Bangalore kids get caught in ‘rap’ture

Hip hop, as an art form, has been around for years. But in India, it became popular after rapper Eminem hit international the music scene in a big way, so much so that many kids aspired to be like him and tried rapping. In recent times, desi rappers like Baadshah, Yo Yo Honey Singh and Bohemia have made it to the big league. This genre of music has really caught the fancy of youngsters, with college kids in the city getting innovative and rapping in regional languages.
The Indian Rap League, which is a group on a popular chatting app, has around 40 members from across the country, and even one from South Africa. The members are all budding rappers who use the forum as a means to practice rap. Shubhankar Das, aka Rapper Zombii, is a second year BCom student in a city college and is the man responsible for bringing together rappers from across the country. “I used to listen to rap, but started writing my own lyrics after a heartbreak. I used to battle on social media, but decided to take this onto the chatting app as it gives us all a chance to practice on a daily basis,” he says.
Shubhankar, who has released a Kannada and English track, admits that he is not good at rapping in Kannada, but is working on getting better at it as he wants to bring a local flavour to hip hop. “My aim is to promote rapping in Kannada. In fact, I want to cover as many languages as I can,” he adds.
Harshitha Shashidhar, a final year BBM student, is one of the few female rappers in the city. Also a big Eminem fan, she was motivated by Shubhankar to try rapping and has been practising freestyle rap. “Hip hop has to be promoted in regional language as well. There are several crews in Bangalore, and in ours, we rap in Kannada, English, Hindi and Tamil. I find it easier to rap in Kannada as it is easier to rhyme words,” says Harshitha, who participated in a rap battle held in the city recently.
Explaining why it is easier to rap in a regional language, Shubhankar says, “If you have to rap in Kannada, you can use words like gotilla, madilla, yetilla, etc. The suffix illa stays the same, and you just prefix different words. It is the same with Hindi, in which you can rhyme words like gaya, khaya, soya, etc. But English words are very different, so it’s not as easy to get rhyming lyrics.”
Nandan Ghimir, another college student, was introduced to Nepali music by his friends. Being a Nepali from Assam, Nandan took an instant liking to what he heard and started rapping in the language. “I rap in English, Hindi and Nepali, but find it easier to rap in Nepali as I am fluent in the language. I used to rap with friends back home, and continue to do so by myself in Bangalore. I haven’t written any original pieces yet, but I want to take up rapping professionally,” he says.
Akshay Solanki was also introduced to rap by a friend and his compositions are a mix of Hindi and English. Like the others, he too finds it easier to rap in Hindi, despite being able to speak English. “I communicate in English, but find that word building is easier in Hindi. One needs to practice to get better at rapping, which is why we have what we call rap cipher, by which one person raps after another. We even go to malls in a group, form a large circle and take turns to rap. This helps us train and that’s how we get better. This happens once or twice a month at a randomly chosen place,” says Akshay.