Cheaper technology has ushered in a DIY revolution that has made music creation accessible to a large section of people, who otherwise wouldn’t have taken the humongous efforts involved in the previous methods of music creation. But while it has caused a profusion of rappers in the Indian Underground, the same cannot be said in respect of the creation of material. If skill is to be defined, it has to include ‘consistency’, an aspect which over the years should entail a good amount of effort by a rapper. But it’s a sad state of affairs, when rappers start getting feted for mere 3-4 releases. Even though, there are a creditable number of Indian rappers in the Underground right now, it has not resulted into a proportionate amount of recorded material. This is why, this post has been created to throw light on those who have held their ground through the years, and have been releasing tracks consistently. This list is not a comment on quality or content and merely lists out those with the most track releases. In case, you have a name to suggest for inclusion in this list here, please write in a mail to ashwinisharma777@gmail.com. This post will keep getting edited depending on new releases by rappers. Do contact me, if the list or any information here changes.
Big Kronik969, (Aakash Deep), a rapper from North Delhi, had his first compilation based release, ‘The Beginning’, 2007, in collaboration with The Emenjay. It had a total of, a safe number of 5 tracks, in order to test the response from listeners. This was recorded in a local studio and at that point of time when underground rappers were still hesitant to go to a studio and record. After that, Kronik unleashed a personal frenzy and went onto release about 139 tracks by this date, 98 of them as part of compilations, either as EP(s) or as mixtapes. In addition, he has released about 40 tracks as standalone singles. Most of the tracks can be found on his Soundcloud or Reverbnation profile. Kronik was founder-member of C-Cube, an erstwhile Delhi based rap crew, consisting of 4 other rappers including the still active, Kay Nine (Karun Bura) and Heam (Hemant Dhyani).
Kronik’s Library:
1. The Beginning, 2007 – 5 tracks
2. Kronik Unleashed, 2008 – 7 tracks
3. Kronik Crossroads, 2010 – 8 tracks
4. Kronik Resurrection, 2010 – 5 tracks
5. Kronik Thoroughbread, 2011 – 7 tracks
1. The Beginning, 2007 – 5 tracks
2. Kronik Unleashed, 2008 – 7 tracks
3. Kronik Crossroads, 2010 – 8 tracks
4. Kronik Resurrection, 2010 – 5 tracks
5. Kronik Thoroughbread, 2011 – 7 tracks
6. Kronik Revival, 2011 – 3 tracks
7. Kronik Know Me, 2012 – 9 tracks
8. Kronik Good v. Evil, 2012 – 8 tracks
9. Kronik End of the Line, 2012 – 5 tracks
10. Kronik Thoughts in My Mind, 2012 – 4 tracks
11. Kronik Revelation, 2013 – 14 tracks
12. Kronik Home Rex, 2014 – 23 tracks
Sikander Kahlon, a rapper based out of Mohali, started rapping with the moniker, ‘New Game’, around 2007-08, which is when he rapped in English, and his style was heavily influenced by G-Unit back then. But better sense prevailed and the switch to Punjabi was done early enough, for him to lay the groundwork of a prominent Punjabi Rapper. From 2010, which is when he released his first mixtape, till June, 2014, he has managed to release 6 mixtapes, with a cumulative number of 89 tracks. Sikander also holds the record for the highest number of releases by an Indian Rapper in a single compilation, viz. 26, which is one above Feral’s 2009 release, Syllable Therapy. Additionally he has released about 30 tracks as standalone singles or collabs with other Mohali based rappers. He is part of the Kala Kurta Gang, a rap crew based in the same city, consisting of 3 other rappers. Apart from that he also leads the larger collective, M-Brigade that consists of several other rappers and crews based around Mohali. He is conveniently poised to topple Kronik from his reigning position, because Sikander is already onto his 7th effort, a full length album titled as Kahlon’s Laboratory, which is in the lab currently. Overtake, the first single from that album, has been released already.
Sikander’s Library:
1. Sikander, The Sovereign, 2010 – 15 tracks
2. Hibernation, 2012 – 26 tracks
3. Hibernation: The Leftovers EP, 2012 – 6 tracks
4. Sikmatic, 2012 – 18 tracks
5. To Her, With Love, 2013 – 13 tracks
6. Mohali Messiah, 2014 – 13 tracks
3. Feral
Feral, (Piyush Wason), a rapper from East Delhi, started dabbling with recording around 2008, the time when Insignia Rap Combats was brimming as an online space for young Indian rappers-in-the-making, who were also discovering the joy of DIY recordings. Feral’s discovery must have fired his imagination, because to my knowledge, he holds the present record for the most number of releases by an Indian Underground rapper in one year, a figure that sits comfortably at 52. The feat was achieved in 2009, the year in which Feral had his first compilation release, Syllable Therapy, a mixtape of 25 tracks, huge by any Indian Rap standards even now, because most rappers still continue to go for single releases only and compilations usually hover around the 14-15 number. Feral has been part of the erstwhile crew, Flow.Beats.Ink, (F.B.I), with 2 other rappers. By now, Feral has had about 100 releases, out of which 72 were as part of compilations. Most of the tracks can be found on his Youtube channel or his Soundcloud profile.
Feral’s Library:-
1. The Syllable Therapy, 2009 – 25 tracks
2. The Syllable Therapy, 2010 – 16 tracks
3. Inkounter, 2011 – 10 tracks
4. The Refill, 2012 – 15 tracks
5. Idea, 2012 – 6 tracks
Ace, (Abhishek Dhusia), a rapper from Malad, Mumbai had started rapping around 2007, when the number of Indian rappers was significantly lesser than what it is now. Ace, also had the luck of sharing a stage with Chamillionaire, back in 2007 on the latter’s Mumbai show at Enigma. He has influenced quite a bunch of rappers from Mumbai and has ensured himself a prominent recognition among faces in Mumbai Hip Hop. He had conducted India's first Rap-Workshop, as an event in Asia's Biggest College Festival, Mood Indigo, 2013. Ace, as part of Mumbai’s Finest, of which he is a founder-member, has so far released 2 compilations. Additionally he also did a weekly series, titled 39’s 39, which, as you might have guessed, had 39 tracks released on an almost weekly basis. Further, he also released about 12 more tracks as standalone singles. Most of his tracks, including the 39's 39 weekly series can be found on his Youtube channel.
Ace’s Library:-
1. Please Tell Me Why, 2008 – 14 tracks
2. 39’s 39, 2011-2012 – 39 tracks
3. You Already Know, 2014 – 18 tracks
GD $ingh, (Gagandeep Singh), who initially went around with the stage-name Gaggy B, is the original Sardar of the Indian Rap Scene, having released compilations way back in 2007 and 2008, when most rappers in Punjab where still figuring out how to spit. 2007-2011 were his most productive years, during which he released most of his tracks, after which he slackened a little bit because he went on to do an Audio Engineering Course from SAE, Mumbai, after a brief period as Comp. Sc. student in LPU, Punjab. He also changed his language of choice for recording from English to Punjabi in the later years. However, as of now, he is more focused on production and other technical aspects of music creation, though he hasn’t yet given up on rapping, as evidenced by his most recent release, ‘Jehde Mere Fan’. In addition to compilation based releases, he has had about 48 other releases as standalone singles, most of which can be found on his Youtube channel.
GD $ingh’s Library:-
1. Nothing Explicit, 2007 – 8 tracks
2. I Go Solo, 2008 – 9 tracks
3. Back Here Again, 2009 – 6 tracks.
-----------------------------
6. Enkore
Enkore, (Ankur Johar), another rapper from Mumbai, half of the 2 person crew, Munky Rhymz, has carved a reputation for himself as a lyrically sensible rapper. He has been rapping since 2008, first as a solo act, and then about a year or so later, as part of Munky Rhymz, with the other half being D’ Evil. By now he has had 3 compilation releases, one of which was a collection of cell-phone based recordings, indicating a anything-will-do attitude for the cause of Indian rap. He has now channeled the same zeal into c0-running, India’s first online rap based radio show (along with Bob Omulo), which comes out with a new episode on Mondays of every week. He has had a total of about 61 releases including tracks released as singles. Most of the tracks can be found on Enkore’s Soundcloud or Youtube account.
Enkore’s Library:
1. This is E – Cell Phone Recordings, 2010 – 15 tracks
2. This is Me, 2010 – 15 tracks
3. BeatDown, 2012 – 19 tracks
No comments:
Post a Comment