The Evolution Roadmap of Hip Hop In India- “Boht Hard”

Hip Hop is gaining immense popularity in India.

Pop music has been the dominant genre in India for a very long time. New pop artists started emerging one after another and everyone had playlists full of pop songs. Hip Hop was not at all popular in India during those times. It had made it into the mainstream culture in western music only in the nineties. Slowly and steadily, Hip Hop culture is growing in India.

The youth are seen getting attached to hip hop culture. And now, hip hop music has become synonymous with Indian pop music.
The new age rappers are the role model of every youth. They idolize the rappers and the new artists don’t stay back from spitting truths through their music. The rappers believe that hiphop is a way of expressing emotion and that is the sole reason why hip hop is getting tremendous popularity in India.

If we dive into the origin of Hip hop in India, special mention should be provided to the Mafia Mundeer which is India’s first hip hop group. The group had Raftaar, Yo Yo Honey Singh and Badshah , who went on to release their first album ‘International Villager’, which was the first non-film music album, to have enjoyed mainstream success, in almost a decade.

Special mention should be provided to Rapper Baba Sehgal who debuted in the early 90s and is commonly cited as the first Indian rapper. In the early 90s, he released a trio of albums – Dilruba, Alibaba, and Thanda Thanda Pani – that combined rap with traditional Indian singing and New Jack Swing and Chicago house-influenced beats.

Asked about his hip-hop beginnings, he once told IANSlife in an interview: “I started rapping only for survival. I saw some international videos and started exploring rapping. It was coincidentally just one month before MTV was launched in India. When I was delving into the layers of rapping and researching about it – I had to read a lot, considering there was no internet back then. I created my own way around raps, I made them funny and creative because I just wanted to tickle a funny bone in people.”

Today, India enjoys hip-hop scene artists like Raftaar, Badshah, Dino James, Fotty Seven, and others making major waves commercially and a rich underground scene. Reflecting just how much interest there is in the county’s scene, Def Jam opened up a new label division there earlier in 2022.

Hiphop culture in India is growing and there is no stoppage. People find that they can relate to hiphop more emotionally and so a huge population of youth are directed towards hiphop culture.
Mtv started airing a show : Mtv Hustle to support the rap culture in India.

Back in 2019, a film “Gully Boy” based on the hiphop culture was released and the film went crazy. The movie was loved by everyone who saw it. The showcase of hiphop on national level signified that hiphop has made its roots strong in India.

Several new rap artists have emerged in India starting from Divine, Seedhe Maut, King, EPR etc.

Along with there are several budding artists out there whose lyrics will make you crazy as hell. I personally am a huge fan of Etihas – a budding artist from Assam who spits facts and truths in his every lyrics. Listen to his songs and notice yourself vibing along with him.

Hip hop has no gender inequality because if you think that Hip hop in India is only limited to the male world then you’re wrong. Hip hop has been hugged by the female community as well. Look at the successful female rappers out there – Raja Kumari, Dee MC etc.

The hip hop scene in India today is currently a hustling situation. Each rapper out there is hustling to tell the world a story- a story from their eyes. Hip-hop will keep growing in India as new young and talented rappers will keep getting exposure. The future of Indian Hip-Hop is bright for the artists as well as the fans.