As a genre Hip Hop is a highly sellable commodity in Mumbai predominantly due to the number of nightclubs in the city and the number of DJs who spin hip hop tunes on dancefloors. However, given the lack of home grown hip hop talent, venues (and DJs) prefer to play better known international artists like 50 Cent, Wyclef Jean and Nelly.
Venues
Red Light
Red Light is a club situated in a relatively posh area of south Mumbai. Every Wednesday it hosts its signature ‘hip hop’ nights which are by far the most talked about nights that the venue
hosts. The club itself can fit only about 200-250 people and occasionally features live performances by international hip hop acts like Jay Sean. Red Light is a pretty pricey club and a night with drinks will set you back about Rs 1,500-2,000, but for those looking for a packed hip hop experience, Red Light is one of the better alternatives in Mumbai city.
Zenzi
Zenzi’s hip hop nights are the premier hip hop nights in the Mumbai suburbs mainly due to the efforts of DJ Shaleen who plays largely mainstream hip hop at the venue. The venue itself is pretty cramped but frequented by minor celebrities like indi-pop musicians and models.
(rapper Hard Kaur at Zenzi) (pic: BCCL)
Bootleggers
Bootleggers is one of the ‘southest’ clubs in Mumbai located in the Colaba market area of Colaba. It features hip hop DJ nights on Saturdays which are occasionally interspersed with live music nights as well. Entry charges at the venue depend on the DJ or act in question though drinks here are reasonably priced, which is surprising for a south Mumbai club. The dance/performance area at Bootleggers is terribly cramped and can only hold about 50-75 people.
Rock Bottom in Juhu (Andheri, a suburb) is one of the few venues in Mumbai to have multiple performance/dance areas. While the large main lounge features hip hop nights usually every Wednesday, the VIP lounge usually has its hip hop on Fridays and Saturdays. The venue is the largest of all the venues mentioned in this post.
Other Hip Hop Venues
China House – Mondays, Tuesdays
White – Wednesdays, Fridays
Enigma – Thursdays
Sometimes international hip hop artists are invited to perform in Mumbai venues like Hard Rock Cafe of outdoor venues like the MMRDA Grounds in Bandra through sponsored events. VH1 brought Wyclef Jean down to the Hard Rock last year while Smirnoff brought 50 Cent down to Mumbai
in 2007.
Labels
There are precious few indie hip hop labels in India and most of these are events companies and not publishers of music or managers of artists. YourDamSelf is essentially the model followed by other such companies – a one/two person operation basically running on networking with venues and sponsors to hold events at clubs. The project of Himesh Patel aka Living in Sin, YDS has a group of DJs and artist brought together under the moniker Gullywood crew. He has also opened up a venue called the Spot, located in Kandivali (a far off Mumbai suburb).
Entrepreneurs
One of the only indigenous hip hop clothing lines in the country Graffitree was set up by brothers Sachin and Ankur Patel with the assistance of Living in Sin. The extent of their clothing range includes hoodies, bandanas and keychains along with plenty of bling accessories. Their whole sales system runs via word of mouth and their MySpace page.
(a Graffitree collared shirt)
Freaky n Stylz Crew
The Freaky n Stylz Crew is a hip hop dance group formed by three people – Simon Talukdar, Priya Gonsalves and Himanshu Gadani. The trio perform hip hop dance moves at clubs and are often featured in ad films and Bollywood movies that require a hip hop dance aesthetic.
B-Boy Crews
Over the last year, a few B-Boy dance crews have come up in the Mumbai suburbs. The western suburb of Nalasopara hosts, among others, the Street Stylers and the Stage Breakers. These groups essentially practice their dance moves at the Vrindavan Gardens and even have dance
face-offs.
Media
Given that hip hop is essentially a new phenomenon in Mumbai, very few publications cover it. Online groups and forums exist essentially for those venues and crews proactive enough to setup Facebook groups and MySpace profile. TimeOut Mumbai did a story on hip hop in Mumbai last year, but the frequency of these stories usually ends up being dependent on the tastes of the staff in the music sections of publications. There are no dedicated hip hop columns or editorial pieces in Mumbai.