Rap up the fight!

Amarjot Kaur

Independent music enjoys a good reputation among passionate intellectuals and romantically idealistic set of music lovers who pride their social consciousness in their ‘anti-commercial music’ stance. 

However, with Internet offering an option for digital download at the cost of your monthly rental or ‘internet pack’, and MTV’s exclusive channel for Indie music, MTV Indies, Indie artistes have quickly shed all pretence, accepting that there’s no glory in being broke or entertaining only the niche crowd—Indie is on its way to getting bigger, and we have a voice that proves this statement in city-based rapper/ hip hop duo Kru172. The duo has rapped for WWE wrestler Jinder Mahal. 

“We just got an email from the music producer of world wrestling entertainment, Jim Johnston, with reference beats and lyrics, and a deadline of two and a half days. We sent them the track and now, it’s on WWE,” says Navjosh Singh, manager of the rapper duo. 

‘We slogged our way up’

Rapping for over eight years now, brothers Navdeep Singh (Nottotune) and Harsimran Jit Singh (Lucky) slogged their way up, to rapping for WWE wrestler Jinder Mahal, through days when they had to record their songs on cheap microphones and borrowing video cameras from friends on ‘return-in-kind’ barter deals. “We didn’t have 25 kille zameen to sell and give money to famous commercial music labels, which blatantly asked us for money to release our music. Even channels like PTC and MH1 quote heavy amount for singers to get their songs telecast on-air. So, we set out to record our music, produce it, and even shoot the video, all by ourselves,” says Harsimran. Contemporaries of rappers like Raftaar and Broda V, Kru172 first found acceptance on a social networking site, Orkut, which had a community of rappers called Insignia. “Insignia was a melting pot for rappers from India and Pakistan, and we would often have text battles and cypher rap battles. But with the advent of Facebook and Honey Singh, everything changed,” he says.

Honey Singh, Bohemia, and rap scene 

Though Kru172 released its first single, Dill Di Rani, in 2008, their songs about Chandigarh (which are unlike most commercial Punjabi songs about Chandigarh and its women) brought them fame. Their songs—Shehar Mera Chandigarh, Sun Lo Gal, and Shaukin Baliye—neither boast of jatt pride, nor do they glorify guns, which is a standard hit formula for most commercial Punjabi songs. 

“Before Honey Singh, people respected rap artistes. In Punjab, rap patterns are traced even in folk songs like Sunder Mundariye or even boliyan. But, the trend travelled from the blacks and Bohemia. But when Bohimia sings about guns and drugs, he is coming from the US where gun laws are different and he has lived the kind of life he raps about, unlike Honey Singh. The important thing is to stay true to your  your roots, ” says Navdeep.

No guns, no jatts

“We do not want to make songs that create caste or religious divide between people. People are just people and it’s their spirit of humanity we like rapping about,” says the rapper duo, who released a rather interesting rendition of YG’s My Nigga in Punjabi, called Mera Bai, Mera Bai, a reflection of Punjab’s bro code or Bai ji culture!