Nepalese hip hop

Music of Nepal
General topics
Genres
Specific forms
Media and performance
Music festivals Goon lā
Music media
Nationalistic and patriotic songs
National anthem "Sayaun Thunga Phool Ka"

Nepalese hip hop, or NEPHOP, is the Nepali form of hip hop. Its elements include MCing, DJing, B-boying, and graffiti writing. Rap culture was introduced in Nepal through the electronic DJs mixing the classical Nepalese songs with the Western Urban style. Later, it took the form of artists releasing songs with the commercial beats.

History

Popularity Growth (Early 2000s)

In the 90s, GP started the rap culture, and then in 2000 Rappaz Union (Sammy Samrat and Nirnaya) created the first Nepalese rap album in English. In 2003, Nurbu Sherpa released his debut album "Nurbu Sherpa Representin' K.T.M.C." (K.T.M.C. meaning Kathmandu City.) His debut album was the first Nepalese hip hop album recorded in the United States, for which he was nominated for the Best Music Video Award. Finally, in 2004, The UNity (Aidray and Da69) brought out their first album Girish & The Unity presents X with Girish (Gorkhali G.) It included "She's the Bomb", the music video of which became a major success in the local charts. [1]

Rise of the Underground (2004-2008)

In 2003, underground rapper Aroz, based in New York City, spearheaded the Nepalese underground hip hop movement through his now-defunct website nephop.com. The term Nephop was coined by producer DJ AJ, and soon gained worldwide popularity and is accepted as a portmanteau of Nepalese hip hop.

In 2004, Aroz released his first underground single "Chudaina", produced by DJ AJ on nephop.com. In 2005, Nepsydaz, a rap group, had commercial success for releasing their version of the same song. Aroz then became "the most controversial"[2] rapper, experimenting with dirty rap in his next single "Matt Khep Vannu."[3] This single had great success in the underground, after which he quickly released his next, "Killin' Terraces",[4] which the New Urban Music Blog [5] considered one of the best Nepalese political raps.

Aroz received some mainstream exposure after being featured in Nurbu Sherpa's single "Baby Gurl", from Nurbu's second album, Save Nepal. According to fursad.com, "Baby Gurl"[6] was voted one of the top ten songs of 2008. Nurbu also featured Aroz and other underground rappers in his next single, "When I'm around",[7] from his third album.

Another well known rapper in the underground NepHop scenario is Mc Flo. His lyrics are generally patriotic, and day-to-day issues which are associated with the current generation. "Maile Hasna Sikay" is an example.

Current Scenario (2008-present)

During the past couple of years, NepHop has taken an absolutely new shape and form. The music genre which was subconsciously started as a passion, in the early 2000s, has become a profession for most of the artists. But the irony is that, due to the lack of organised marketing and distribution, most of the talented success are wandering to foreign countries as their alternatives and credentials in there are not much appreciated.

Battle Rap

Yama Buddha, with the help of many other production and distribution houses, introduced battle rap titled Raw Barz for the first time to Nepal, and he hosted the first season. Easitwelve and Mc Flo also took part as hosts. Though the lyrics rapped during the battles are pretty unacceptable to the conservative Nepalese society, and gained a bad image, the youth in urban areas welcomed the spurt and gave a big shoutout. In addition, it was not just a rap battle, but it was also a platform to sharpening oneself and building confidence to confront the crowd. The first season of Raw Barz was critically acclaimed.

The battle league has outturned so many talented rappers most prominently being Laure, Balen, Unik Poet, Sacar, Mc Rage and the list goes on.

The rap battle between Laure and Unik is regarded as the best of all. Both of the rappers were equally strong and confident with their lyrics. On the other hand, the female battle sensationalized the event even further with rappers such as Tsamyun, Pari, Rhythms Up, C-Ring, etc. The objective of the league was to promote NepHop and introduce it to the mainstream media throughout the country, as well as overseas. The Raw Barz season also held events in the UK and Australia.

Notable Rappers

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pwl4_kw_bY
  2. ↑ Nep-hop nation (Cover Story — WAVE magazine) (cached)
  3. ↑ Katti Khep Vannu, by Aroz – mysansar.com's exclusive report
  4. ↑ Killing Terraces, by Aroz feat. Suzata
  5. ↑ NEPHOP – Hiphop Aus Nepal
  6. ↑ Baby Gurl, by Nurbu Sherpa
  7. ↑ When I'm Around, by Nurbu Sherpa feat. Aroz, Golden Child & Ambassador

External links

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