Three Indian rappers whose music serves as resistance and as record
Mahi G, 28, is from Ahilyanagar in rural Maharashtra. Dule Rocker, 27, is from Kalahandi, Odisha. Aman Kachhap, 27, was born in Jharkhand.
The three of them are using rap to tell stories that mainstream Indian pop has long ignored – of caste injustice, climate catastrophe, displacement and other resonant social themes.
Drawn from groups that have long been marginalised, they are using rhythm and rhyme to carry the sound of rural India and everyday survival to larger audiences.
This is what they had to say about art and activism.
Mahi G: Turning poems into protest
Mahi G, born Madhura Ghane, is a member of the Mahadev Koli Adivasi community. She said that her rap was born not from imitating other hip hop musicians but from poetry.
She drew from her community’s struggles against environmental destruction, forced displacement and marginalisation and poured the material into poems she wrote as a college student. She began transforming them into rap during the farmers’ protests of 2019-’20.
Focussing on the here and now is vital to her. “Before going to the moon, think about saving the earth,” she said.
Her debut track Jungle Cha Raja (King of the...
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