Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, known professionally as Nas, is an American rapper and entrepreneur. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he is regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas began his musical career in 1989 under the moniker "Nasty Nas", and recorded demos under the wing of fellow East Coast rapper Large Professor. Nas made his recording debut on Professor's group, Main Source's 1991 song "Live at the Barbeque".
The Canadian hip hop scene was established in the 1980s. Through a variety of factors, it developed much slower than Canada's popular rock music scene, and apart from a short-lived burst of mainstream popularity from 1989 to 1991, it remained largely an underground phenomenon until the early 2000s.
Indian hip hop is a genre of popular music developed in India. Desi hip hop is a term given by Bohemia for music and culture which combines the influences of hip hop and the Indian subcontinent; the term desi referring to the South Asian diaspora. The term has also come to be used as an alternative for rap music and even pop music which involves rappers of South Asian origins.
Illmatic is the debut studio album by the American rapper Nas. It was released on April 19, 1994, by Columbia Records. After signing with the label with the help of MC Serch, Nas recorded the album in 1992 and 1993 at Chung King Studios, D&D Recording, Battery Studios, and Unique Recording Studios in New York City. The album's production was handled by DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, L.E.S., and Nas himself. Styled as a hardcore hip-hop album, Illmatic features multi-syllabic internal rhymes and inner-city narratives based on Nas' experiences growing up in the Queensbridge Houses in Queens, New York.
Desi hip hop is a term for music and culture which combines the influences of hip hop and the Indian subcontinent; the term desi referring to the South Asian diaspora. The term has also come to be used as an alternative for rap music and even pop music which involves rappers of South Asian origins.
Aditya Prateek Singh, known professionally as Badshah, is an Indian rapper, singer, songwriter, music producer, television personality and businessman. As of 2025, Badshah has recorded his songs in Hindi, English, Punjabi and Haryanvi languages.
Gully Boy is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar, and written by Akhtar and Reema Kagti. The film was produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar under the banners of Tiger Baby Films and Excel Entertainment productions, with American rapper Nas as an executive producer. It stars Ranveer Singh in the title role alongside Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Varma, Amruta Subhash and Vijay Raaz in supporting roles. Inspired by the lives of Indian street rappers DIVINE and Naezy, the film is a coming-of-age story about aspiring street rapper Murad Ahmed (Singh), from the Dharavi slums of Mumbai.
Vighnesh Shivanand, better known by his stage name Brodha V, is an Indian hip-hop artist, lyricist, rapper and music producer. Born in Kanchipuram, the Bengaluru-based artist started rapping at the age of 18 and took part in online rap battles on Orkut. As an independent artist, Brodha V released a mixtape called Deathpunch which had a limited release and which garnered him some attention from the hip hop fraternity and the independent music circuit in Southern India.
Udyan Sagar, better known by his stage name Nucleya, is an Indian electronic music producer.
Krishna Kaul, known mononymously as Krishna, stylised now as KR$NA, is an Indian rapper. He was one of the earliest rappers to emerge in the Indian hip hop scene in the mid-2000s under the stage name Prozpekt. He is widely acknowledged within the Desi hip-hop community for pioneering a lyrical revolution in the genre, infusing a new wave of poetic depth and lyrical complexity into hip-hop's narrative. He was also briefly featured in the 2019 Bollywood film Gully Boy as himself.
Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, known professionally as Sidhu Moose Wala, was an Indian singer and rapper. He worked predominantly in Punjabi-language music and cinema. Moose Wala is considered to be one of the most influential and successful Punjabi rappers of all time and to many, among the greatest singers of India in this generation.
Jaskaran Singh Aujla is an Indian rapper, singer and songwriter based in Canada who is primarily associated with Punjabi music. He is known for his numerous tracks which have charted on the UK Asian chart published by the Official Charts Company, while seven have charted on the Global YouTube music chart. His debut album Bacthafucup peaked at number 20 on Billboard Canadian Albums chart and 34th on the New Zealand albums chart, earning him the title of the Largest Digital Artist 2021 on Spotify and had been listed in their Most Popular Artists in Punjabi Music Industry.
Naved Shaikh, professionally known as Naezy The Baa, is an Indian rapper, songwriter from Mumbai, Maharashtra, who first broke into mainstream rap with the song "Mere Gully Mein" featuring fellow rapper DIVINE. A fictional version of his character has been portrayed by Ranveer Singh in the Zoya Akhtar-directed 2019 musical film Gully Boy. He made his film debut with the hit song "Birju" from the 2015 film Hey Bro, the music video for which featured celebrated Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgn, as well as choreographer Prabhu Deva, with the film's lead actor Ganesh Acharya.
Karan Aujla is an Indian singer, rapper, and songwriter in the Punjabi music industry. He has released over fifty-two singles as a lead artist and thirty-four as a songwriter. He has also featured on fifty-four songs as a guest artist. Eleven of his singles as a lead artist have been featured on the global YouTube music chart, while nineteen have been featured on the UK Asian music chart by the OCC.
The 12th Smule Mirchi Music Awards or simply Mirchi Music Awards 2020, was the 12th edition of the Mirchi Music Awards and took place on 19 February 2020. The award ceremony was hosted by Aparshakti Khurana, Neeti Mohan, and Shekhar Ravjiani at Yash Raj Studios, Mumbai. The title sponsor was Smule, replacing Pepsi.
Deep Jandu is a Canadian music producer, recording artist, composer and songwriter associated with Punjabi music. He is founder and CEO of record label Royal Music Gang. Jandu released his debut album Nach in 2011. His song "Daru Daru" was well received by the audience. He was also nominated for Filmfare Awards Punjabi Best Music Album category for Channa Mereya (2017), along Gold Boy, Jaidev Kumar, and Sonu Ramgarhia.
Gully Boy is the soundtrack album for the 2019 film of the same name directed by Zoya Akhtar. The soundtrack includes work by DIVINE, Naezy, Sez on the Beat, Rishi Rich, Dub Sharma, Jasleen Royal, Ace, Ishq Bector, MC Altaf, MC TodFod, 100RBH, Maharya, Noxious D, Viveick Rajagopalan, and others.
Nathan Joseph Mendes, known professionally as Tsumyoki, is an Indian rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He gained popularity from his single track release, "White Tee" (2019), Daboij album (2021), maiden EP release, Way Too Messy (2021), featuring fellow Goan rapper, Kidd Mange and "Pink Blue" (2022), featuring Bharg. According to Tsumyoki, his stage name alludes to ideas of "vision, productivity and a positive mindset".
Gully rap is an emerging genre of hip-hop music that originated from Mumbai. It has since spread across India. Inspired by American rappers like Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G. and Nas the music discusses the street life in distinct Hindu-Urdu rhythm and cadence. Gully means "narrow lane" in Hindi. DIVINE and Naezy are artists that are considered at the forefront of the genre. It stands in contrast to mainstream desi rap or Bollywood which focus on more superficial aspects of life. By contrast, gully rap has a socio-political emphasis.
Mass Appeal India is an Indian record label. It is a subsidiary hip hop label of the parent American Mass Appeal Records. The label had partnered with The Orchard for music distribution.
