Swadesi Rap

Swadesi is the real deal. Their name is a reference to the boycott of British goods and subsequent focus on domestic manufacturing as part of the campaign for Indian independence in the early 1900s. Intentionally so - this group loves to focus on the real stories scattered across India of people left behind my the march for GDP growth.The struggle isn’t over.

Gully Boy definitely brought the Mumbai rap scene’s visibility to new levels, even if Ranveer Singh’s bulky upper class looks are in stark contrast to his character’s supposed slum origins. And of course, Alia Bhatt is worth watching in whatever movie she’s in, because she is a genius. The story roughly follows the life trajectories of DIVINE and Naezy, whose viral hit Mere Gully Mein (In my gully) made waves in 2015. It was made with a budget of ~$1000 and it brought the Mumbai rap scene and Dharavi’s creativity into the national consciousness.

Warli Revolt takes the positive social sentiment of Mere Gully Mein forward into another realm entirely. It’s a fierce paean against the eviction and mistreatment of tribal peoples, especially during the construction of the Bombay metro. While the Warli people have been well known for their art and culture for decades, there are many other tribal groups across India who face marginalization due to a lack of centralized representation. Music, especially rap, seems to be a powerful vehicle for justice for these marginalized people as it was in the US.

Swadesi also tries to feature multiple languages in their production - Warli Revolt is in Hindi and Marathi. Their collaboration with Viveick Rajagopalan incorporates many South Indian rhythm sections and a Malayalee rapper - Mayavi.

There’s some overlap between what they’re doing and Bandish Projekt’s Gujarati folk-inspired work, which is also very enjoyable.

There are of course a few Marathi rap videos which go viral more for comic effect than anything else, but Swadesi has no part in those as far as I can tell.

I am very excited for the future of the Indian rap scene and Swadesi in particular!