding religions. The song went viral on social media and Rahul went on to rap even more fiercely on other burning issues. 바카라�Hip-hop is very genuine, very raw. There is no musicality. It바카라�s saying things straight up,바카라� says Rahul, who now teaches history at a Bangalore school. 바카라�As socially conscious artistes, we can바카라�t sit silently doing nothing,바카라� he adds. Over the past few years, hip-hop has slowly created dedicated audiences and a fan-base for itself. The number of artistes in this genre too hs grown across the country, talking about issues around them, or just on anything that focuses on humanising and empathising with the people. 바카라�If you put the truth out there, people will relate to it. That is what I do, when I create music and that바카라�s why people relate to it,바카라� says Delhi-based rapper KRsna.

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But it has not always been easy for Indian hip-hop artistes to find acceptance in a highly conservative society. Especially in states like Bihar, where young artistes have to battle societal prejudices and family disapproval to find space for their craft, considered alien to our culture. Rahul, 19, a Patna-based hip-hop art­iste, says he suffixed 바카라�Insane바카라� to his name as a badge of honour after being called mad for his choice of rapping clothes (see).

Photograph by Tribhuvan Tiwari

Across India, prejudices have often acted as trigger for young artistes to pick issues that are relevant across regions, across communities. Kerala-based rapper Fejo, considered a pioneer in the Malayalam hip-hop industry for his songs with strong socio-political themes, says his own personal experiences became the background for his songs. 바카라�It바카라�s all the stuff I have been though as a kid. Right from facing caste issues, to being told I am different because of the way I looked, and constant comment on my economic status바카라�I have felt really strongly about these,바카라� he says. 바카라�I always had good writing skills and I considered myself a poet. That바카라�s essentially what rap is. It is poetry. And once I sat down writing about what I felt, I found it was very easy to let the thoughts flow,바카라� he adds.

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For Odisha-based rapper Samir Rishu Mohanty aka Big Deal, 31, what started with a rap-rant against a teacher soon turned into a crusade on issues that have a larger bearing on people. His song Haan Main Chinki Hun addressed racism faced by people from the Northeast in India바카라�s mainland for the way they look. Born to a Japanese mother and Odia father, Samir himself faced racism for his looks바카라�바카라�small eyes and flat nose,바카라� as he puts it. 바카라�I had written a song in English previously titled Are You From India. It was a bit successful, but I realised that many people still need to hear it. And that바카라�s the decision beh­ind writing this particular song in Hindi, bec­ause I wanted more people to hear about racism I have faced all my life. Be it in Darjeeling or in Bangalore, I have seen it everywhere,바카라� he adds. But Samir is more at home when rapping in his mother tongue which, he feels, gives him the freedom to experiment with words and phrases. And his most popular song till date is Mu Heli Odia (I am Odia), his tribute to his home state. Fellow-Odia Duleshwar too found popularity when his Odia songs went viral on social media. 바카라�I am not very good at marketing or promoting my creations, so to see my songs going viral on the internet meant that whatever I was saying was reaching out to people,바카라� he says.    

One of the biggest reasons, many experts feel, hip-hop music has been able to grow the way it has in the country, is down to the fact that rappers have realised the importance of rapping in their mother-tongue, rather than in English. KRsna started writing rap songs in English, but it wasn바카라�t until he wrote a few verses in Hindi that he realised he was much better at it. The ability to rap in the mother tongue delivers auth­enticity, says Mumbai-based rapper Shah Rule. 바카라�Hip-hop has gone regional now, and there is no one version of it. It is all over India right now. There are so many different languages that are flourishing in the world of rap. People are listening to them, respecting them, and thus helping them grow. At the end of the day, the local languages will represent us,바카라� he adds.

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American academic Michael Eric Dyson, who has written a book on Tupac Shakur, once des­cribed hip-hop as the 바카라�brilliance of pavement poetry바카라�. For Indian hip-hop artistes, it is also a lived experience. A shared life with others who have gone through the same situations or emotions. In Kashmir, where hip-hop flourished even before the genre evolved in other parts of the country, protest songs have been a part of the lives of the people. Young Kashmiri artistes have often used stinging words to dissent against authority and the State and creating awareness among the people (see)

Lived experiences have always provided the spark to hip-hop artistes to tell their stories to the people. 바카라�The source material can be anything. Real life. Love, relationships, friendships, heartbreaks, success, failure, betrayal, getting into an arg­ument with someone바카라�it could literally be anything. Probably a fan commentary, something nice or a hater saying something horrible, all that can also spark me off,바카라� says Shah Rule. 바카라�We all are living in the same world. For me, it has always been about creating relatable content. That is something people want to listen to and want to relate to, in terms of their favourite artistes,바카라� he adds.

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Photograph by Shutterstock

And lyrics always form a very important part of the rapper바카라�s story-telling process. It forms the basic idea of what the rapper wants to say, and while it can be about anything, it has to come from a real-life experience. Anna aka Mary Kali, from Kerala, feels her writings help her talk about issues she faced while wanting to become an artiste. A mother of two, Anna raps against inh­erent patriarchy and sexism in the society. 바카라�There is this image of a 37-year-old woman that everyone has, and right now through my music, I am trying to break that image. I have realised it is important to do so. Because, it will probably help others in realising they are facing something similar,바카라� she says.

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For Duleshwar, rap and hip-hop gave him the much-needed strength, and a medium to express his feelings, not just about prejudices and stereotypes against Dalits, but also to talk about things, which he feels should be talked about. His song Sarkar Jawab De, which went viral last year, was about the crisis that the poor and the underprivileged faced when the first lockdown was implemented following the Covid pandemic outbreak, forcing them to walk back to their homes. Many of them travelled back on foot for days, without food or water. 바카라�It had shaken me to the very core, to be honest. I could not believe that the government would be so insensitive towards the plight of migrant workers. You know, in the West, if there is a pregnant woman on the road, people would take care of her and make sure that she is comfortable. Here, a pregnant woman walked for kilometres and kilometres, and nobody did anything,바카라� he says.

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The evolution Indian hip-hop into crews/gangs along with their increasing competitiveness, is what has given the Indian hip-hop scene its much needed identity now. Rappers understand the competitive aspect of this genre, and, in fact, feel proud about it. 바카라�It바카라�s just how it is. I have been a sportsperson, so I understand the need to be competitive in this genre, because it is all about how you can present your thoughts in a better way than others,바카라� exp­lains Kerala-based musician Wayword. The meteoric rise of several rappers, including Raftaar, Badshah, Honey Singh, Divine, Raja Kumari and others, has encouraged many to follow their dream. As Raftaar puts it, 바카라�It is all about what you have to say from your heart.바카라�  

Varun Arora, now known as Karma, was born in Dehradun to a lower middle-class family. Introduced to the world of hip-hop in school through his friends, he knew his calling then. 바카라�But for a 12 or a 13-year-old boy from Dehradun, it wasn바카라�t easy. I didn바카라�t even know what music production was like, but I knew I wanted to do this,바카라� he says. So intense was his passion, that he dec­ided to drop out of his final year college exams to do a live performance. 바카라�It was at that moment I knew I had taken the right decision. I had people singing my song, something that I had only dreamt of sitting in my bedroom and thinking about all these rappers like Raftaar bhai or Badshah,바카라� he says. Now he is on the verge of releasing his first album. 바카라�It is a dream come true. It is all about what I have gone through as a person, what made me who I am today,바카라� he adds.   

As hip-hop grows across India, youngsters are deejaying, MCing, graffiti painting and B-boying, and creating a culture of dissent and protest. In street corners and pavements. In small towns and big cities. It is a brave new world out there.  

(This appeared in the print edition as "Rap For Resistance")

(Edited by Anupam Bordoloi)