31-08-2018, Mumbai, India: Sometimes I feel like rap music is almost the key to ending racism. – Eminem

Good Morning Everyone. It’s the Friday Post on a balmy Friday morning. On the edge of Mumbai lies the suburb of Nala Sopara. It had a very glorious past, having served as a crucial port of the Buddhist empire and been equated to the biblical Ophir. Today, it serves as the residence for the invisible underbelly of the Mumbai metropolis that keeps it running – its sweepers, cleaners, daily wage labourers, and taxi drivers. Cheap property rates are driving up its population and the creating a slum-like environment in this piece of land that opens up into the Thane creek. Unbeknownst to the urban Indian who drinks coffee at Starbucks and assumes caste to be a phenomenon no longer present, slums like Nala Sopara are pioneering India’s first true rap revolution.

Rap music emerged and gained popularity in the background of disturbed and disturbing race relations in the United States of America. It became anthem of resistance among blacks against white supremacy and a vent for their angers and frustrations. It also became a symbol of creativity and a vehicle for the fight to equality. Black musicians rapped their way into the collective conscience of America and rap music became as much a social tool as a political commentary.

America’s great cities sweep and brush aside all their dust and grime to their outskirts. Hidden alongside all the dust and grime is also the underbelly of black Americans – the group largely bereft of all forms of social capital. Just as the anger in their voices gave rise to the American rap movement, outskirts of Indian cities too are doing the same. Most of such outskirts include large Muslim populations among other socially and financially backward classes. The outskirts of Kolkata include Topsia, Metiabruz, Kidderpore, Burrabazar, etc. which have a large Muslim population. Mumbai outskirts like Nala Sopara, Panvel, Vashi, and Mumbra have significantly large Muslim and Dalit populations. Prominent outskirts of Ahmedabad include Juhapura which is largely a Muslim colony. (I am mentioning only those cities where I have stayed in for a significant period of time.) In the strong Muslim communities of Mumbai and Kolkata, brewing along with their cups of tea and coffee is a nascent yet potent rap culture.

(Nowhere do I imply that outskirts are occupied only by Muslims, all muslims are poor and disadvantaged, rap music is produced only by the underprivileged or those living in suburbs.)

Muslims in Islamic rap is an old phenomenon. While Akon is a Muslim, Ice-Cube too accepted Islam. Their music, like most of the young Muslim rappers in India today, was very local. However, there was no outburst of rappers among the Muslim community. Both US and UK saw a rap movement emerge in Muslims along religious lines. Bands like Native Deen which used their music and poetry for religious topics became popular. The popular Danish band Outlandish also featured in a song by Sami Yusuf, one of the global rock-stars of Islamic music.

Indian rap is still in its infancy stage. Still, some very good rappers have come out of Mumbai’s suburbs. Naezy and Divine bring the intricacy of their localities and its culture to their music. Their lyrics present their angst against a system that has treated them as outsiders for too long. Similarly, in Kolkata, there seems to be a rap battle on between the various as they sing of what life in their ghetto feels like. As time goes on, we are bound to see addition of more topics and more depth to the India rap scene. Till then, live long and prosper!