Hip Hop, performed in English or with western influences, as a genre has only recently gained ground in Mumbai. To a large extent this has to do with the pervasiveness of mainstream hip hop on music channels and radio. As a result, coverage of the genre in popular media has also increased. The culmination of this was the performance of 50 Cent in Mumbai in 2007 and a Snoop Dogg appearance in the Bollywood film Singh Is Kinng.
(the song 'Singh is Kinng' featuring international rap superstar Snoop Dogg)
However, Hip Hop performed by Indian artists is a largely underground phenomenon. At the outset, it must be said that the music is almost entirely inspired by the American hip hop scene. The only artists signed to any major record label are Hard Kaur and Ishq Bector, both of whom sing in Hindi as well. Over the last few years though, Indian rappers and MCs have been slowly releasing music via MySpace and other media websites, testing the waters before Indian hip hop can truly take off.
(Hard Kaur's video for her song 'Sexy Boy')
DNOAX
DNOAX is a collective of 20 rappers from cities around the country, though primarily from Mumbai. In 2008, they released an album titled They See (Desi) Revolution. The album was available for purchase via a variety of online sources including Napster and iTunes. The band even created a music video for the title song of the album. The album is now available as a free download on their label’s (Desi Media Network) website.
(video for the song 'They See (Desi) Revolution')
sKiZzOpHoNiC
sKiZzOpHoNiC is the project of three Mumbai based rappers. Their music is pretty straightforward rap with themes that are reasonably broad and not necessarily India specific. The crew is still unsigned but have created a DIY video for their song ‘Murk’.
(DIY amateur video for the song 'Murk')
Living in Sin
Living in Sin is the project of UK-Mumbai based entrepreneur Himesh Patel, who runs an indie label YourDamSelf. Sin started a series of hip hop nights called Candy Shop nights in Mumbai suburb Nerul, which, he claims, has seen a reasonable amount of success.
Big Philly
The project of Mark Philip, Big Philly is one of the artists signed on YourDamSelf whose debut album should be out soon.