MUMBAI: There’s a world you can visit when it comes to rap culture. When we think about India, it is fascinating to see that a culture that hardly existed in the consciousness of Indian listeners has become something almost every other individual is now willing to indulge in. How did a sapling, almost unnoticeable, turn into a prominent tree within a short span of thirty years?

Ask labels, streaming services and brands, they will tell you the same thing that this is the hottest independent music genre in India currently and it is only getting bigger. However, you cannot give the complete credit to Baba Sehgal for the first rap album named Thanda Thanda Paani because he introduced this genre to the Indian audience. Neither can it solely be given to Honey Singh or Badshah or Bohemia or Raftaar. Let us walk hand in hand through the story of rap, and see where it leads us to.

This scene has risen from the poorest areas of the country. The industry where making music has become expensive, creation sadly stays at a distance from the poor, but talented public. Rap is affordable to make – you will require a microphone, something to record on and a beat. This leads to rising of this genre from marginalised areas of cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru or Delhi. People have started calling themselves ‘gully rappers’ and majorly consider the breakout star Divine as their God. This honest and tradition-shunning rapper is additionally a major reason behind encouragement and involvement of Indian youth in this culture. It is only rap, which is a platform that hasn’t failed to help them to show their knack while empowering them to speak about what it is to grow up in an environment like theirs.

Bollywood has been opium of the masses. The release of a musical drama with a story of a potential street rapper who wins laurels in his domain and goes ahead to become a celebrated artist (Gully Boy), starring big shot actors like Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, has been a major attraction towards this form of music.

Throw light on anything in India, and you will find it breaking to know, how difficult it is to escape the traps of patriarchy. The nagging problem remains that men monopolise the rap movement too. Dee MC, one of the only female rappers stated that she can count people on her fingers who come after her. The realization that women can also rap is yet-to-hit them.

This far, the narrative has been just about rising from the slums and giving something back to their communities who are still living in conditions of poverty. However, the genre wishes to host everyone, from every caste, from every area, from every field and obviously, every gender in the future.