How to rap in Hindi?

The underground Hindi rap scene has been on the rise since the release of Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy starring Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt along with many underground rappers of Mumbai and Delhi. 

I have been a big fan of rap since childhood. I have been listening to rap since my school days and used to mug the lyrics of Eminem, 50 cents, snoop dog just to sing with the song. Being an Indian I used to find it incredibly difficult to sing in English with the same flow and accent without realizing that it’s their native language they are rapping in. They have more control over it and spit crystal clear word.

I then started making my own Hindi rap on their songs. I distinctly remember one of my Hindi dubbed rap I made, of the song “Smack That” by Akon and Eminem. It was one of my first songs without any meaningful lyrics but I loved it. 😀

Looking back to that song, it was not that great, but the point is, I was much more comfortable and smooth with my native language and flow was 100% better than what I had in English. I understood rather than copying Eminem in English I would rather rap in Hindi.

I have struggled a lot to write and I still do. I am not a famous rapper nor have I released any song of my own. I am just an admirer of this culture.

So, How to rap in Hindi?

• First, writing about what you are feeling. Dig deep inside you and try to find what you want to talk about. Don’t worry about the type of content just write whatever you feel like writing. Your life, your daily struggles, your emotions anything but make sure it is related to you.
• Second, don’t try to fancy-word it up. keep it simple, as simple as possible. I have seen people struggling to find a difficult Hindi/Urdu substitute for an easy Hindi word. Please don’t do it, like everything else in our life don’t complicate it.
• Third, keep the rhyme simple at initial stages. AABB and ABAB rhymes are perfectly okay. Try to make sense of your words and lines. You are telling a story to people who don’t know you. so try not to put any random lines to complete your verse.
• Fourth, also most ignored one, don’t rush to complete the song. I have seen, even already established rappers do the same mistake. They spit fire in their initial verses and then the song goes in a down ride. In a rush to complete the song the quality reduces drastically and the overall impact of the song becomes very low. take your time to complete your song.

This is pretty much basic of every rap song that you are listening to right now so give it your best shot and keep trying Bantai!

If you think you are ready to release your first song or you have already done it then give it a shot on this website and submit your song. You might get featured and escalate your way to stardom!