Sofia Ashraf (born 1987) is an Indian rapper and singer. Her songs address the negligence of corporations that fail to clean up industrial disasters. Her 2008 song ''Don't Work for Dow'' criticizes

Dow Dow or DOW may refer to: Business * Dow Jones Industrial Average, or simply the Dow, a stock market index * Dow Inc., an American commodity chemical company ** Dow Chemical Company, a subsidiary, an American multinational chemical corporation ...

's failure to compensate victims of the 1984

Bhopal gas tragedy The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a chemical accident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Considered the world's w ...

in India. In 2015, she released ''Kodaikanal Won't'', a music video addressing mercury pollution in

Kodaikanal Kodaikanal () is a hill station which is located in Dindigul district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Its name in the Tamil language means "The Gift of the Forest". Kodaikanal is referred to as the "Princess of Hill stations" and has a long ...

from a thermometer factory owned by

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

, a multinational

consumer goods A final good or consumer good is a final product ready for sale that is used by the consumer to satisfy current wants or needs, unlike a intermediate good, which is used to produce other goods. A microwave oven or a bicycle is a final good, but ...

company. In June 2016, she released "Dow vs. Bhopal: a Toxic Rap Battle".

Early life

In 1987, Sofia Ashraf was born and brought up in an orthodox Malayali Muslim household in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. Sofia was part of a Muslim youth group in Chennai, and studied Islamic History and Philosophy ardently. She studied graphic design in

Stella Maris College, Chennai Stella Maris College is an institution of higher education for women in Chennai, India. It is an autonomous college affiliated to the University of Madras and is partly residential. The college, which is under the direction of the Society of th ...

, where she used to zealously participate in extracurricular activities. She began rapping on stage during a college festival, where she donned a

Hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...

and rapped to her own lyrics in which she questioned the people's attitude towards Muslims after

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. The press referred to her as "The Burqa Rapper" after the incident. Despite this she now identifies as

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

and has several tattoos.

Career

Ashraf worked as a creative supervisor for Ogilvy & Mather, a global advertising firm that counts

as one of its clients. She quit the firm in 2015, a few months before making the hit single "Kodaikanal Won't". O&M executive chairman Piyush Pandey said the firm had wanted Ashraf to stay on, but that she left to pursue a new career path in 2015. In 2008, she sang "Don't Work for Dow" while wearing a

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...

to criticize

for its response to the

Bhopal disaster The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a chemical accident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Considered the world's wo ...

in 1984. In July 2015, she released the single "Kodaikanal Won't" to protest the pollution of a river in

. In the song she appeals to Unilever to help former workers in Kodaikanal, whose river was contaminated 14 years before with mercury from a thermometer plant owned by Unilever. Ashraf released a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

video of the song to campaign against the mercury poisoning. Ashraf used the

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian-born rapper based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated flow in her rapping, alter egos and accent ...

tune "

Anaconda Anacondas or water boas are a group of large snakes of the genus ''Eunectes''. They are found in tropical South America. Four species are currently recognized. Description Although the name applies to a group of snakes, it is often used to re ...

" as the beat for "Kodaikanal Won't." In 2015, she collaborated with Chennai-based singer Maalavika Manoj and Sapta on the song Deen. The song was written by Ashraf to combat moral policing and insist the faith must be a choice, not an imposition. Ashraf has recorded a song each in the Bollywood movie ''

Jab Tak Hai Jaan ''Jab Tak Hai Jaan'' (), also simply known as ''JTHJ'', is a 2012 Cinema of India, Indian Bollywood, Hindi-Hindi, language romantic drama film directed by Yash Chopra and written and produced by his son Aditya Chopra under their banner Yash Ra ...

'' and the Tamil movie Maryan (film), for music director

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

, and also for Santhosh Kumar in his

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

film ''

Inimey Ippadithan Inimey Ippadithan () is a 2015 Indian Tamil language romantic comedy film written and directed by the duo Muruganand (Murugan and Prem Anand) of Lollu Sabha fame. Santhanam, who also produced the film, plays the lead role in it, alongside Ashna ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashraf, Sofia 1987 births Indian women rappers Indian atheists Indian former Muslims Women musicians from Tamil Nadu Living people Indian rappers University of Madras alumni Singers from Chennai 21st-century Indian women singers 21st-century Indian singers