Since its birth in the Bronx, this culture has stood as a platform for the voices society tried to mute. It’s been the soundtrack of resistance, a rhythm for revolution, and a poetry of pain and perseverance. Whether through the conscious bars of Public Enemy, the street survival tales of Nas, or the soul-searching vulnerability of Tupac, hip-hop has always been where the truth—however raw—finds its stage. That’s why, regardless of where you land on the political or moral spectrum, Kanye West’s latest song deserves more than a reaction—it deserves reflection.

Yes, it’s controversial. Yes, it’s triggering. But it’s also undeniably hip-hop.

To be clear, this is not a defense of every lyric or ideology Kanye expresses. His artistry has long walked a tightrope between brilliance and chaos, between cultural critique and personal provocation. But that’s precisely what makes him such a polarizing and, at times, important figure in the genre. He forces us to wrestle with the uncomfortable. He refuses to be filtered. And that, like it or not, is part of hip-hop’s DNA.

Too often, we only celebrate artists when they say what we want to hear—when their message aligns with our own views. But the roots of this culture aren’t about comfort. Hip-hop emerged because the mainstream refused to listen. We don’t grow as a culture by silencing voices we don’t understand. We grow by engaging with them critically—by listening, reflecting, and discerning. Sometimes, the most disruptive voices are the ones that shake us out of complacency and force us to confront the deeper issues we’d rather ignore.

Watch Heil Hitler by Ye

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So no, you don’t have to agree with Kanye. But you should recognize that what he’s doing—provoking thought, challenging norms, and expressing his unfiltered reality—is exactly what hip-hop was built for.

And if we start picking and choosing which “truths” are allowed, we risk stripping this culture of the very freedom that made it matter in the first place.

#HipHopUnfiltered #KanyeWest #TruthInArt #VoicesOfTheUnheard #CultureMatters

Whether the reason is money, more fame, loss of sanity or a change of tactic, we actually have absolutely no idea what Bohemia is doing in this video. We are going to leave it there and just imagine that this didn’t actually happen. But, here are a couple of videos that Bo fans should take a look at.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir6JRkRmDWg

Sukh-e has always approached music commercially and this time he decided to get Ali Quli Mirza on board this track, which no doubt will have dancefloor appeal, but will do very little for Bohemia’s street cred.

The production quality on the track is pretty good to be honest, the background music sounds banging and I can imagine this track in almost any Bollywood movie. Club Pub song comes with a flashy video and does a splendid job in fulfilling the various stereotypes of what a ‘flashy video’ should be, this includes hot women dancing, booze flowing and everything bling you can imagine.

While the production and the video of the track Club Pub are aligned in order to captivate the listener the composition of the track is very substandard. The lyrics lack uniqueness and that is what make this track no different from any other party track which is out there.

The video has managed to cross 30,000 views in 1 day and are still increasing slow but steadily. The track has been released on T-Series, the same Label which will be releasing Bohemia’s next album, ‘Skull and Bones’.

Check out the video right here :

1. Yo Yo Honey Singh

He is hated by the entire Indian underground and most of the underground again does not even consider him to be a rapper but none the less he helped in the introduction of the genre to the masses. He capitalized on the niche market by selling pop music in the name of hip-hop music and made his money. He has several hits to his name but witnessed a huge drop in his following since Badshah and Raftaar came into the picture and also his Bipolar situation along with alcohol addiction did not help his cause. Love it or hate it Yo Yo Honey Singh‘s name will be affiliated with our genre for reasons both the good and the bad, I would be supporting the bad ones.

2. Bohemia

The King of Desi Hip-Hop was also approached by Bollywood and that to by none other than Akshay Kumar for the movie, ‘Chandni Chowk to China‘. The movie did not do as well as the track did and put Bohemia in the spotlight for quite a while. The track was pure hip-hop but also attained commercial success and was found being played in clubs and various venues all over the country. Bohemia has claimed that he was not approached by Bollywood afterwards because the ‘Industry’ was afraid of him.

3. Badshah

He is an artist who is loved by the underground as well as the mainstream. A very versatile and hard working artist who is capable of producing tracks such as ‘Saturday Saturday‘ and drop flow like ‘Inception‘. He has been the most successful artist for the past 2 years and his following has increased 10 folds. In the recent past there has barely been any movie which did not have a party number featuring Badshah. An engineering college student who went a long way to break the brown stereotype.

4. Raftaar

He is no overnight success and has been grinding hard since his early days. Raftaar is now an everyday name in the country due to his contributions in Bollywood movies such as ‘Fugly‘,’Heropanti‘ and ‘Singh and Kaur‘. His work is different from other others as he does not dilute the value of hip-hop in his music be it a track for a movie such as,’Whistle Baja‘ or be it a banger like ‘Swag Mera Desi‘. Raftaar has been signed to Manj Musik and has belted several hits under that label. Raftaar is currently working on his album, ‘Zero to Infinity‘ and like every other hip-hop head in country we are also waiting for that body of work.

5. Ikka

Ikka was once a part of one of the most successful Delhi based hip-hop collectives ‘Nau Sau Bai‘ which took the country by storm back in the day. He soon left the group and decided to focus on his own music. He has generated several bangers such as “Tamanchey” since and has worked with artists such as Diljit Dosanjh, Sherlyn Chopra and Neha Kakkar. He has also written down some of your favorite Bollywood party tracks and he is also involved in their production. Ikka is going to be one artist to watch out for in the the time to come.

I have interacted with both of these individuals and they are focused as well as motivated. Both have a deep connection with the pen and are brilliant lyricists, when they come in front of the microphone they give in their 100. What I suppose is the USP of the duo is their bilingual content, Encore is proficient in Hindi and the same can be said about Calm when we talk about English. I am unaware of a bilingual duo and ‘Seedhe Maut‘ have a huge advantage as they get to enter a niche market.

They have recorded some music and will be dropping it soon. Watch out for their first single, ‘Seedhe Maut‘ which is produced by India’s best producer Sez. Prior to their first original they will also be dropping a remix of Schoolboy Q’s ‘That Part‘.

I caught up with the duo and asked them why are they different and what type of sound are they looking to cater. Here have a read :

Slyck: What does Seedhe Maut plan to get to the table ?

Seedhe Maut: Oh everything that you won’t expect! The best word to describe the kind of music that we are bringing to the indian hiphop scene is FRESH. We both got our own unique style and the best thing is when we both (Encore ABJ & Calm) work together, we create a whole new style of hiphop music which (I hope) would be pretty pleasing both lyrically and sonically.

Slyck: What will make your sound unique ? What distinguishes you from others ?

Seedhe Maut: Anyone who have heard our previous individual works would have a really good idea about the kind of uniqueness we are bringing to the table. I guess that is probably the main reason why everyone around us is so hyped for this DUO and the ones who’ve already heard our first single also titled “Seedhe Maut” has given us a positive response. The answer to your second part of question would be answered as soon as our track That Part (remix) releases on 1st September!!

Slyck: Your duo has an interesting name, what was the story behind it ?

Seedhe Maut: The credits of the word SEEDHE MAUT goes straight to CALM and his brother Saahil Sharma!! The word SEEDHE MAUT is an expression similar to “Nailed it” or “Killed it” etc. It’s pretty catchy,you see!

Slyck: Who are your favorite Desi and International artists, who would you want to get on a track for a verse ?

Seedhe Maut: Artists like Kendrick Lamar, Joyner Lucas, J cole, artists of teambackpack, Locksmith, Mac miller etc has always inspired us to push our art forward to different directions both musically and lyrically. Talking about the desi scene, We really enjoy jamming with YOUNGSTA. Naezy,DIVINE,Class-sikh (PrabhXsez), RAGA, AP, KIDSHOT are other super talented artist that we believe can really level up the scene for good.

Slyck: What do you think about the Desi Hip Hop scene at the moment ?

Seedhe Maut: Desi Hiphop scene is without a doubt growing and glowing!! Personally, we feel that the past one two years have seen a tremendous growth in the scene. New talented cats are hustling their way up and artist have started to believe that they actually have a chance at making it big. Also, Major shout out to Raftaar for helping the young ones grow by sharing their tracks and making remix. This is the kind of support that mainstream artists should be giving to the underground artists to help them get more exposure. Feels really good to look back at the present condition of the indian underground hiphop scene.

Slyck: Seedhe Maut is bi-lingual crew l, how well do you think will that be accepted ?

Seedhe Maut: We have high hopes from our duo. Infact we think that being a bi-lingual duo is a plus point for us as we do not want to limit the reach of the Seedhe MAUT brand to just India. We have a bigger vision.

Slyck: Rap Music is so competitive, Will you treat rap as a music genre or a sport ?

Seedhe Maut: Hip-hop has always been an art to us more than just a genre or sport. But between the two, we definitely take this as a sport. This is SEEDHE MAUT bruh, we are here to eliminate anyone and everyone. Haha!!

Slyck: People should listen to Seedhe Maut because ?

Seedhe Maut: People should listen to seedhe maut because if they dont, they should know that their friends and everyone else would be listening to us anyways and sooner or later they’ll realize what they’ve been missing on lmao. Listen to tHat part remix dropping on 1 september. Seedhe Maut single dropping soon too. Expect the unexpected

Tadak Padak is a high energy and high octane track which describes how Emiway wants to accomplish all of his dreams and how he is willing to give in everything to make them come true. His flow is spot on and accompanied with a very Bombay-ish delivery which is abundantly loaded with the local slang.

The production is upbeat and has several dubstep elements to it, the drum kit used adds an additional and powerful punch to the bar. The track is a banger and also has a pretty sick video to go along with it.

From my knowledge Emiway has a very versatile catalogue including tracks which will vibe with the underground and then there are tracks which can be visualized banging out in any Salman Khan movie (I am not sure if that is a compliment or not). One of his tracks, ‘Maal Waali Aunty‘ has crossed more than a million views which is an achievement in itself but then the content of the track is very cheap and ostentatious, it is possibly due to content such as this why he is so debated.

However in one of his interviews he went to mention that reviews do not matter to him and all he is doing is just his moral duty as an artist, which is to make music. ‘Tadak Padak‘ is quite the track and we recommend that you should check it out.

The Music for the track is produced by Cappuccino Handcuffs and intro vocals from newcomer Jay R.

You can check out the teaser right here…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdmV8QEfkxE&feature=youtu.be

Top 5 Desi Hip Hop Artists –

1. DIVINE

He has single handedly dominated the scene for the past 1.5 years and it seems like he will be chilling on the throne. He released ‘Yeh Mera Bombay‘ around 2 years ago and has not looked back since. His grind is proof that if you focus on your vision alongside hardwork and persistence, dreams do come true. His efforts got him a deal with Sony Music and he released his recent video, ‘Jungli Sher‘ under it and has crossed more than a million views on YouTube and has received love from all over the world. When asked about an album he mentioned on an earlier DHH interview that “I have a album ready right now ..waiting for the right time ..tell your fav rappers i said HELLO”

2. Sikander Kahlon

He once confessed that he used to be a wack artist but just a few years later he is signed to Manj Musik. There is very minimal luck involved in such a transition. Such a change in a career can be accounted for by an interminable grind and a vision. What has made Sikander so relevant now was that he never gave up, in fact he dug in deep and was able to put out new music frequently and periodically in the form of singles as well as mixtapes. He has numeral viral hits now which have views in several Lakhs. Sikander is now working under the guidance of Manj Music on his personal music and hopefully we get to listen to it sooner than we think.

3. Prabh Deep

Prabh Deep was an absolute nobody in 2014 but it is a completely different story in 2016. He initially started of as a B-Boy but soon discovered his love for the microphone. His love for the microphone is now stronger, louder and better than before and the entire scene is aware of this relationship with it. Prabh Deep is a rapper, producer, videographer and hundred other things as well but is most known for his skills as an emcee. He has quoted time and again that he was mentored by ‘Zan Twoshadez’ one of the sickest English emcees in India. Prabh Deep comes from a very humble background which can be judged from his music and the lyrics he puts down. He has clocked several gigs in the capital itself and follows a rich organic following. Currently involved in the creative process for his highly anticipated album, ‘#CLASSSIKH‘ alongside Sez, we are eagerly waiting to see what the album is gonna sound like.

4. Pardhaan

It is good to see the Haryanvi-Hindi rapper back on his grind. He had been silent for a long time and just when you think he started to slip we heard rumors of him getting signed to KDM. It turns out the rumors were true and this Desi Beam minister has in fact cemented a deal with KDM. Pardhaan has been given god like status due to earlier hits like ‘Bhootstar‘ and ‘Deewana Mujhsa Milega Nahin‘. I have known Pardhaan for quite sometime and there is no doubt that he also like the others mentioned in this list is a hard worker and an objective oriented worker. He had a rather busy May with back to back releases and has set the expectations for the Kali Denali mixtape super high.

5. Lazarus

This deadly doctor-rapper artist has infected the American underground scene and has worked with the likes of Royce Da 5’9 and KXNG Crooked. He was also a part of the D-12 mixtape,’The Devils Night‘ and it helped him increase his fan following. Intellectual lyrics and a nasty flow make this artist too tough to be messed with. He has been grinding it out for the longest while and doing all this while working as a doctor is definitely no joke. We have always stood behind Lazarus music and cannot wait for his future releases.

If you’re an avid underground desi hip hop fan, you’d be well aware of the track ‘Chill‘ which dropped in June this year. The track by Delhi’s Puneet Kohli & Marshall The 3rd, Prod by Varun rippled through the underground and quickly because a summer anthem for desi hip hop heads all over the world.

You also might be aware of how the track caught the attention of Raftaar, he hit the boys up asking to do a #Raamix…? Well wait no more, the track is here and it’s a BANGER!

We’ll let the video do the talking as it’s set to be a classic!

Featuring : RAFTAAR | PUNEET KOHLI | SAURABH ACHARYA | MARSHALL THE THIRD

Akon grew up in Senegal without electricity and water. His idea of poverty when he came to the United States changed, while people in his country were living in real poverty, the “projects” that he saw that are considered below poverty line in comparison luxurious.

Akon apparently started the venture when he decided to bring electricity to his grandmother’s house. She would always deny it and one day he said he wouldn’t see her again unless she let him hook up electricity in the house. Turns out, no amount of money could really make that happen because the grid was far out. He wanted to help his grandmother and his countrymen because without electricity which was the most basic necessity, one couldn’t really develop a country.

The politics that involved in providing electricity through the government was so complicated that he knew he couldn’t handle it. He started looking for other solutions to the problem. Solar energy was the way to go. The artist met some people in China, some friends of his who he had come to know through his career as an artist and this led to him striking a deal with one of the biggest Chinese companies that is owned by the China government thereby getting a $ one billion credit line from China for his project- all solar powered.

Apparently, American government run by Bush at the time was taxing 200% on all solar energy that came into the country because his interest was in the oil and any renewable energy was a threat to his agenda. So the solar energy from the Chinese government was just sitting there and Akon bagged that opportunity for his Light Up Africa Project.

While his songs have established him as a star in his area of expertise, his work for humanity has proved him to be a commendable human being.

Prashant Nair aka Vibe is one such amazing talent. A beatboxer from Mumbai, Prashant’s journey started in 2011. He has been a part of many contests including the Youtube fanfest. Inspired by Michael Jackson (who apparently used to beatbox), the final year college student took part on Wilson College’s BMM festival called Polaris this year.

His talent is unquestionable but he thinks it’s the time and effort he put into his art that has gotten him so far. Music is his first love and beatboxing now seems like second nature. It’s inspiring to see Prashant beatbox some drum n bass, dubstep and some heavy beats effortlessly. Catch him in the video below: