turn the volume up. India is in the midst of an epic hip-hop takeover. Music – in English and regional languages – was among the top four most streamed genres in the country with 490 billion streams. Since Billboard launched its awards in India this year, they are already preparing to formally track DHH (Desi Hip-Hop). India got its own edition of Rolling Loud, the world’s biggest hip-hop festival, last year. This year, it is also organizing regional warm-ups, club nights and events throughout the year. Delhi duo Straight Death are taking their sound to Singapore, France, the US and seven other countries this summer. And indie labels are busy signing the Ahmadabad sound from Gujarat, desert folk rap from Rajasthan, Gaana rap from Tamil Nadu, Dakhini rap from Hyderabad and Karnataka, Koshur rap from Kashmir and others.
Gully Boy reference? Leave them back in 2019. The genre is evolving, moving forward and changing the way we think about Indian music. Let’s break it down.
admission is free
There is less gatekeeping in hip-hop than in classical or jazz. “This is a genre you can participate in without huge investment or years of training,” says Vidya Venugopal, director of Chennai-based label Eighty Culture. “You can go on YouTube, find a beat, pick up a pen and start writing.” The DIY vibe also extends to recording. Sales of home-studio gear have surged since the pandemic. Most artists start with a Focusrite interface and a condenser mic, and take it from there.
Chennai-based creator Ofro, who developed Asal Kolar and Arivu, says free apps like BandLab offer a rapper in a small town the same publishing capabilities as a legacy studio in Mumbai. “At its core, hip-hop is about people feeling empowered,” he says. “The feeling of listening is the first step.” Next, often, there is something new to say. Hence, new genre-mashups like Dapang, which blends global hip-hop with the Koothu folk beats of Tamil Nadu, are one of the many sonic cocktails that exist only here.
bid connection rules
In the South, Dabanggs rule, as does song rap, which uses the Madras Bashai dialect of the streets of Chennai in its viral songs. In the North, hip-hop holds the power of hillbilly practice. In the west, there is a bass-heavy surge of Konkani flow. In the North-East, where local music has long been missing from the mainstream, hip-hop has changed the situation. “The youth want to express the struggle of not being accepted,” says Borkung Hrangkhol, a 38-year-old rapper from Tripura. “Hip-hop is the language of this generation.
Area artists have played Lollapalooza. “When they hear us spitting in English, they think we’re from outside India,” says Hrangkhol. The musicians perform in traditional attire, turning what was once a problem into a fantastic flexibility. Meghalaya rapper and songwriter Rebel (aka Daifi Lamare) is 24 years old. But his work has already featured on the soundtracks of Dhurandhar (2025) and Dhurandhar: The Revenge (2026). He also rapped in Khasi and Jaintia at the Rising India Summit 2026. In neighboring Nagaland, Moko Koza has gone viral for rapping about his hometown Kohima in Nagami and English on the 2025 track Kevahira (Remix).
Marathi House is a style in itself. Shreyas Sagvekar’s Tambdi Chamadi is based on traditional Marathi rhythms and features a local kaka (uncle) in the music video. It has received over 54 million views on YouTube and has been streamed over 28.5 million times on Spotify. It has also been picked up by global giants KSHMR and Spinnin’ Records. When Sagvekar was growing up, he played the dholak. He did not adopt the Marathi language – it was always the language of his music. “When you see someone comfortable in their language, you feel like, ‘This is my brother,'” he says.
little fires are everywhere
Dalit hip-hop has existed for about 15 years, but there’s still a lot to resist. Vipin Tatad, 28, from Amravati, Maharashtra, doesn’t sing about cars, women and the gangsta life. Tatad says, “Rap is rebellion; it’s about speaking the truth.” Dalit rap, in particular, is about reclaiming the legacy of social reformers like Gadge Baba and Ambedkar. His 2018 track, Problem Mere Desh Ki, talks about how drinking water pipes have merged with sewage lines. It got so much publicity that Tatad spoke about it at universities. They have since given themselves an appropriate stage name: VIP. And he rapped on the track Crack in the Wall from the 2022 film Jhund and Chakka Jam in the 2022 series Murder in a Courtroom.
Vedan, 31, raps about caste discrimination, the “lived reality” of the oppressed and religious hypocrisy in his Malayalam track Voice of the Voiceless. Additionally, a new subgenre of protest hip-hop is rapidly growing. Rapid-response rap addressed specific national crises. Stream Gorjon Kare Jabo (We Will Roar On) by Deeksha Dev and Aurako Sengupta. The Bengali and English track pays tribute to the 2024 rape-murder victim at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College.
god is watching
Devotional music already has a 10% to 15% share of the Indian music market across all platforms including YouTube, Spotify and regional streaming services. 2026 Plot twist: Bhakti or bhakti rap, in which ancient shlokas are mixed into 808 beats.
In 2020, amid the first COVID lockdown, Chandigarh-based rapper Narsee (aka, Shanti Swarup, 32) released a rap retelling of the Ramayana, as if the epic was being re-enacted on screen. Narci’s version drew on the familiar bell sounds from the show’s opening theme, and compressed the epic’s key moments into a ten-minute hip-hop narrative. It received 20 million views on YouTube and 8 million streams on Spotify, inspiring other artists to explore devotional themes. Ranjha and Smokey’s 2025 track, Rudra Mahakal, follows the lives of great warriors. It has more than 12 million views on YouTube.
“People don’t always have time to read the scriptures in depth,” says Narsee. “If we can communicate those feelings through modern forms like rap, it can help them connect.” This explains the current popularity of bhajan parties – youth-focused devotional events that blend mantra-based music with club-style staging and high-energy sound design. College festivals and venues in cities like Ghaziabad, Bengaluru, Noida and Lucknow are extremely popular for artists like Raghav Raja, who perform shlokas and Shiv bhajans over hip-hop and drill beats.
Location sharing is on
The songs and scenes are based on the wrestling grounds of Haryana (Chhore Hariyane Aale by Elvish Yadav and Ankit Baiyanpuriya) and the main streets of Shillong (Set It Off by Kim the Beloved and Rebel). “This change happened a decade ago,” says Raghu Babbal, 27, a video director in Mumbai. Naezy is owned by Bombay 70 – an area code that no one considers expensive. For Khamma Ghani, Babbal worked with Rajasthan-based artist UD, shooting in Jaipur, Jodhpur, Osian, Jawai and Mumbai, using the Nahargarh Fort, Amer Stepwell and the blue roofs of Jodhpur to match the Marwari-Hindi texture of the song. In Balti and Lapgun’s Lime Tikka, scenes cover everything, from a satellite crash in a village to warding off evil with lemon and chilli, “the most Indian thing ever”, says Babbal.
Bollywood is listening
Rebel, who contributed tracks to the cult films, says hip-hop’s place in mainstream cinema is a sign of “great progress”, “coming together as a nation”. It reflects the linguistic diversity of India, at the same time it binds us all in a common rhythm. When filmmakers hear this, they know a good thing. The title song of Saiyaara was released last year in a rap version by Rohit Kumar Chaudhary (RCR), an independent rapper and singer from Amritsar. Film after film, from 2022’s An Action Hero to the film Dussehra (2023) to Netflix’s 2025 Inspector Jhende, hip-hop numbers have been introduced.
loyalty is gold
Gen Z fans were in school when they discovered Yo Yo Honey Singh and Mafia Mundir in 2012-13. They cheered for Devine’s 2017 breakout. They directly followed the 2024 diss-track battle between Death and Kashmiri hip-hop duo SOS. Gen Z accounts for 70% of India’s hip-hop listeners. “They are a spending audience now,” says Naman Singh, 27, co-founder of music distribution label Sarvinark. This means that they are not looking for pirated tracks; They have premium Spotify accounts and can pay for concert tickets. Monthly listeners of the scene’s breakout stars have increased from 5 million to 15 million, indicating a massive shift in spending power.
And brands are infiltrating
In February 2026, snacks company Farmly launched its makhana flour-based snack with a hip-hop song titled Makha Shaka Laka Boom Boom. The campaign featured street-style dance crews like @FeelCrew_Official and @Crew._X_Official to attract young buyers. Knorr collaborated directly with Mouat to introduce K-Pot, a Korean-flavored food pot, in May 2023. In 2014, Dumb Biryani featured the flavor of cardamom in the track of the same name made by Char Diwari and Yash Raj.
But Converse emerged as a brand that really “got it.” In August 2024, its Connect with the Unexpected campaign paired unlikely duos to create new music. Hit films like Karun and Nanaku’s Capital came out; Hulia by Pho and Baghi Munda; Creamery and Express Ways by Dhanji; and his holidays by the axomaniac and the siege. As far as Converse was concerned, it remained in the background. However, the music was exactly where it needed to be: in the spotlight.
From HT Brunch, March 28, 2026
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