[8] One of the early moments of Indian hip hop was the Bengali-language underground film Gandu which narrated a story of a rapper and had a soundtrack which mixed rap with alternative rock.
Artists such as Roll Rida, Noel Sean & groups such as Machas With Attitude, Hiphop Tamizha and Street Academics pioneered respective vernacular rap music scenes.
Indian hip hop has become increasingly popular in India's biggest cities with big names like Krishna who has been picked up by talent management agencies like OML[9] who now have music videos with millions of views on YouTube.
While some artists including Krishna, Badshah,[15] Ikka,[16] Manj Musik and Bohemia[17] have acknowledged his contribution to the industry, others such as Raftaar[17] and Imran Khan[18] have openly denied it.
[19][20] However, this commercialisation has also led to expansion of the underground scene, with independent artists building a name in Indian hip hop.
[19][21] There are many rappers in India, rapping in different languages such as Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Odia, Bhojpuri, Khasi and others.
[22] Artists such as Raja Kumari,[23] Roll Rida, Noel Sean and Manisha Eerabathini started the trend in the new-age Telugu hip hop by including rap.
Since the crackdown in JMI, AMU and JNU, and the 2020 Delhi riots several rappers from all over the country have joined the cause with their own sonic protest.