SHAURYA SINGH THAPA
DIVINE AND NAEZY ’ S MERE GULLY MEIN PUT “ GULLY RAP ” ON THE MAP : SCORE INDIE CLASSICS
“ Mumbai 70 ”. That ’ s the geographical location that rappers Naezy and Divine proudly proclaim in the intro of Meri Gully Mein . Born and brought up in the streets of Mumbai , the two rappers are mainstream names in Indian hip-hop now . But it is this street anthem that proved to be a major stepping stone for the two MCs .
While some listeners might associate the song with the Ranveer Singh-starrer Gully Boy , Meri Gully Mein was first released back in 2015 . Shot in the slums of the city , the video shows a nostalgic glimpse of a pre-fame Naezy and Divine as they merrily flaunt their rapping skills and the place where they come from .
Naezy was already building hype as an underground rapper with songs like Aafat ( which he had recorded on just his iPad ). On the other hand , Divine was similarly gaining fans with his 2013 single Yeh Mera Bombay that caught the attention of Sony Music . The two soon became poster boys of the then-emerging “ gully rap ” scene in Mumbai .
While the scene already boasted of talents like Ace and his crew Bombay ’ s Finest ( of which
Divine himself was once a part ), it is this ultimate collaboration that put Mumbai rap on the map . The so-called “ gully ” sound was unheard of back then and for non-Mumbaikars , it was Mere Gully Mein that introduced them to terms like “ ek number ”, “ boht hard ”, and “ shooter ”,
Interestingly , the Mumbaicentric song was actually produced by Delhi-based Sez on the Beat aka Sajeel Kapoor . Today , Sez has become synonymous with Indian hiphop considering his work on albums like the debuts of Prabh Deep ( Class-Sikh ), Seedhe Maut ( Bayaan ), and Ahmer ( Little Kid Big Dreams ) along with the discography of his own project The MVMNT . Sez ’ s contribution to Mere Gully Mein just shows that production can go way beyond the general binaries of the “ Mumbai sound ” and the “ Delhi sound ”.
Mere Gully Mein blew up instantly after its release , eventually turning Divine and Naezy into household names . Even the two rappers didn ’ t collaborated again , their lore became a part of Indian pop culture thanks to the aforementioned Gully Boy . Naezy released a few singles since then while Divine has succesffuly helmed two full-length albums while also founding his own company called Gully Gang Entertainment .
The two “ gully boys ” are well settled now in the industry but fans will always cherish Mere Gully Mein as the song that established their careers .
The Score Magazine highonscore . com
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