Gully rappers!

“Nanna Gnanada Kanaja Nimma Kesarinalli Jalaja (my treasury of knowledge is like a lotus in your gutter),” goes one song, while there’s another that goes “Yaara oppigeyu beda ninna guri muttoke (you need no one’s permission to reach your goal).” These are just some of the sakkath gems from our very own Kannada rappers who’ve bowled over music aficionados with their quirky and inspiring rapping. With the success of the Ranveer Singh-Alia Bhatt starrer Gully Boy, here’s our ode to nammooru’s young gully boys and girls who aren’t just rapping about booze and drugs, but are voicing their views on relevant issues…

Karthik Gubbi, a Kannada rapper
A few facts about rap were printed in his notebook and those lines caught the fancy of Karthik Gubbi. He got so intrigued by it that he went and watched Eminem’s 8 Mile. “I’d had a heartbreak and thought it was the end of the world. But the movie changed my perspective and I realised that people go through much harder stuff. After this, I started writing my own lyrics and took part in Orkut rap battles,” says Gubbi. From recording songs in his bedroom to now becoming the first Kannada solo rap artist to release his own album, this Bengaluru bloke has come a long way. “I’d forgotten how to write in Kannada and over the years, I learnt it again. My lyrics now comprise textbook/literature Kannada and not the colloquial usage,” reveals Gubbi, whose first Kannada rap song was Mungaru. He then made a crowd-funded rap song called Naadamaya based on the original which was a Dr Rajkumar song. “I noticed that people were imposing our language on others on the Internet — that’s not a nice way to make people learn it. So, the video talks about that,” says Gubbi whose other tracks include Amma and Outta This World. “Initially, rappers were given just one or two lines to sing in films, but now music directors give us entire songs,” says the artiste, whose dream is to be the best Kannada rapper.

‘I now focus on conscious rapping’
Martin Yo, rapper
You may know him as the RCB Maga guy or might have heard him rap a popular Kannada free verse song. Martin Yo is a regional rapper known for rapping in his mother tongue Kannada, and has even been nominated for a KIMA Award. His rendezvous with rap happened seven years ago. “Bijju introduced me to this field when he noticed a college performance video I’d posted. We then started doing tracks together along with street performances. I also did shows for a radio station and started slowly building contacts,” says Yo, whose real name is Martin Luther.

In 2011, he formed the group Hip Hop Kannadigaru along with John Bastin, Sid and Bijju. The ensemble has gone on to create noteworthy music. “Our track Namakarana narrates the story of a father and daughter, through which we tell Indian parents to focus on their kids’ education and ask them not to waste money on other stuff.”

While many people aren’t aware of what rap sounds like, Martin and his group have been teaching them about it. “I now focus on conscious rapping — which is all about the truth. Just like the Gully Boy, we’re boys from the city who rap about our real life. We also make sure that Kannada is promoted and urge people to respect the language,” he says.

‘My favourites are Missy Elliot and Nicki’
Siri, A rapper
In an essentially male-dominated genre of music, this Kannada hudugi is a whiff of fresh air. Making an impact with her strong perspective, Siri is a spunky lass whose tryst with rapping happened in 2013 when she encountered the song Out of my Mind by Nicki Minaj/BOB and performed it in college. She has been penning her own songs since then, and officially put out her first song in 2016 which had Kannada lyrics. Her other songs include Soul and Gucci Gang ft Lil Squirrel remix. “I started putting up videos on my YouTube channel, but later realised that I had to up my game and that’s when I put up Live It. I’ve done a lot of collaborations too, with the most recent one being Tu Bas Nach with youtube channel Girliyapa which has garnered more than 2 million views,” she says. While Siri maintains that she hasn’t encountered any gender bias, she admits, “My parents did find it hard to deal with my choice, but thankfully, dad has accepted it now, but my mum still doesn’t understand what conscious rap is about. But as long as you know what you’re doing, you should go ahead and do it. I also hope to see more female rappers in the scene. I want to make sure that what I do has a more global feel — I want everyone to listen to it, not just Kannada audiences.”

‘Hip-hop taught us to embrace struggles’
Rap Kavigalu, a rap group with Abhishek (Shastra) & AkshayAchar (Kali)
A talented group that likes to keep it authentic, Rap Kavigalu comprises Abhishek whose approach to music is by using words as a weapon to bring about a change in society and Akshay’s lyrics reflect the mindset of a learner and a voice of a demon. “We stopped rapping in English after discovering that rapping in Kannada feels more real. Our first track was Samaja and then Shastra dropped a free-verse where he talked about street lifestyle and politics. Then the crew dropped Heegeshurumaadiddu talking about an artiste’s journey,” they reveal. To keep the rap community united, this group worked on a Facebook series called Cypher Sessions where they invited rapper s to rap on a beat. “This was followed my Samaja 2.0, Shashtra’s solo called Kappu Bandana and Kaali Kulthilla, a music video where we introduced a character called Chithkalifa.” Flex and the Instagram series Straight 16 are some of their other works. Their intention is to educate people about hip-hop, be the voice for the voiceless and provide opportunities for lads who are like them, and in the end, make money out of this. “We’re not getting any penny out of the music that we’re making apart from shows. We’ve faced a lot of opposition from our families and hustled to get this far. Hip-hop has always taught us to be ourselves and embrace our struggles,” they say.