The Mumbai hip-hop scene has been shaped by more than by Divine and Naezy

Right now, even if you do not follow the Indian independent music scene, you've probably heard of Divine and Naezy. It was the Mumbai rappers who inspired director Zoya Akhtar to make her new film Gully Boy . Divine said in multiple interviews that the film was not based on her life or that of her colleague, MC Naezy. Although some celebrity-related experiences and events have been used to tell the story of rapper Murad, performed by Ranveer Singh, the film is a fictional work.

Akhtar and the musical supervisor Ankur Tewari attempt to Gully Boy was to present an authentic depiction of the scene of the "rap ravine" of Mumbai, of which Divine and Naezy are the standard bearers. To do this, the creators have called on various rappers in the city for them to play encryption scenes and rap fight sequences, oversee and provide additional dialogue. The soundtrack of the film includes contributions from a pair of beatboxers, a DJ and seasoned producer and several rappers.

Each of these musicians played a role in the development of Mumbai as a hub of Indian independent hip-hop, which began more than a decade ago. there is and prospered with the help of the Internet. Almost all were introduced to rap after a friend or family member asked them to listen to Eminem or 50 Cent, before delving deeper into the genre and gradually starting to write their own. rhymes. This small but growing community has gathered online on groups such as Insignia Rap Combat on Orkut and India Rap Forum on Facebook to exchange verses. The next step for them was to face in person at events such as cyphers held every Sunday by A-List conscious rapper alias Ashwini Mishra at Narali Baug in Dadar, and the open mic sessions and Monster Battles organized at the Bandra pub, now closed. I

Rapper Kaam Bhaari of Mumbai and Spitfire of Madhya Pradesh became part of Gully Boy in a hip-hop video with Singh. Thanks to Singh, Spitfire, whose real name is Nitin Mishra, was able to compose and write the first single of the soundtrack Asli Hip Hop and write the words of all the rap battle scenes of Murad and encryption sequences.

Writers believe that Gully Boy represents the sale of an underground phenomenon. Most rappers believe that independent Indian hip-hop will only benefit from the mainstream exposure that the genre will receive through the film. "Every day, 20 to 25 kids tell me they've written their first rap," said MC Mawali, co-founder of the Swadesi Crew. "Young people learn to express themselves. At school, we are taught to simply repeat what is in our books. [But] to express yourself, you must see and observe what [happening] is in the present. After Gully Boy there will be more children who want to express themselves, even if they just want to be the next Ranveer Singh. "

Scroll.in spoke to ten Mumbai hip-hop artists based on their journey, working on Gully Boy and the road ahead.

Ace
Age: 30
N District: Malad (West)

The English and Hindi rapper Ace aka Abhishek Dhusia was upset when he heard a movie being shot on the hip scene "The first thing that came to my mind was" This is my shit, "said Dhusia, co-founder of the Mumbai's Finest crew in 2006, which Divine had been part of for six years. There was no one else who had more difficulties than I. I am the original ravine, and then I learned that my brothers Naezy and Divine were involved and that I was happy. been very nerdy if they had made a film about the life of Honey Singh. "

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Dhusia ended up having a call from the Gully Boy officials who asked him to attend a music workshop they had organized, and they could include his piece of 2015 Har Gham Mein Khushi Hai in the soundtrack. "That's where I believed in the law of attraction. I really wanted that shit and I finally had it, "said Dhusia, who was organizing rap battles at Malad's InOrbit Mall in the mid-2000s. Mumbai, he says, has become a home of hip-hop because if you come from Mumbai, you must be smart, you must be a hustler, "essential qualities for all future MC.

BeatRAW and D-Cypher
Age: 20, 26 years old
Districts: Nalasopara, Virar

BeatRAW, aka Roshan Gamare, and D-Cypher, aka Gaurav Gambhir, share many similarities. Both started as b-boys, learned to beat beatboxes by watching tutorials on YouTube, and then joined the Bombay Lokal hip-hop crew in Mumbai. Gamare and Gambhir, who often play together, were judged as finalists in the Indian Beatbox Championship team category in December 2018. Their involvement in the Gully Boy occurred by accident. The founder of Bombay Lokal, Shaikhspeare, aka Aamir Shaikh, who plays a rapper in action in the film, invited them to play extras for a particular scene.

"On the second day of filming, during the lunch break, the people who knew us [told us to] were drum machines," said Gambhir. "Everyone, including Zoya Akhtar, loved it. On the third day, [we were] said that they wanted us to make two pieces. These melodies Asli Hip Hop and Jingostan had an immediate impact on the fan base. "In two days, the number of my followers [on social media] has increased," said Gamare, whose nickname is inspired by how his Maharashtrian family pronounces his first name. "They [say] Row-shan [instead of] Ro-shan. There is not much difference between [the sound of] Row and Raw. "

Kaam Bhaari
Age: 20
Neighbors: Kandivali

Unlike most of the MC's featured in Gully Boy Kaam Bhaari, aka Kunal Pandgale, has never been part of the underground hip-hop scene in Mumbai. But the city is a big part of his personality. "I have lived all my life [so Mumbai] [so Mumbai] in my music – the way I think, the way I write, [even] my rap name Kaam Bhaari, which is a slang for the hard work and that also means game over. "

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Pandgale, who is known for his quick rhyme style, has already worked with a handful of brands, including a jingle for snack maker Tasty Treats and a launch concert for Honda's Navi motorcycle, during which he played with Divine in front of more than 3000 people. The song Kaam Bhaari which he abandoned during the coding organized by the team Gully Boy and which was then selected for the soundtrack, marks his solo debut. Pandgale also oversaw the writing of some of the film's dialogues and wrote the romantic air Kab Se Kab Se Tak sung by Ranveer Singh in the film.

Maharya
Age: 23
District: Andheri (west)

Mumbai hip-hop often calls for corruption and income inequality, but rappers of the genre have been generally apolitical. Maharya aka Yash Mahida is one of the exceptions. His Acche Din is a virulent attempt of the regime in power. "What I see, how I feel, write," said Mahida, who began her career as an English rapper and was a member of the 7th Aayam short-lived hip-hop band.

In 2015, he joined Swadesi, whose crew members advised him to rap in "every language I knew." He focused on Hindi and Bengali. "You should reach as many ears as possible," said Mahida, whose pseudonym is a name tag of her parents' first names, Mahida and Bhattacharya.

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Mahida rapping on the track Gully Boy India 91, composed by multi-instrumentalist Viveick Rajagopalan, who taught his crewmembers of Swadesi, Mawali and TodFod, konnakol or the art of performing the percussion syllables used in carnatic clbadical music.

Major C
Age: 48 years old
District: Kurla

Commander C says Chandrashekhar "Chandu" Kunder, author and composer of Sher Aaya. Sher featuring Divine for Gully Boy was immersed in the city's hip-hop scene longer than any of the rappers featured on the soundtrack.

The veteran DJ, who has played in the city's bars and clubs since the mid-90s, is a member of two independent bands: hip-hop and reggae group Bombay Bbadment and electro-pop band Laxmi Bomb. He met the Kenyan rapper Bob Omulo based in Bombay Bbadment at one of the reggae, dancehall and hip-hop nights he practiced at the Deejay at the Razzberry Rhinoceros in Juhu, where he played from 2000 to 2005. " do hip-hop nights at a club called Escape in Andheri from 2003 [to] 2004, "said Kunder." [The audience included] a lot of people who loved to listen to hip-hop and who also started to hit. "

MC Altaf
Age: 19
N District: Dharavi

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Like many rappers in Mumbai, Altaf Shaikh was a pocket boy before becoming MC. He switched to rap after realizing that even though he could not perform a lot of b-boying stunts, he was great at narration. He felt inspired after watching Stony Psyko from the Dopeadelicz team at a Ganpati mandal near his home in Dharavi. "He was the first Indian rapper I heard," Shaikh said. "I found [that he was] so different and relatable. Then I thought – I write stories anyway, I just have to rhyme them. "

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Shaikh was part of Enemiez's crew from 2014 until his dissolution in 2017. For him, his music essentially consists of representing his hood. "[Some] people say [to me] that you are a great rapper and that your clothing is so good, why do you keep talking about Dharavi?", Said Shaikh, who opens the track India 91 and supervised it. and co-writes the dialogues of the film. "They think that if you get the label of Dharavi, people badociate [you] with poverty. But I will never be ashamed of Dharavi. We have changed so much [perceptions] in the last two years. The last time I told people where I was from, they said, "It's where there's a lot of hip-hop." I was so proud to hear that. "

MC Mawali
Age: 25
District: Andheri (East)

In 2012, MC Mawali aka Aklesh Sutar co-founded Swadesi, a multilingual team, because "there was nothing Indian about what was called Indian hip-hop." At the time, the scene was dominated by English rappers whose sounds were derived from international MC's Hindi and then Marathi were encouraged to rap in these languages ​​based on the response received: "Children would tell me that they really understand what I'm saying ", said Sutar, author of the hook for India 91 .

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Not only the variety of languages, but also the range of topics that distinguish Swadesi, from the b-boying band Funky Disorders, which is now the most popular conscious rap band in the world. Bombay. Their recent single The Warli Revolt is a collaboration with the activist Prakash Bhoir which aims to raise public awareness of the struggle for the safeguarding of the forest in Aarey. "We had the habit of writing about ourselves," Sutar said. "But when you realize how powerful words are, you write about your environment. You can play songs [that will] in clubs [and write about] by drinking or meeting a farmer for half an hour, learning about his problems and writing about popular movements. "

MC TodFod
Age: 21
District: Dadar

Photo credit: Todi Mill Social / Facebook.

Without the Indo-American hip-hop band Karmacy, MC TodFod, aka Dharmesh Parmar, would not have become one of the country's best-known Gujarati rappers. It was only after hearing Oakland's multilingual act that he was sure he could write convincingly in that language. Parmar, who decided to become a MC in his early teens after watching the 50-cent biopic Get Rich Or Die Tryin ' wrote in English until he joined the Swadesi crew about five years ago. Cofounder Marathi MC Mawali encouraged him to write rhymes in Gujarati.

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"The first Indian rapper I heard about was Mawali," said Parmar, whose talents are showcased in India 91 . "I thought," Dude, what is this style of writing lyrics? It was so different from the rest of the shit you see on TV. It was too real. His time with Swadesi also changed ideology: he published the famous title Cows in favor of banning beef, but said he no longer agreed with the judgment. Much of his music is about "Bombay, life here [and] around us. While I stay in BBD chawl, [I observe] the difference between [my neighbourhood] and the [kind of] I meet now, "said Parmar, who plans to release a solo album this year.

Noxious
Age: 24
N District: Borivali

Noxious aka Achint Marwah is one of those few rappers in Mumbai who do not want not to "represent an area code". "My vision has always been to represent India at the global level," said Marwah, who sings the last verse in Punjabi on India 91 . His cries, he says, are reserved for his team, Elsewhere, who has been around since 2013 and who is organizing the Battle Bars Bombay rap concert series.

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Marwah, who is also a theater actor and part of the Hindi band Ekjute, raps mainly in English. But the appreciation that he received for India 91 which was his first attempt at writing in his mother tongue, encouraged him to work on Punjabi singles. "My idea, no matter what language, is to talk about something real," said Marwah, whose upcoming English album will feature songs on topics such as "clashes between ego and how ego will kill you and put you to the ground. " [19659052] [ad_2]
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