The Origins and Future of Indian Hip-Hop

There’s a fairly good chance you’ve come across Hanumankind’s “Big Dawgs” recently.

He shot the video for Big Dawgs in a “well of death,” a carnival trick that many, especially in India, have witnessed at a circus. At the same time, his flow matches the silken spikiness we’re used to seeing from the greatest rappers in the world, though it’s nothing new in India, which is home to a varied and growing hip-hop scene.

While American hip-hop emerged in the ‘70s at NYC block parties, hip-hop started in the clubs as catchy rap tracks in India. It took about a decade for it to bloom into a powerful medium for confession and storytelling. You may not have heard much desi hip-hop (DHH), but consider this — what happens when a country of 740 languages discovers Tupac?

Indian hip-hop tells a million stories from a country with a million cultural identities. Be it the experiences of growing up in turbulent Kashmir or hustling in the slums of Mumbai or a call to more conscious listening, desi hip-hop is as vast, mesmeric, and bewildering as Indian experience itself, and can't be contained in just a single article.

The Early Days: Baba Sehgal & the Asian Underground (1990s – early 2000s)

In the 1990s, the first rap song India ever heard (in the mainstream, at least) came out of discos. Harjeet Singh "Baba" Sehgal dropped his massive hit, “Thanda Thanda Paani,” and it caught fire quickly. The album (same name as the song) sold about 100,000 copies in three and a half months. For the first time, rap was on the radio. 

While these tracks helped rap bubble up into the mainstream for a while, more sustained interest came from the rise of the Asian Underground. In the ‘90s, a wave of first-gen Asian immigrants in the UK were dealing with a racism-drenched society that was steadily diversifying. Caribbean and West African influences were taking a particularly strong hold among these first-generation Asians.

Speaking to the tensions and struggles of living in a foreign, often hostile language, the music blended Indian classical instrumentation, Bollywood vocals, jazz, dub, drum and bass, hip-hop, and jungle. Artists like Apache Indian, Cornershop (Bollywood-y Britpop), Rishi Rich, Panjabi MC, Mumzy Stranger, Talvin Singh, and a whole lot of immigrants sang or rapped about coming up in a rough world. By the 1990s, artists incorporating South Asian signatures in their music entered the UK charts, and their sounds traveled all the way to India. 

Bhangra and other Punjabi influences were particularly popular, hitting global charts – and soon to become a mainstay of much of desi rap. In 2002, Pakistani-American rapper Bohemia dropped his debut album Vich Pardesan De, and followed it up with Pesa Nasha Pyaar in 2006. Both albums gained significant commercial and critical success, especially in South Asian countries, including India. 

No discussion of the Asian Underground is complete without Danish-India duo Bombay Rockers blending hip-hop and bhangra-based vocals all the way up the Indian charts and Indo-Canadian composer-producer-singer ishQ Bector, was also making waves. 

Desi Hip-Hop Toes Into the Mainstream (2005)

Around 2006, we got music from Mafia Munder, desi hip-hop’s first and most well-known group. The member list is a bit confusing, as people came and went. But the group primarily included Yo Yo Honey Singh, Badshah, Ikka, Lil Golu, and Raftaar — all of whom experienced significant commercial success. 

This group is the biggest case of “What If?” DHH has ever seen. According to Badshah, the group broke up because he was scared about his financial future, and because Honey Singh wouldn’t return his calls. Even so, their music has remained iconic for desi hip-hop heads. 

Rap wasn’t just underground anymore, either. It had already begun to venture into Bollywood: rapper Hard Kaur featuring on some big filmi hits at the time – “Move Your Body” (2007), “Lucky Boy” (2008), and “Main Tera Dhadkan Teri” (2009). In fact, rap’s first appearance in Bollywood was in Govinda’s 1995 film Gambler. Remember “Meri Marzi”? 

It was the 2010s when Honey Singh broke out. He dropped a Punjabi album International Villager, and the track “Gabru” topped multiple charts. The same year, he also dropped a song with Diljith Dosanth, “Lakk 28 Kudi Da” – another chart topper. As a 32-year-old, I (and most Indians of my time) clearly remember the 2011-2015 stint when Honey Singh was EVERYWHERE. “Brown Rang,” “High Heels,” “Chaar Botal Vodka,” “Birthday Bash” — Honey Singh had perfected the modern club hit. Even if you didn’t know what rap was back then (and most of us didn’t), you knew Yo Yo Honey Singh. 

In 2015, we got another genre-great hitting the scene, Bollywood’s favorite rapper Badshah. His commercial debut single, “DJ Waley Babu” hit #1 on the Indian iTunes and Spotify charts within 24 hours of release. It also garnered 10 million views on YouTube within 30 hours. 

Finally, topping off this era of hip-hop entering the charts, enter Raftaar. He started off particularly “hard” by dropping one of DHH’s most iconic choppers, “Swag Mera Desi.” The impact was astounding, because he came raging into the scene with a challenge rather than a club hit. Raftaar even equated himself to Eminem as he rhymed, raising quite a few eyebrows and cementing his debut in the genre’s history. 

Raftaar particularly stands out because he manages to release a steady mix of commercial money makers and conscious-learning tracks. Just look at this club staple or this heavy-hitting commentary on changing musical tastes.

Let’s not forget that all the above is happening in the mainstream spotlight while lesser known rappers like Brodha V were also releasing exquisite music that is all conscious and no club, all the way down south in Tamil Nadu. V’s greatest hits stand out for being distinctly Indian — while he raps in English, his hooks often include Sanskrit shlokas emerging from Vedic texts. Yes, this man rapped in Sanskrit (just a couple of verses, but still).

Mumbai Rap: Sounds From the Streets (2014)

In 2014, Mumbai chawl (low-income tenement) dweller Naezy dropped a DIY video for “Aafat!,” a song that sparked gully rap and brought the streets into Indian hip-hop in a way nothing had so far. 

This was the first time we got a track that talked about regular Indians living their life in tough conditions. The songs were more celebratory than the dark stories told in rap from the Bronx and Compton, but they rang true for many Indians looking for representation.

Naezy followed up his breakout hit with “Mere Gully Mein” in collaboration with another DHH icon, DIVINE, which ABSOLUTELY EXPLODED on YouTube. For the first time, at least in popular perception, DHH was “real.” 

DIVINE’s own journey to excellence began when he dropped “Yeh Mera Bombay” in 2013. He was signed to Sony Music India, and his debut even received Rolling Stone India’s  Best Video of the Year. DIVINE’’s rise has been meteoric, to the extent that he signed with Nas and even released a track with him and Naezy.

This kicked off the saga of street rap in India, leading to DHH’s big breakthrough. Of course, DIVINE and Naezy weren’t the only ones to represent real-life India at this time — just look at  MC TodFod, MC Mawali, D’Evil, and Emiway Bantai, to name a few. Emiway, in particular, exploded in popularity off his garrulous wordplay and beef with rap superstar Raftaar.

Gully Boy: Bollywood’s First Real Look at Hip-Hop (2019)

In 2019, director Zoya Akhtar released her film Gully Boy, diving into the story of gully rappers in Dharavi, one of the world’s largest slums. The film stood out because not only did Akhtar talk to DIVINE and Naezy to develop the film, but also invited a host of underground rappers to showcase their music and presence in the plot. Oh…and Nas was an executive producer. Popular rappers like Brotha V, Raja Kumari, and Shah Rule also showed up in the movie, giving it absolute authenticity in the eyes of the audience and our hip-hop legends. 

The film was an immense success, and its impact on popularizing hip-hop in India cannot be overstated. It brought street rap (rather than chartbusters like those produced by Badshah or Honey Singh) into regular Indian households. The film drew listeners from all over this diverse country to hip-hop and introduced viewers to many of the rappers that dominate the scene right now, like Spitfire, MC Altaf, KR$NA, Dub Sharma, Kaam Bhari, and Dee MC.

DHH after Gully Boy: What’s Happening Today

After Gully Boy, hip-hop truly took off in India. Within a couple of years, scores of talented artists started releasing music in every possible Indian language — Bengali, Khasi, English, Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, and so many more. Given the vast diversity of India’s ethnic and cultural identities, desi rap now represents the voices of people who may be different in where they come from, but united in what keeps them going. 

There’s no way to offer a definitive list of rappers across the hundreds of languages spoken in India. But no discussion of DHH can work without mentioning Prabh Deep, the firebrand Punjabi rapper-songwriter-producer who lost his father and brothers to murder by angry mobs during the 1984 riots in Nangloi Jat. Prabh Deep has spoken deeply about the ensuing trauma, as well as his struggle with addiction when battling PTSD.

Then there’s Sidhu Moose Wala, a titan of the genre who was known for his impeccable cadence, inflammatory lyrics (some argued he promoted gun culture), and pride in his Jat origins. Tragically, he was gunned down by assailants due to alleged gang rivalries, stripping DHH of someone who led the entire scene to ascend to new peaks. 

We certainly can’t live in the scene without mentioning Seedhe Maut, comprised of Encore ABJ and Calm. They absolutely exploded onto the scene with their scalpel-sharp wordplay, combative stances, and anime references. They have decidedly re-oriented Hindi rap into this powerful, raucous, intelligent, wit-addled demon that consumes your attention every time you hit play. 

There are too many artists to name, but to just mention a few: Oldboy raps in Bengali, Khasi Bloodz rap in English, telling the stories of people in the often overlooked states in North East India (Meghalaya, in particular), MC Gawthi rhymes in Marathi, RaOol showcases lessons in swagger with Gujarati, and The Castle Collective who use Tamil to decry social injustice.

There is also greater gender representation, with female rappers standing out, taking over, and establishing milestones. Raja Kumari is the biggest name in the mix right now, but she is being quickly matched by artists like Dee MC, Sofia Ashraf, SIRI, Meba Ofilia, and one of the scene’s newer acts, Srushti Tawade. In the video below, she’s performing before two of India’s biggest rappers – Badshah and Ikka. They loved her. 

Every single one of these artists deserve an entire article devoted to their origin, success story, and craft. I can’t go into details here, but you won’t need to do more than click on their music to become obsessed with them. 

The State of the Scene

The artists mentioned here are representative of a much larger musical ecosystem, with hip-hop being embraced and rethought via the thousands of cultures and histories that comprise India. It’s an entirely unique phenomenon, and fairly difficult to navigate without knowing a multitude of languages, histories, and mythologies. 

Thankfully, that leaves us with an ever-evolving landscape where you’re never lacking for great bars: both on and off the charts.

Cover image by Crasianne Tirado. Data as of Sept. 26, 2024.