{"id":129803,"date":"2024-09-07T18:27:18","date_gmt":"2024-09-07T18:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/07\/hip-hop-stars-from-kerala-how-malayalam-rappers-create-a-remarkable-sound-that-is-both-familiar-and-inventive\/"},"modified":"2024-09-07T18:27:18","modified_gmt":"2024-09-07T18:27:18","slug":"hip-hop-stars-from-kerala-how-malayalam-rappers-create-a-remarkable-sound-that-is-both-familiar-and-inventive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/07\/hip-hop-stars-from-kerala-how-malayalam-rappers-create-a-remarkable-sound-that-is-both-familiar-and-inventive\/","title":{"rendered":"Hip-Hop Stars from Kerala: How Malayalam rappers create a remarkable sound that is both familiar and inventive"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Hip-Hop<\/div>\n
Ranbir Kapoor has been playing the Malayalam hip-hop<\/a> track \u201cManka\u201d on loop for the past four months. Sung by the rapper Dabzee, it begins like a Mappila pattu, the Muslim folk song, at a wedding, but the beats soon become feverish, gripping and groovy. <\/p>\n

The sound is at the same time old and new, familiar and inventive. It has had over 2.8 million views on Dabzee\u2019s YouTube channel and another 10 million streams on Spotify. Kapoor, not to be confused with the Bollywood actor, is a senior representative of artists and repertoire (A&R) at the American record label Mass Appeal\u2019s India division. He doesn\u2019t understand a word of Malayalam. But when he saw the Malappuram-born Dabzee perform live for the first time at Spotify\u2019s Rap 91 hip-hop festival in Mumbai in December 2022, he immediately took a flight back to New York to push Mass Appeal for a focus on Kerala. <\/p>\n

By August 2023, the label, cofounded by American rapper Nas, had partnered with Dabzee along with other top artists from Kerala like Vedan and Baby Jean and later ThirumaLi, MC Couper<\/a>, Yung Raja and Hrishi. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no language barrier for music consumption,\u201d says Kapoor. \u201cNot knowing Spanish didn\u2019t stop us from dancing to \u2018Gasolina\u2019, did it?\u201d \u201cAyyayyo\u201d\u2014as Malayalis squeal and as the title of a Malayalam hip-hop track by Parimal Shais, MC Couper, ThirumaLi and Hanumankind<\/a> screams\u2014sonically conservative Kerala is finally becoming rap\u2019s own country. It peaked in the third week of August when Hanumankind aka Sooraj Cherukat, the Kerala-born, Bengaluru-based rapper, blazed his way into No. 9 on Billboard\u2019s global chart with his song in English, \u201cBig Dawgs\u201d. It is now No. 13 on the chart led by \u201cDie With a Smile\u201d by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. <\/p>\n

The music video\u2014featuring Hanumankind, in a white ganji and moustache that recall Freddie Mercury, and music producer Kalmi on cars and motorcycles perilously going round and round in a well of death in Malabar\u2014has been the kiss of life for Malayalam rappers. It has put the spotlight on the Kerala hiphop scene, which has blown up in the past two-three years. Artists, who once rapped for the love of it, have sold-out shows. <\/p>\n

Labels are pouring in and festivals are pulling in the crowds. Malayalam hip-hop is the new it-thing. MC Couper, a rapper from Thiruvananthapuram known for his top tier lyricism, recalls jamming with music producer Shais when he was in college in 2015-16. \u201cBack then, we often wondered if rap would even be accepted here and if we could ever build careers in music,\u201d he says. He no longer has to worry. MC Couper aka Shambhu Ajith now has over 1.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify. \u201cIt\u2019s crazy to think how far we\u2019ve come, it all seems like a dream at times,\u201d he says. As the lines from his song \u201cPoralikal\u201d go, \u201cPicha vacha naalil uchi kuthi veenuvenkilum\/ Vachadichu vittu with michamulla indhanam (Though we fell headlong while taking baby steps\/ Now we\u2019re speeding with all the gas left in the tank).\u201d Malayalam hip-hop has been raking in the numbers. Spotify\u2019s curated playlist for \u201cHip Hop Malayalam\u201d saw a 300% growth in followers in 2023. <\/p>\n

Right now, it has over 140,000 saves on the app. <\/p>\n

Malayalam was the fastest-growing Indian language for music consumption worldwide on Spotify in 2023, registering a 5,300% growth in listenership over the previous year, as per data shared by Spotify India. <\/p>\n

HIP-HOP IS HAPPENING<\/strong>
Malayali rappers tap into a range of topics, from politics and caste to everyday life. Vedan, which means The Hunter, stands out with his anti-caste rap and political messages. He sings in \u201cVoice of Voiceless\u201d: \u201cNeer nilangalin adimayaaru udamayaaru… Muthuku kooni thalakal thaanum iniyum ethranaalu (Who\u2019s the slave, who\u2019s the lord of these wet fields?… Spines stooping, heads hanging, for how much longer)?\u201d The 2020 song, a crowd favourite, has got 7.9 million views on his YouTube channel. <\/p>\n

Vedan, meanwhile, has 1.7 million monthly listeners on Spotify. The streaming revenue, however, contributes very little to artists\u2019 earnings. The money comes from live shows. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I left my corporate job to pursue music four years ago, I was making `50,000 a month,\u201d recalls Imbachi, rapper and MC at Street Academics, a hip-hop group in Kerala. \u201cNow I make more than that in half an hour on stage.\u201d <\/p>\n

From stage shows to albums and movies, Malayalam hip hop has gone mainstream. In the past couple of years, music directors like Sushin Shyam have collaborated with rappers in films such as Minnal Murali, Manjummel Boys and Aavesham. The films, and the songs, have become a hit. This has expanded the genre\u2019s appeal to even non-Malayalam speakers who have enjoyed these movies. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to this, the community started coming together to collaborate on songs and organise cyphers [a gathering of rappers to create freestyle rap], thus creating a vibrant hip-hop scene,\u201d says Mayura MS, director of digital initiatives at the media group Mathrubhumi<\/a>. \u201cSoon, major labels also started picking these artists up, leading to the current boom.\u201d <\/p>\n

Over a year ago, Mathrubhumi\u2019s record label for independent music, Kappa Originals, released an album called Southside featuring hip-hop artists and producers from Kerala. Renjini Menon, head of Kappa Originals, says while hip hop from north India often focuses on assertions of power, southern hip hop challenges those in power. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn northern hip hop, there are many scenes where the theme revolves around establishing supremacy. You don\u2019t find that in Kerala hip hop,\u201d she says. In that way, Kerala rappers often hew to the original tenet of hip hop as the music of subversion. They play with many languages\u2014 Malayalam, English, Tamil, Arabic\u2014 which widens their pool of listeners. Meanwhile, they also play on traditional sounds, which at the same time gives a distinctiveness to their music and hooks even conservative Malayalis easily. <\/p>\n

Irfana Hameed, a rapper from Tamil Nadu who collaborates with Malayali artists, says she admires them for their sonics. \u201cThey stick to their authentic sounds regardless of what works in mainstream hip hop.\u201d <\/p>\n

SOUNDS LIKE CHANGE<\/strong>
Munz TDT, a vocalist in the thrash metal band The Down Troddence, says hip hop\u2019s pace can resonate with people familiar with some of Kerala\u2019s traditional performing art forms, which might have helped in making it popular in the state. Poorakkali, a song-and-dance ritual performed in temples in north Kerala, and Ottan Thullal, a dance-drama laden with sarcasm, embrace the style of singing with \u201cchoppy lyrics\u201d. <\/p>\n

However, Munz adds that adapting to hip hop is still a significant shift for Kerala\u2019s deeply rooted movie-music culture. This is a change brought in by listeners who have been exposed to different sounds on digital platforms. \u201cThere was already a following for Punjabi and Tamil hip hop in Kerala. When Malayalam hip hop emerged, people started owning it,\u201d says Mayura. Malayalam hip hop is young. <\/p>\n

Munz TDT says he first heard the term \u201crap artist\u201d in the context of Kerala in 2004 when Jassie Gift\u2019s song \u201cLajjavathiye\u201d became a sensation. It was not really hip hop, but the sound was distinctive\u2014it gave an unusual pace and angularity to Malayalam words and had some rushed lines in English. In 2007, the film Big B, starring Mammootty, featured a hip-hop track called, well, \u201cHip Hop\u201d. It became a hit, says Munz. \u201cIt was everyone\u2019s ringtone at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2009, rapper Rjv Ernesto founded the Street Academics. \u201cIt was the first in the scene to do proper hip hop,\u201d recalls Imbachi aka Arjjun, who joined the band in 2019. \u201cI remember listening to their track \u2018Vandi Puncture\u2019 in 2012 and it remains iconic to date. Their tracks would often touch political themes,\u201d he adds. <\/p>\n

Down Trodden, a music video director, says hearing rap in Malayalam is incredible because the language isn\u2019t naturally lyrical and flexible like Tamil, so you don\u2019t expect people to rap in it. He shot the promotional video of Manjummel Boys\u2019 hip-hop track \u201cKuthanthram\u201d, which was written and performed by Shyam and Vedan. <\/p>\n

Actor Sreenath Bhasi, who was part of Manjummel Boys\u2019 ensemble cast, is also known to collaborate with rappers as producer-singer. <\/p>\n

While music producers like Shyam and actors like Bhasi bring together the worlds of popular movies and indie rap music, festivals such as PARA and Ocha spotlight hip-hop. Labels like Saina Music, Azadi Records and Def Jam Recordings India also play a crucial role in increasing the discoverability of rap singers, the artists say unanimously. <\/p>\n

Aditi Nair, a 19-year-old rapper from Thiruvananthapuram, says the support from the community of labels and artists has helped her hone her style. \u201cI started rapping at the age of 11 and people started calling me Rap Kid. I want to change my stage name now that I\u2019m not a kid,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Like her, Kerala\u2019s hip hop has come of age too. And there are new challenges. Video director Trodden says while rappers are finding commercial success, he spots in some artists a worrying shift from valuing hip-hop culture to obsessing over perfect music videos. For the genre to thrive and not lose mainstream appeal, Mayura says more collaborations with different kinds of music producers, labels and films are needed. New artists need to break out more often. For now, Kerala has the big steppers. <\/p>\n

They are, as Hanumankind sings in \u201cBig Dawgs\u201d, \u201cpushin\u2019 culture, baby\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Ranbir Kapoor has been playing the Malayalam hip-hop track \u201cManka\u201d on loop for the past four months. Sung by the rapper Dabzee, it begins like a Mappila pattu, the Muslim folk song, at a wedding, but the beats soon become feverish, gripping and groovy. The sound is at the same time old and new, familiar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/msid-113155210,imgsize-150400.cms","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[3816,39896,104679,104684,53412,2982,104681,615,104680,104683,104682,46279,7331,3203,1365],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129805,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129803\/revisions\/129805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}