SOUVIK CHAKRABORT Y
W
hat happens when a rookie rapper
comments on a celebrity rapper's
daughter? The rapper shuts him up with
his rhythm and poetry (RAP). What happens
next, the rookie packs another blow calling the
Girl's Daddy- 'Crazy'. The celebrated rapper gets
back and this time the track makes history being
the number one debutant track in YouTube;
because the celebrated dad was nobody but
Eminem the
man himself.
Competitive rivalries have created some of the
high esteemed specimens of our arts, literature
and music. Any critical discourse, with respect
to popular media and culture always accounts
for the maximum impact in the generation of
its times. When this dialogue takes between two
creative people of fundamentally similar beliefs,
it amounts to an exciting exchange of words,
expressions and otherwise deep seated feelings.
When two hip hop artists subverts, attacks and
jabs each other with the sharp blades of his
pen. The song becomes a diss track. When the
other artist/rapper gets back with his set of
replies and attacks to the former track, then the
tug of words become only intensified to a level
where the scene is said to have beefed up. From
TuPac, Eminem to Snoop Dogg, Jayz and Drake,
everyone has been there and done that a lot many
times now.
With Gully Boy releasing this month and the
hip hop revolution being all the more high at its
resurgent whirlpool it is only fair that India had
its fair share of the pie in the diss tracks as well.
The diss scene however is a bit different than
what it was in the US. A categorical difference
being the fact that the hip hop and the rap
scene in India has been mostly a sleeper if not
an underground hit! The rappers had their
identity limited to a niche without a cause. In
order to break the shackles and to be exploded
in the media. The hype and the hoopla was not
really enough until tracks like Samjh mein aaya
kya? emerged. More and more people were now
interested to know what was really up with these
kind of people. Are we being programmed now
for another reality show or is this for real? What
really happened.
Emiway got miffed with Raftaar's comment on
him, where apparently he said that he is not
making enough money as he is an independent
artist. So Emiway came up with his diss track
Samajh mein aaya Kya, where he discredited
Raftaar to a low and arrogantly posed himself as
the underdog who made it big, without having a
Godfather in the industry. Raftaar, is by far the
more popular out of the two and has been the face
on television for quite some time. So, more than
anything Emiway's acerbic attack on the rapking
actually shot him overnight to hall of fame. His
videos and subscribers grew like a wildfire. So
Raftaar came back with his blow, the Sheikh
Chilli song, where people actually got to know the
story of how Raftaar has previously helped the
underground artist, Emiway.
The culture of diss is as much as the essence of
hip hop in India- the fish can not be certainly
taken out of the pond. But, hey can we not
actually use our tongue and our voice to satire
and attack something else. Raps have dealt with
sensitive themes of power, politics and different
ideals so why can we not spew some venom
against the vices that prevail in our society and
in us. Can we not use the same sting and nails to
justify the creative medium for a constructive
built of a music that knows nothing but truth!
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
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