Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, known professionally as Nas, is an American rapper and entrepreneur. Rooted in East Coast hip hop, he is regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas began his musical career in 1989 under the moniker "Nasty Nas", and recorded demos under the wing of fellow East Coast rapper Large Professor. Nas made his recording debut on Professor's group, Main Source's 1991 song "Live at the Barbeque".
Indian hip hop is a genre of popular music developed in India. Desi hip hop is a term given by Bohemia for music and culture which combines the influences of hip hop and the Indian subcontinent; the term desi referring to the South Asian diaspora. The term has also come to be used as an alternative for rap music and even pop music which involves rappers of South Asian origins.
Kendrick Jeru Davis, known as Jeru the Damaja, is an American rapper and record producer. He is known for his 1993 single "Come Clean" from his debut album, The Sun Rises in the East, ranked as one of the 100 greatest hip-hop albums of all time by the editors of About.com. He has worked extensively with Guru and DJ Premier of Gang Starr, whom he has known since he was in high school.
Zoya Akhtar is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in Hindi cinema. Born to Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, she completed a diploma in filmmaking from NYU and assisted directors Mira Nair, Tony Gerber and Dev Benegal, before becoming an independent writer and director. She is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. Akhtar, along with Reema Kagti, founded Tiger Baby Films, a film and web studio in October 2015.
Ranveer Singh Bhavnani is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. He is the recipient of several awards, including five Filmfare Awards. He is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list since 2012.
Desi hip hop is a term for music and culture which combines the influences of hip hop and the Indian subcontinent; the term desi referring to the South Asian diaspora. The term has also come to be used as an alternative for rap music and even pop music which involves rappers of South Asian origins.
Vibha Saraf is an Indian singer-songwriter and Bollywood playback singer. She performs folk songs and writes and performs music for soundtracks, primarily Kashmiri folk-inspired songs. Her work has been featured on the soundtracks for the films Raazi, which went to win Best Film in the 64th Filmfare Awards, and Gully Boy, the fourth highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2019. In 2019, she was jointly nominated with Harshdeep Kaur for Best Female Playback Singer for the 65th Filmfare Awards and Best Female Playback Singer for the 20th International Indian Film Academy Awards for the song Dilbaro, from the 2018 drama thriller Raazi.
Aditya Prateek Singh, known professionally as Badshah, is an Indian rapper, singer, songwriter, music producer, and businessman. Badshah has his songs in Hindi, English, Punjabi and Harayanvi languages. Badshah has brought underground sounds to the mainstream with remarkable impact. Badshah has since made significant contributions to Indian hip-hop and rap music and Bollywood music. His notable works in Bollywood films include Kar Gayi Chull from Kapoor and Sons, Garmi from Street Dancer 3D, Naina from Crew, Proper Patola from Namaste England.
Gully Boy is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar, and written by Akhtar and Reema Kagti. The film was produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar under the banners of Tiger Baby Films and Excel Entertainment productions, with American rapper Nas as an executive producer. It stars Ranveer Singh in the title role alongside Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Varma, Amruta Subhash and Vijay Raaz in supporting roles. Inspired by the lives of Indian street rappers DIVINE and Naezy, the film is a coming-of-age story about aspiring street rapper Murad Ahmed (Singh), from the Dharavi slums of Mumbai.
Vighnesh Shivanand, better known by his stage name Brodha V, is an Indian hip-hop artist, lyricist, rapper and music producer. Born in Kanchipuram, the Bengaluru-based artist started rapping at the age of 18 and took part in online rap battles on Orkut. As an independent artist, Brodha V released a mixtape called Deathpunch which had a limited release and which garnered him some attention from the hip hop fraternity and the independent music circuit in Southern India.
Udyan Sagar, better known by his stage name Nucleya, is an Indian electronic music producer.
Krishna Kaul, known mononymously as Krishna, stylised now as KR$NA, is an Indian rapper. He was one of the earliest rappers to emerge in the Indian hip hop scene in the mid-2000s under the stage name Prozpekt. He is widely acknowledged within the Desi Hip Hop community for pioneering a lyrical revolution in the genre, infusing a new wave of poetic depth and lyrical complexity into hip hop's narrative. He was also briefly featured in the 2019 Bollywood film Gully Boy as himself.
Naved Shaikh, professionally known as "Naezy The Baa”, is an Indian rapper from Mumbai, Maharashtra, who first broke into mainstream rap with the song "Mere Gully Mein" featuring fellow rapper DIVINE. A fictional version of his character has been portrayed by Ranveer Singh in the Zoya Akhtar-directed 2019 musical film Gully Boy. He made his film debut with the hit song "Birju" from the 2015 film Hey Bro, the music video for which featured celebrated Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgn, as well as choreographer Prabhu Deva, with the film's lead actor Ganesh Acharya.
The 12th Smule Mirchi Music Awards or simply Mirchi Music Awards 2020, was the 12th edition of the Mirchi Music Awards and took place on 19 February 2020. The award ceremony was hosted by Aparshakti Khurana, Neeti Mohan, and Shekhar Ravjiani at Yash Raj Studios, Mumbai. The title sponsor was Smule, replacing Pepsi.
Deep Jandu is a Canadian music producer, recording artist, composer and songwriter associated with Punjabi music. He is founder and CEO of record label Royal Music Gang. Jandu released his debut album Nach in 2011. His song "Daru Daru" was well received by the audience. He was also nominated for Filmfare Awards Punjabi Best Music Album category for Channa Mereya (2017), along Gold Boy, Jaidev Kumar, and Sonu Ramgarhia.
Ritviz Srivastava is an Indian singer-songwriter, electronic musician and record producer from Pune, Maharashtra, India. He rose to prominence after his song "Udd Gaye" was featured on A.I.B.'s official YouTube channel after becoming the winner of the 2017 Bacardi House Party Sessions, a talent hunt competition organised by A.I.B. and Nucleya.
Gully Boy is the soundtrack album for the 2019 film of the same name directed by Zoya Akhtar. The soundtrack includes work by DIVINE, Naezy, Sez on the Beat, Rishi Rich, Dub Sharma, Jasleen Royal, Ace, Ishq Bector, MC Altaf, MC TodFod, 100RBH, Maharya, Noxious D, Viveick Rajagopalan, and others.
Nathan Joseph Mendes, known professionally as Tsumyoki, is an Indian rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He gained popularity from his single track release, "White Tee" (2019), Daboij album (2021), maiden EP release, Way Too Messy (2021), featuring fellow Goan rapper, Kidd Mange and "Pink Blue" (2022), featuring Bharg. According to Tsumyoki, his stage name alludes to ideas of "vision, productivity and a positive mindset".
Gully rap is an emerging genre of hip-hop music that originated from Mumbai. It has since spread across India. Inspired by American rappers like Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G. and Nas the music discusses the street life in distinct Hindu-Urdu rhythm and cadence. Gully means "narrow lane" in Hindi. DIVINE and Naezy are artists that are considered at the forefront of the genre. It stands in contrast to mainstream desi rap or Bollywood which focus on more superficial aspects of life. By contrast, gully rap has a socio-political emphasis.
Mass Appeal India is an Indian record label. It is a subsidiary hip hop label of the parent American Mass Appeal Records. The label had partnered with The Orchard for music distribution.
