Even in the music industry, all publicity is good publicity. Take Los Angeles-based hip hop/trap group Bhanga Bangla’s song and video ‘Borof’ for instance, the inaugural release for Sony Music India (SMI) and global platform Desi Hip Hop’s (DHH) new record label Awaaz. The desi trap song — streamed to SMI’s 26 million YouTube subscribers — has a staggering 11,000 dislikes against 18,000 likes and nearly a million views.
The comments admonish the trap aesthetic of rappers Ivory Shakur, 4IX and Young Prince for brazenly objectifying women, packing enough firearms to make a Republican blush and singing about Bengali culture in a blasé manner.
To any seasoned listener of hip hop, ‘Borof’ has all the makings of a trap banger, placing it next to the likes of Migos, the American rap trio. Then again, Migos get their fair share of naysayers too. Similarly, Bhanga Bangla and Awaaz are moving forward, ignoring problematic tropes.
Sony Music India’s Arjun Sankalia, head of international repertoire & special projects, says, “When I heard the song and saw the video for the first time, I was like ‘What is this?’, but around the second or third time I heard it, I realised it’s in the same space as anything else I’m listening to now. I’m hopeful of it becoming one of those cult hits that keeps growing over time.”
The Khatarnaak Hip Hop Collective
Hardik Dave, CEO of DHH, chimes in and adds that Bhanga Bangla “hung out in the same studios where trap was becoming popular”. DHH has been promoting Bhanga Bangla and many more hip hop artists from South Asia, India and diaspora Indian hip hop artists since 2011.Backed by SMI and DHH, Awaaz has been firing all cylinders for more hip hop representation in South Asia. They have since released New Delhi rapper Sun J’s song ‘Raw’, seasoned Calfornian rapper Haji Springer’s ‘Galiyon Se’, North California rapper Saheer and two songs from Khatarnaak Hip Hop Collective (including its member Slyck Twoshadez). That’s a total of six singles in the span of a month and a half, which makes Awaaz a prolific label. The high frequency of releases is so that the name stays afloat in the digital scape. Sankalia adds, “When listeners are on a streaming site, releasing a song also helps in the process of discovery. That’s the broad reason behind that.”
In the last five years alone, there’s been a flood of good, bad and middling hip hop in India. Whether signed on or not, a lot of Indian hip hop is thriving on platforms such as YouTube and Soundcloud. Dave hints at investing early in producers and rappers. “Give them 10 years and when it actually becomes their voice, it’s going to be very regional and local. South Asia being such a diverse land, the amount and variety of content is going to cast a shadow over North America,” he says. In the course of the partnership, Sony Music India is also keen to work with Desi Hip Hop on events and the like. As the label that released Mumbai rappers Divine and Naezy’s ‘Mere Gully Mein’ to mainstream success, there’s still work to be done. Sankalia adds, “The broad idea is to grow the category and the culture as it were and discover and develop a handful of artists.”
Stream Awaaz songs on Sony Music India’s YouTube channel.
