Nephop is the Nepalese form of hip hop. Its major elements include alternative hip hop, avant-grade hip hop, breakbeat, freestyling and DJing. Rap culture was introduced in Nepal through electronic DJs mixing the classical Nepalese songs with the Western urban style in the early eighties. Later, it took the form of artists releasing songs with commercial beats in the 1990s.
History
Popularity growth (early 2000s)
The first Nepali rap song is considered to be "Batti Balera" by the comedian Ratan Subedi, released in 1995.
In 2000,
Girish Khatiwada and Pranil Timilsina started the rap culture. In 2000 Rappaz Union (Sammy Samrat and Nirnaya Shrestha created the first Nepalese rap album in English. In 2002, GP (Girish Khatiwada and Pranil L Timalsena) released the album ''Back Again''. The song "Ma Yesto Chhu Ma testo Chhu" featuring
DA69 was the first rap song to attract broad Nepalese audiences to rap music. Another song on the album is "Timi Jaha Pani Jaanchhau".
In 2003, Nurbu Sherpa released his debut album ''Nurbu Sherpa Representin' K.T.M.C.'' ("K.T.M.C." meaning
Kathmandu Metropolitan City
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). This was the first
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...
ese hip hop album recorded in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, for which he was nominated for the Best Music Video Award. In 2004, The Unity brought out their first album ''Girish & The Unity presents X'' with Girish Khatiwada (Gorkhali G.) It included "She's the Bomb", the music video for which became a major success in the local charts. Other songs on this album were "Malai Vote Deu", a satire to politics, "Da Drug Song", and "Anything" feat.
Abhaya Subba
Abhaya Subba ( ne, अभाय सुब्बा) is a Nepalese singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the front woman of the rock band Abhaya & the Steam Injuns. She is a former RJ of Times FM and Hits FM, and is famous for her pro ...
and the Steam Injuns.
Rise of the underground (2003–2008)
In 2003, underground rapper
Naz, based in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, and DJ AJ, based in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, spearheaded the first Nepalese
underground hip hop movement through their now-defunct website nephop.org and thus gave birth to a new Nepalese music genre called Nephop. The movement soon gained worldwide popularity and "Nephop" was accepted as a portmanteau of "Nepalese hip hop". The online portal gave a platform to showcase the talents of all the budding rappers spread worldwide among the Nepalese diaspora.
In 2004, Naz released his first underground single, "Chudaina", produced by DJ AJ. In 2005, Nepsydaz, a rap group, had commercial success with their version of the same song. Naz gained massive notoriety for his next single "Katti Khep". This single had great success in the underground circuit because of its extremely explicit content. Naz quickly capitalize on his success by releasing his next single "Killin' Terraces", which the New Urban Music Blog considered one of the best Nepalese political rap songs.
Naz received some mainstream exposure after being featured on Nurbu Sherpa's single "Baby Gurl", from Nurbu's second album, ''Save Nepal''. "Baby Gurl" was voted one of the top ten songs of 2008 in Nepal by Fursad.com. Nurbu also featured Naz and other underground rappers in his next single, "When I'm Around", from his third album.
2012
In 2012,
Yama Buddha
Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities ...
debuted with his first official Rap song 'Sathi'. Also, YB is known as the king of nephop. Although over the years many rappers have emerged on the radar. Most notable rappers such as Uniq Poet, Grizzle, Kavi G, Laure, Yodda, Vten, Nasty,
Sacar aka Lil Buddha,
Balen
Balen () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of Balen proper and Olmen. In 2021, Balen had a population of 22,853. Total area is 72.88 km².
Famous inhabitants
* Tom Boonen, Wo ...
, Nawaj Ansari and recently Dong,Vyoma and G-Bob have been trending among Nepali audiences in recent years. Along with the artists, the rap genre is getting quite diverse with the rising of the drill, trap, and even getting influences from the birthplace of rap.
Notable People
*
Yama Buddha
Yama (Devanagari: यम) or Yamarāja (यमराज), is a deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld who predominantly features in Hindu and Buddhist religion, belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities ...
*
Girish Khatiwada
*
VTEN
Samir Ghising, better known by his stage name VTEN, is a Nepalese rapper and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the prominent figure of Nepalese hip hop. He started gaining popularity after release of his song "Churot" in 2016. His songs like ...
*
Laure (Nepalese rapper)
Ashish Rana (born 25 June 1989) known professionally as "Laure" is a Nepalese rapper and Television personality. He presented his rapping through a rap battle on YouTube which gained him popularity. He was the most searched Nepalese celebrity on ...
*
Pranil L Timalsena
Pranil L Timalsena (Nepali: प्रनिल तिमल्सिना) is a Nepali singer and rapper.
Girish-Pranil
He started his musical career with Girish Khatiwada (NepHop) as the duo "GP-GirishPranil" in the 1990s. Their first song w ...
*
Nirnaya Shrestha
Nirnaya Shrestha ( ne, निर्णय श्रेष्ठ),known professionally as Nirnaya Da' NSK, is a Nepalese rapper and songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics fo ...
*
Manas Ghale
Manas Ghale ( Nepali: मानस घले; born October 19, 1980) is a Nepalese rapper, singer and songwriter. He started his career in the year 2000.
Awards and nominations
*Won: Kantipur FM Awards
*Won: Image FM Awards
Discography
*Sukeko ...
*
Balen
Balen () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of Balen proper and Olmen. In 2021, Balen had a population of 22,853. Total area is 72.88 km².
Famous inhabitants
* Tom Boonen, Wo ...
*
Asif Shah
See also
*
Music of Nepal
Music of Nepal refers to the various musical genres played and listened to in Nepal. With more than fifty ethnic groups in Nepal, the country's music is highly diverse. Genres like Tamang Selo, Chyabrung, Dohori, Adhunik Geet, Bhajan, Filmi mu ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nepalese Hiphop
Hip hop