Hip Hop High

Spend an evening at Red Light, one of Mumbai ritziest nightspots, and it8217;s clear that Dinshaw8217;s right. Over 300 spiffed up youngsters brushed off a citywide bandh to bump at Red Light8217;s weekly hip hop night. And the next weekend, over 1,000 people flowed into Fire 038; Ice to watch local rappers Kunal Shah, 22, and Omar Al-Rufai, 23, perform. 8216;8216;There8217;s a real buzz surrounding this sound and we8217;re pushing it,8217;8217; says Vishal Shetty, Fire 038; Ice8217;s co-owner.

The capital is lapping up the genre too: clubs like My Kind of Place, Oxygen and Pluto have a hip hop night every week. And Pune, with its large contingent of African students, already has a thriving scene. 8216;8216;Hip hop8217;s so big here that any DJ who refuses to play it doesn8217;t get any recognition,8217;8217; says Cawas Dariwala, the DJ at Blue Diamond8217;s

Polaris. 8216;8216;It8217;s easily 30-40 per cent of a Saturday night set.8217;8217;

Music channels can8217;t get enough, but have to be mindful of the censors: the videos tend to be steamy, which ensures that viewers stay hooked. MTV still has The Grind every weeknight in addition to regular hip hop programming; Channel V is about to introduce a weekly show, The Juice, dedicated to the genre; and the Southern Spice SS channel airs a concentrated mix every day.

Even raunchy Hindi remix videos borrow generously from hip hop, whether it8217;s the focus on midriffs and thongs, or openness about female sexuality. 8216;8216;Everything about hip hop artistes, be it their music, style, or behaviour, is being packaged and sold successfully,8217;8217; says DJ Nebui, a music promoter on Delhi8217;s club circuit.

Yet, how has a movement that started as an expression of the African-American experience begun appealing to a section of India8217;s urban youth?

Hip hop no longer draws exclusively from black culture, having widened its ambit to include diverse elements, and address universal issues. Eminem might be white, but he raps with a cold anger that8217;s easy to connect with anywhere. Jennifer Lopez, a Puerto Rican raised in the Bronx, is probably the largest female icon in the world. Chart-topping artistes like Nelly, Beyonce Knowles Destiny8217;s Child, and Fifty Cent appeal to, and perform for, a global hip hop nation.

There are plenty of reasons for hip hop8217;s surge. 8216;8216;Most hip hop8217;s chick music and they can8217;t get enough of it,8217;8217; says Red Light8217;s DJ, Tushqa, adding, 8216;8216;It allows them to prissy up, dance sensually and sing along.8217;8217; The girls at his club agree: 8216;8216;Hip hop8217;s very suggestive and allows us to shake our hips but it8217;s also about having fun,8217;8217; says fashion student Nandini Singh, 21, who8217;s been a fan all her life. The fact that most commercial female hip hop artistes are open about their sexual needs is especially appealing. 8216;8216;They8217;re telling girls to 8216;get busy8217; plain and simple8212;Ashanti8217;s always grinding with gorgeous men in her videos and having a great time,8217;8217; adds Singh.

And it8217;s hard to top the ladies of hip hop in terms of style and sass. Divas like J-Lo and Lauryn Hill are global fashion icons8212;whether it8217;s the hats, shades or attitude. The fact that these women are portrayed as independent, sexy, and powerful sends a compelling message to their fans. In her recent hit, Jenny from the Block, a standard at nightclubs these days, Jennifer Lopez raps about how she8217;s managed to find success on her own terms.

I8217;m down to earth like this
Rockin this business
I8217;ve grown up so much
I8217;m in control and loving it

Rumours got me laughing, kid
Love my life and my public

Almost each time this catchy track starts playing at clubs, groups of girls rush to the dance floor some form closed circles, start bellowing the lyrics, and start moving their hips provocatively8212;empowered vicariously by the queen of hip hop.

All this excitement and energy goes down well with men, many of who couldn8217;t care less about the music. 8216;8216;Honestly, most guys come to hip hop nights because they draw a lot of women,8217;8217; says Red Light regular Saress Sara, who works for an FMCG company.

Yet a number of men are drawn to the aggressive tone and street image that most male rappers cultivate. 8216;8216;I connect with Eminem8217;s words,8217;8217; says Dinshaw, his baseball hat cocked slightly. And for 17-year-old Delhi resident Anirban Mullick, rap8217;s main draw is its rapid-fire lyrics. 8216;8216;It8217;s a really fast-paced world and most of us talk like rappers: really fast.8217;8217;

Ask any discerning DJ about hip hop and they8217;ll say that it8217;s already the hottest sound at clubs. 8216;8216;I play an hour of hip hop every night8212;always at the peak of the party,8217;8217; says DJ Akhtar, who plays at Insomnia, located within Mumbai8217;s Taj Mahal hotel. 8216;8216;It8217;s the youngest part of the crowd who likes this music, but they8217;re already a significant part of our customer base,8217;8217; he adds. Further, hip hop, unlike trance, seems to complement alcohol nicely, ensuring that the bar8217;s always busy.

Most hip hop tracks include a rhythmic, thumping base, making it easy to slip onto the floor or keep time on the sidelines. If there8217;s any doubt about how to move, most nightclubs provide giant screens that project images of hip hop megastars hard at work. 8216;8216;It8217;s a very commercial sound today: catchy beats, flowing lyrics, and sing-along choruses,8217;8217; says DJ Dale, who plays at Fire 038; Ice. 8216;8216;And with hip hop absorbing Indian elements, it8217;s only going to get bigger,8217;8217; he adds, referring to the popular Dr Dre single, Addictive, which uses part of Kaliyon Ka Chaman, and Eric Sermon8217;s chart-topper React, with its stolen Bollywood sample.

The union between hip hop and India reached its climax recently with the release of Beware, Jay Z8217;s global hit in which he raps over Mundian to Bach Ke, a remix by British bhangra producer Punjabi MC Rajinder Rai. Punjabi MC himself sourced the catchy sample for Mundian from hip hop giant Busta Rhymes8217; track Fire it Up. The exchanges between the two worlds are only going to deepen as members of the Indian diaspora continue to assimilate into hip hop culture and contribute to its vitality.

Sensing the market8217;s potential, Universal Music has begun moving aggressively to fill the local space. 8216;8216;Our audience is tuned into the US music charts, which is overwhelmingly filled with hip hop artistes,8217;8217; says the label8217;s senior general manager, Sunil D8217;Sa. 8216;8216;We represent Eminem and 50 Cent8212;both their new albums have gone platinum here,8217;8217; he adds. Spurred by their early success, Universal is about to release a 8216;must have8217; hip hop compilation album, and will continue to distribute free CDs and merchandise related to the genre. 8216;8216;So far we8217;ve been targeting nightclubs but we8217;re going to do a press and TV campaign as well,8217;8217; says D8217;Sa.

Though hip hop is part of the mainstream today, even a few years ago it was considered an incomprehensible, alien form. 8216;8216;It8217;s funny how many fights we got into just because of what we listened to and what we wore,8217;8217; says Zareer

Bhiwandiwala, 23, who began listening to hip hop before it became cool. 8216;8216;People8217;s exposure to rap was so low that they couldn8217;t understand where we were coming from8212;and felt strangely threatened by what we represented.8221;

In response, Bhiwandiwala and his friends developed a 8216;Me Against the World8217; attitude, epitomised by their hero, slain rap legend, TuPac Shakur. 8216;8216;It was a tough time for us,8217;8217; says Mumbai rapper Omar Al-Rufai, recollecting the days when his crew, dressed in thug gear, stood out like sore thumbs. 8216;8216;People would either fall over laughing when they saw us or walk up to us and rile us with 8216;Yo Yo8217; comments and gestures.8217;8217;

The older fans don8217;t dress to prove a point anymore. Says Al Rufai: 8216;8216;Things have changed a lot and hip hop8217;s accepted today; but we helped create awareness. When I see kids cruising around in their low-riders with the bass pumping, I can8217;t help but smile.8217;8217;

With inputs from Tina Baruah/New Delhi and Preeti Ragunath/Pune