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Sunday, February 22, 2026
TopicHip hop

Topic: hip hop

Malayalam rap is having its moment—it’s gone from ‘junkie’ music to being played at temples

MC Couper compares Malayalam rap to the writings of author Vaikom Basheer. 'The state needs more cultural pillars like rap, that help young people feel connected to their roots.'

Hip hop is rising in Delhi’s Nizamuddin. Sufi spirit gets a new swag

In Nizamuddin dargah’s shadow, young rappers are giving Sufi culture a hip-hop spin. “Qawwali doesn’t let us say what we want to say. Rap gives us that space,” said rapper Umaid Abbas.

Hanumankind’s biggest collab will be with A$AP Rocky. Kalmi will produce the song

Both artists have had a great year. A$AP Rocky came out of his 6-year hiatus with the hit single ‘Highjack’ while Hanumankind made it to the Billboard top 10 with ‘Big Dawgs’.

Kendrick and Drake are warring. Surprise, surprise, women are collateral

Diss tracks are supposed to be rife with insults but this one has gone on to reaffirm the code of silence—one that even enemies are willing to uphold within hip-hop’s boys’ club.

Hindu pride hip-hop: Indian rappers are now singing about Kaali, Shiva, Kashmiri Pandits

Anubhav Shukla aka Panther calls himself a proud Sanatani. And he is a big fan of Yogi Adityanath’s development model in Uttar Pradesh. His song UP Se reflects on that.

A new Tibetan rap generation is rising in India. And they won’t just sing about Dalai Lama

In Majnu Ka Tilla and Dharamshala, millennial Tibetans don’t just want to sing about Tibet anymore or be defined by refugee status.

Ryan Tanveer a.k.a. Bandzo3rd, the trilingual rapper making his way through California

Bandzo3rd introduces West Coast gangster rap music with a mixture of desi styles such as desi hip hop, Urdu/Hindi rap, Punjabi rap, and drill music.

On Camera

Nick Jonas wearing a mangalsutra is validation for many Indians. He’s our favourite jiju

Nick Jonas is not trying to modernise the mangalsutra, but his gesture shows that choices can be equal. If commitment must be flaunted, it need not be gendered.

In the West, there’s anxiety. In India, optimism—Rishi Sunak says India poised to be leader in AI

On Wednesday, the former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was speaking in New Delhi at a Carnegie & Observer Research Foundation event on AI.

In a first, Indian small arms maker to bid for UK Project Grayburn to replace British Army’s SA80 rifles

Bengaluru-based SSS Defence has made public its bid for a major foreign military contract, targeting UK’s ambitious SA80 successor programme with its home-tested weapons.

No country is ever fully sovereign. Cold War era taught India its real meaning

India’s fraught neighbourhood places multiple constraints on its strategic choices. It leaves no time to take a deep breath, lean back and reset.