Hiphop Tamizha

If it wasn’t for Michael Jackson, Hiphop Tamizha may never have come to be. The duo’s public face, Adhitya ‘Adhi’ Venkatapathy, first heard the megastar’s hip-hop crossover “Jam” when he was a youngster and was so inspired by the track, it sparked an unyielding love of the genre—one that would eventually see him commit his life to the rap game. When Adhi met R. Jeeva in 2005 via social media, he found his musical soulmate; the artists crafted diverse hip-hop tracks in Tamil together and soon the genre’s first mixtape in the language dropped, Adhi’s own Viswaroobam Arambam, which played a significant part in promoting the style across India in the mid-2000s. But it wasn’t until they were handed an opportunity to write an anthem for the 2011 Tamil Nadu state elections that the act emerged from the underground. That track, “Ezhuvoam Vaa”, may not have been a commercial success but it nevertheless marked a turning point. In the years since, they’ve risen to the top of the scene, becoming one of India’s best-loved hip-hop outfits, with career landmarks including their collaboration with cognac brand Rémy Martin in the early 2010s and the 2012 launch of their debut album proper, Hip Hop Tamizhan, which won praise from critics and fans alike. The pair collaborated with American artists like Sol and Emcee Call and crossed over into film in 2015, composing the soundtracks for Aambala and Thani Oruvan—the latter topping Apple Music’s Best of 2015 list for Tamil album of the year. Over the years, Hiphop Tamizha have soundtracked Telugu films, collaborated with graffiti artists—and Adhi has even turned actor. These two talents are genuine multi-disciplinarians who still have much more to give to a genre they helped popularise in the first place.