Rap in India was typically introduced by Baba Sehgal in the 90's when there was a boom of songs sung by legendary singers Alka Yagnik, Kumar Sanu and Udit Narayan and the songs which got the attention had melodious tunes but he took the risk as probabaly he knew that there was a niche audience in India which would listen to new types of songs. His first album was called Dilruba which was released in 1990. His first successful album was Thanda Thanda Pani which sold above 5 million cassesttes.
Rap Music then took the backseat for quite a long time until when Hirdesh Singh a.k.a Yo Yo Honey Singh stepped in and changed the whole industry by introducing rap with a pop music 'tadka'. All the people especially the teenagers really liked the groove of the music which then resulted in boom in his career. His successful albums and songs include 'Blue Eyes', 'Dheere Dheere', 'Sunny Sunny' and tons of them and if I start to name them the whole blog would fill up with it and I know that our readers can do a simple Google search and enjoy the songs themselves.
Yo Yo Honey Singh
Things were going the way of Honey Singh but then he was charged and arrested for allegedly invloving in drugs and intoxicating materials which deprived him of making songs and hence the Honey singh era was over. He was released from all the charges and now he has made a comeback but still he is not getting the same amount of love and views(YouTube) like he used to previously because the rap scene in India has changed drastically and most of the teenagers have now entered into adulthood and adapted themselves to the new type of 'Asli Hip Hop' community in India which believes more in lyrical rap rather than mumble rap and prefer to immerse themselves in the writing of the singer/songwriter rather than looking at the objectification of women in most rap songs. (Currently only Badshah and Honey Singh are in the commercial rap music industry)
This era predominantly had existed within the very niche audience who liked and listened to Hollywood MC's and OG Rappers such as Eminem, Tupac, Snoop Dogg and may others. They knew what real rap's potential is and therefore kept that society alive.
This new age of rappers are mostly referred to as underground rappers, wherein people come in and make impromptu lyrics with the beat provided to them either on DJ's or mostly beatboxing. Naezy is considered to be the root of Indian Hip Hop music because his flow and wordplay is like magic which literally spits out of the mouth like ink on paper. His famous songs include 'Awli', 'Khamakha', 'Kon Hard' and may others.
Naezy
Another name which comes to my mind is Raftaar who is not an underground rapper but still considered a lyrical rap master. He makes both independent and commercial music so he is getting the best of both worlds. He also owns a label called 'Kalamkaar' which helps new rappers produce their music.
Raftaar
This blog is incomplete without the mentioning of the most independent artist Emiway Bantai who owns a YouTube channel with the same name and all the people might or might not have listened to his songs but definitely heard his name somewhere. He is an OG rapper with millions of followers and crazy fans all over the world. He also went to India's Got Talent from where he got famous for his song 'Tribute to Eminem'. He has a dream to share the stage with Eminem. His hits include 'Machayenge', 'Boht Hard', 'Freeverse Feast', 'Kadak Ban' and infinte others.
Emiway Bantai
We can never forget the beef between the above two mentioned rappers Raftaar and Emiway which made their audiences divide into two halves and the Rap Beef had started. It was quite a long incident which made the rappers perform some of the best music which included 'Sheikh Chilly' from Raftaar and 'Giraftaar' and 'Samajh Mein Aaya Kya' from Emiway's side. the beef ended on a good note for both the sides and resulted in filling the pockets of both the rappers and fulfilling the craving of audiences.
I want to end this blog by mentioning my personal favourite artist KR$NA who has incredible skills of writing, performing, producing and connecting directly with the audiences's minds and this is why he is my favourite. His famous hits include 'Maa Kasam', 'No Losses' and 'Vyanjan' which was made inspired by the 'Alphabet Aerobics'.
KR$NA
Before going off I would like to say that now even the mainstream Bollywood is understanding the potential of Rap and therefore there was a full fledged rap film called 'Gully Boy' featuring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt.
A poster of Gully Boy Movie
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