Hip-Hop is truly taking over the world and South Asia is no different. Furthermore, the beauty about our region is the pool of different languages we have. Marathi rappers are slowly budding in the scene right now. A group named “Marathi Hip-Hop” is taking the scene by storm. After releasing back to back cypher videos, the crew got an opportunity like none other.
Few talented rappers from “Marathi Hip-Hop” recently performed at the GQ Men of the Year Awards 2017. The extravagant gala saw familiar faces from the Tinsel town including actors Ranveer Singh and Aamir Khan. As expected, Ranveer was the first among many to cheer the rappers while they set the stage on fire.
DesiHipHop.com got in touch with the group to know more about their experience, as well as their plans for the future in the empire of Hip Hop in South Asia.
Marathi Hip Hop Group Performing At GQ Men of the Year 2017 Awards
How was Marathi Hip Hop formed, how did you guys get into hip hop?
Marathi Hip Hop was initially an idea birthed by 5 Marathi rappers viz. MC Azad, Ankit Harchekar, Maddy RhythmaticZ, Yugal RhythmaticZ & MC Vinashak. We used to meet on Sundays and decided what should be done to give exposure to Marathi Rappers. That’s how it was formed.
We went on to make Marathi Hip Hop’s Facebook Page and uploaded our cyphers & content on it as we decided to reach out to more people. Moving ahead we felt the need to gather more Marathi Rappers and make our team bigger and stronger. We knew a few Marathi rappers viz. J Subodh, A Jit, Jazzy Nanu, Pranav Rajput, Ray Marshal and Akshay Axs among others. So we met them and carried out further plans.
Can you tell us more about how you got this GQ opportunity?
We had uploaded the Marathi Cypher 1 on our Facebook page which went viral. The GQ Editor Che Kurrien saw that video and asked GQ India’s culture editor Nidhi Gupta and GQ’s Marketing Director Akshay Chowdhary to contact us.
They fixed the meeting and Ankit Harchekar met them on our behalf. They chose few rappers from Marathi Hip Hop who they felt have great lyricism. That’s how it all went down. All the GQ India coordinators that we have been interacting with are very helpful and strive to bring our best.
How was the experience and reaction from the people.
The experience was thoroughly memorable from rehearsals to the main performance. While we were performing many celebrities were there. Ranveer Singh and Amir Khan were in front of us in the first row. Ranveer cheered us throughout the performance.
What’s your future plans as a group? Also tell us your views on the current Desi hip hop scene in South Asia.
Future plans are to spread Marathi Hip Hop to every corner of Maharashtra and give it a global reach as well. On the other hand, Desi Hip Hop is booming. The state of Hip Hop is really getting better and better in South Asia. But the rappers who have been in the game since many years and started regional language rap are not appreciated enough. While a lot of wannabe rappers are coming into the scene who don’t even study Hip Hop.