Four rappers who broke stereotypes and are nailing the rap scene

Something thats never happened before happened earlier this month American hiphop musician Cardi B became the first female solo artiste to win the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album And it set us thinking If youve seen the movie Gully Boy did you notice how mdash among all the scenesters like DIVINE Shah Rule Emiway Bantai and gang mdash there was only one female rapper who seemed planted in the movie for token representationIs it such that hiphop in India is largely about the boys gully or not Well to be honest it is to a certain extent A complicated combination of factors has meant that there are only a handful of women across the country practising the genre But some of them are so good that they can wipe the floor with their male counterparts And yet they are unfairly tagged as female MCs or femcees when their gender should have nothing to do with their craftSo lets break stereotypes and look at the following four musicians for who they are mdash musicians who are as responsible for furthering the cause of hiphop in India as any other person is They come from different parts of the country and have their individual stories to tell But what binds them together is their shared love for hiphop After all why should boys have all the funMC KaurIt isnt easy getting hold of Manmeet Kaur aka MC Kaur for an interview The rapper hails from Mohali and grew up in Mumbai She then spent some time in Chennai and has now forsaken the mainstream radar choosing a nonmaterialistic life in Goa over any concrete jungle But we do manage to reach her and she says Its hard for me to pose for photo shoots when I am told how to Its a challenge to show an expression and believe in a brands products when I have doubts about the way it was manufactured Instead it satisfies me to know that I am still managing to be poor And I believe in working with people I respect That last bit reflects in the collaborations that have been keeping her busy Kaur has teamed up with a bunch of conscious freestylers from across the world But her heart she adds lies in taking the language of rap music to her hometown MohaliPicSamrat NagarSiri NarayanThe only time we have heard Siri Narayan live is at The Habitat in Mumbai She was performing there last year at a showcase for Azadi records the label she has signed up with Unsurprisingly she is the only woman on their roster and subjectively speaking she was better than most of the others we heard that day Narayan tells us People dont give you due credit They want to refer to you as a female rapper first and not a rapper which is really annoying because nobody calls a guy a male rapper right I think we need more women in the scene not just as rappers but as directors and producers as well There was this one project where I worked with a female director and its so rare that even I went like Oh its a woman So in a way I am also guilty but there really is a lack of female representation in the industryPicAshish SahaMeba OfiliaIf you simply hear the song Done Talking instead of watching the video for it you might easily be fooled into thinking that the female voice belongs to someone from the West But no that person is Meba Ofilia and shes from Shillong The society there is largely matrilineal And Ofilia feels that the representation of female hiphop artistes is thus slightly better than elsewhere in the country The genre has been growing here over the past five to six years and we have an awesome fan base of people who actually love the music not just because its trending There are many artistes who have emerged both male and female And the reason for that I think is that being from Shillong wecome more from a place of struggle the root of the hiphop movement The culture here is unique so when people listen to us they hear something fresh she saysPicSameer MarkandeDee MCIts all about conditioning Thats the reason why people use the phrase female rappers feels Deepa Unnikrishnan or Dee MC But she doesnt blame them Its just how people are Unnikrishnan says When somebody calls me a femcee I correct them by saying that the term doesnt exist But when someone calls me a female rapper its not something they are doing on purpose To be honest it used to affect me when I started out at the age of 19 But now I have established my place the 25yearold from Mumbai tells us She adds that the hiphop circuit has reached a place where people are bored of constantly listening to men talk about their issues So everyone wants more women in the sceneCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates