Recently, this writer stumbled upon From Bihar, a catchy track that set social media abuzz. Some digging revealed that it was by Arinar Black, aka Harsh Raj, a rapper from Patna, Bihar, who is now part of Spotify’s Rap 91 line-up alongside other well-known names such as Divine, Arivu and Panther. Ahead of his Mumbai performance, the rapper was in high spirits while retracing his journey.

Raj explains the idea behind the name, “Arinar was coined around 2011, when I began rapping in school, sometime around 2011.” His introduction to hip-hop came through his friend Nikhilesh Ranjan, aka Nikan, who was among the few people in their circle with Internet access at home. “And just like that, Nikan’s house became a gateway into global rap and underground scenes.