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The Cultural Frontline: Modi's hip-hop nation

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Modi's hip-hop Nation

18/02/2023 GMT

Modi's hip-hop nation

BBC World Service - The Cultural Frontline, Modi's hip-hop nation

Bobby Friction explores what hip-hop means to India’s unheard youth

Bobby Friction meets the leading artists of India's hip-hop scene to find out how rap culture is challenging the status quo..

Rap is huge in India and Desi hip-hop, the music and culture which combines the influences of hip-hop and the Indian subcontinent, is about to go global.

Fan and champion Bobby Friction meets the leading artists on the scene as US rap legend Nas, begins a new hip-hop label in Mumbai. Nas has no doubt that the next global rap superstar will come from India but hip-hop culture is about more than shifting records. Rap is giving India's lower caste, religious minorities and women a space to speak truth to power and change the narrative around who can be a music star.

Bobby speaks with Raja Kumari who was signed by Nas but is now stepping out on her own label Godmother Records with the intention of pushing female rappers in a male dominated scene. Prabh Deep is the Sikh class warrior and poet taking rap to new artistic levels from the grimiest parts of Delhi but also scoring hits with his take on life in India today. Prabh's label mate Ahmer is the politically conscious Muslim rapper from Kashmir who uses music to process the violence he has witnessed in the disputed territory.  

These rising stars alongside artists like KRSNA, Raftaar, Naezy and Divine are inspiring a new generation of hip-hop heads in Delhi, Mumbai and across India.

(Photo: Bobby Friction at a hip-hop event in Mumbai)

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