The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Hip-hop and rap take centre stage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 28, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Hip-hop and rap take centre stage

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: Start-up company, Desi Media Networks (DMN) launched its independent hip-hop and rap record label and entertainment company here on Saturday to become one of the first independent Indian record labels.

At a high voltage hip-hop party organised at NYX, one of the popular clubs of the city, to mark the launch, the fledgling company showcased its first batch of artistes — D-Nox, India’s first hip-hop band, comprising 25 musicians from Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Bangalore.

There were also electrifying performances by Bangalore-based hip-hop and rap group Low Rhyders who opened for D-Nox and a freestyle hip-hop dance performance by another city-based crew who call themselves Graffitti, led by the very talented dancer Sritheren.

The event also saw the participation of hip-hop producer, rapper and disc-jockey Megha Watt from Hyderabad.

D-Nox’s first album , “Dhey See Revolution”, contains 15 fresh hip-hop tracks with a distinctive Indian flavour and influences from Hindi, Punjabi and Tamil music.

It is set to hit the stands across the country in a month’s time.

Twenty four-year-old Managing Director of the company, Varun Shasidaran elaborated on the need to start a desi hip-hop record label in the country.

He explained that the culture of hip-hop with an Asian flavour originated in the U.S and U.K., from primarily the Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi diaspora in those countries. The Asians, influenced by western hip-hop, developed their own sub-genre and called it desi hip-hop.

However there isn’t a single desi hip-hop and rap record label or website running under this concept.

“We wanted to fill this vacuum and promote this form of music in a big way,” Mr. Shasidaran said.

Visit www.desimedianetworks.com to go to www.desi-hiphop.com to sample their music.

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