Mumbai-based battle rap platform returns after seven years, and here's what the future holds

Long before Indian hiphop became a language on everybodyrsquos tongues there were small rooms in Mumbai where rappers stood facetoface with no beat no autotune and nowhere to hide Just bars a mic and an opponent with a crowd waiting for somebody to slip That space was B3 IndiaFounded in 2014 by a group of friends including rapper Vineet better known by his stage name Poetik B3 India has become one of the countryrsquos most influential battle rap platforms Artistes like DIVINE and Shreyas have either come through or continued supporting the platform over the years Today for many underground rappers trying to enter battle rap or hiphop B3 is seen as the first real stageUnderground hiphop artist Ripra says that B3 India was his inspiration to start battle rappingldquoIt is Indiarsquos premier battle rap leaguerdquo says Poetik ldquoWe started as a group of six friends who wanted to bring battle rap in an international format instead of making it just another talent competitionrdquo Unlike rap reality shows or freestyle contests B3 follows the global battle rap structure Two rappers prepare verses targeted at each other and perform them a cappella There is no background music or any hooks ldquoBattle rap is basically the UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship of musicrdquo Poetik laughs ldquoItrsquos headtohead like a gladiator sport But at the end of the day itrsquos all loverdquoThe roots of the culture he says go back to the Orkut era when Indian rappers would ldquotext battlerdquo each other on the online forum before hiphop had fully entered the mainstream Those online clashes slowly evolved into cyphers freestyle circles and eventually live rap battlesVineet aka PoetikNow more than a decade later B3rsquos audience has grown far beyond underground circles What once pulled crowds of barely 20 people before Gully Boy 2019 now sees rooms packed with nearly 200 to 300 attendees ldquoWe had no real battle rap leagues before thisrdquo says Anmol who performs under the stage name EMF and headlined Saturdayrsquos event ldquoWe took a pause for seven years from lockdown until now After lockdown we returned in February this year with a workshopstyle event and the response was huge The scene is bubbling everywhere now mdash Kolkata Pune Delhi Ranchi Nepal Arunachal Pradesh MumbairdquoEven after years in the scene EMF admits the nerves never leave ldquoMy hands still shake before the first roundrdquo they say ldquoBut when yoursquore in the ring all your views exist there Thatrsquos the significance of B3rdquoBattle rap is often misunderstood from the outside Since the format revolves around insults disses and personal attacks critics regularly question whether it crosses boundaries But rappers within the space insist there is a difference between performance and personal hatred ldquoA lot of times boundaries are stepped over but we hug it out after the roundrdquo EMF says ldquoItrsquos blood for the sport Fans and rappers understand this is competitionrdquoPICISTOCKPoetik agrees that controversies do happen especially when social or political issues enter the ring But he says the community has learned to hold people accountable while still protecting artistic freedom ldquoWe donrsquot want to restrict people from saying what they feel is their truthrdquo he says ldquoFreedom of speech matters But consequences also exist Nothing goes unnoticedrdquoWhat makes B3 especially important today is the community it has created In a hiphop scene often seen as hypermasculine newer voices are finding space here too ldquoBattle rap has to be built with inclusivityrdquo says EMF who identifies as nongenderconforming ldquoIf B3 survives for long more things like this can happen When people like me headline it encourages others to embrace individuality and help the space growrdquoFor younger rappers B3 has become almost a rite of passage into Mumbairsquos underground hiphop culture Ripra an MC originally from Assam says discovering B3 changed the way he saw rap entirely ldquoB3 is fundamental to shaping me as a Mumbai MCrdquo he says ldquoA lot of people discover battle rap through the US scene but for me it was them Without B3 I donrsquot think I would be who I am right nowrdquoHe still remembers attending one of B3rsquos earlier events before lockdown and suddenly discovering an entire world of underground rappers he had never heard before ldquoThat influence was huge on merdquo Ripra says ldquoWithout it I donrsquot think Irsquod be as proud to call myself a Mumbai MCrdquoAs Indian hiphop continues becoming more commercial spaces like B3 remain fiercely independent ldquoThere are incredible writers in every corner of this countryrdquo Poetik says ldquoWe just want to give them a place to be heardrdquo