Thematic Analysis of Highest-Grossing Rap Songs
Bisma Rafique
Account Manager @Nutshell Group | Strategic PR Planning, Digital Marketing | Project Manager
Abstract
Rap music, the genre of “Hip-Hop” that gained popularity in the 1980’s and 90’s has become a widespread phenomenon of today. The rhythm, poetry and its style and the deep hidden meaning that it contains impresses the young generation. Introduced by the African-American communities living in South Bronx section of New York city in the late 1970’s, it is now a major part of the music industries of Pakistan and India and many talented rappers are incredibly popular in generation Z. The dissing element it includes has given it a very hippie vibe which the youngsters crave. With its growing popularity on social media platforms, it is seen as the new genre of music in sub-continent that is going to surpass other genres in no time.
When talking about rap or hip-hop in subcontinent it becomes essential to use the term “Desi” which refers to the South Asian diaspora (Cundiff, 2013). Every trend that rises in India has a deep impact on the audience of Pakistan since the cultural roots of both countries aren’t that different. The impact of these songs has an ever-growing effect on the listeners and they, unknowingly, change their views according to the person they listen to.
The basic principle of rap songs is to render the true face of a particular society or a topic. Therefore Rap is one of the strong tools to address different topics such as Racism, inequality, moral imbalance and other psychological issues. The songs talked about the situation and problems that are present in the society and how they are affecting the people or him in his life. The songs also contained hidden messages about how these problems needs to be addressed immediately and should be stopped.
A very different kind of audience tend to listen to rap music. These diverse types of viewers vary from people of diverse races to people of the similar race but with different religious backgrounds or beliefs. People listen to music for all different reasons, varying from them preferring the sounds they hear all the way to they like an artist for a very precise reason.
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Origins
Rap music comes under the genre of “Hip-Hop” that gained popularity in the 1980’s and 90’s. It stands for “rhythm and poetry”, various types of rhymes and styles are used when creating a song and a lot of thought goes into it to make it more meaningful.
It was primarily introduced by the African-American communities living in South Bronx section of New York city in the late 1970’s facing an economic depression. Fighting racism, these communities while being help up in jail started using various rhythmic techniques to deliver their message to the world, telling their stories about the oppression they faced and their unfair treatment. The real OG’s of rap songs are Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre etc. Rap culture was fueled after Tupac was assassinated on the streets of Nevada which to this day is still an unsolved matter (Burgan, 2011).
1.2 Rap Songs in Subcontinent:
In the sub-continent, however, rap culture was introduced rather late since the audience didn’t quite fathom the idea of presenting your story in the form of rap. When talking about rap or hip-hop in subcontinent it becomes essential to use the term “Desi” which refers to the South Asian diaspora (Cundiff, 2013).
For Indian Rap music, an artist of Indian origin based in UK, Apache Indian, was one of the first to top the UK charts with a number of hits during the nineties followed by Baba Sehgal who gave face to Indian rap music with his album in the 1993 called Thanda Thanda Pani. Rap music largely gained popularity in 2011 thanks to the success of YoYo Honey Singh when he released his album “International Villager”.
Every trend that rises in India has a deep impact on the audience of Pakistan since the cultural roots of both countries aren’t that different. In the early 1990’s when Fakhr-e-Alam released his album called Rap up, it was regarded as his attempts to experiment with rap music, his single “Bhangra pao” predominantly became the first Pakistani rap song. After Eminem and 50Cent gained popularity in the early 2000’s, it influenced a large sum of people around Pakistan and gave birth to artists like “Party Wrecker” (Mustafa Khan) of the Pashto rap group known as Fortitude. In the early 2000’s and 1990’s rap music was only limited to the society who had fair understanding of English and could converse in it, the early artists were dismissed by the mainstream media as well as the youth, labelling them as “Eminem ki aulaad” and “Yo Bache”
1.2.1 Mainstream Development
In subcontinent, Hip-Hop is still developing with time, since the larger audience consists of Gen Z, in both Pakistan and India, older generations would certainly not listen to rap since they don’t consider this kind of music to have meaning or anything interesting, they believe there is no proper rhythm and that the singer is just saying whatever comes to mind. That point in itself has a humoristic note because “Mumble rap” is exactly what you would describe as “singing whatever comes to mind”.
i) Cyphers
The underground community gathers and participate in rap battles arranged by themselves, with a prize to be given at the end to the winner. Oftentimes, large brand labels visit these gatherings to see if there are any artist worthy enough in their eyes to be signed by them and in turn these artists become mainstream and promote the label. Two major artists are;
Kam Bhari and Divine.
Deep blue waters, a Canadian label, visited these cyphers and discovered a number of artists in India, Divine was one of them. They worked on him and helped him polish his skills only for him to be later leave them for Sony Music.
In Karachi and Islamabad these cyphers are carried out at various spots, the most popular names that gained fame from these cyphers are;
Abdullah Malik, Savage, Sunny Khan Durrani, Liyari Undergroud etc.
ii) Diss Culture
Human nature drives us to be curious about things we don’t completely understand. Diss is quite similar to that, it’s something that artists are forced to do when they clash with another artist. They come up with lyrics that insults the other person in the most brutal way possible, personal attacks are made and insecurities of the other person are put on display. This in turn fuels up their audience and an atmosphere of a digital war is created. Their objective is mainly to destroy the artist’s career to the point that people stop listening to them which usually doesn’t happen.
But this is only one scenario.
Other times, when an artist who’s already popular disses a less famous artist then the viewers get curious thinking what that artist might have said to trigger the other person. This gives rise to their viewers and people get more and more invested in their story. For instance;
Raftar (already popular) Vs Emiway in India and Young Stunners Vs Chen k and Sunny Khan Durrani in Pakistan.
The rivalry between Raftaar and Emiway reached new heights when the audience got involved, it aided the development of rap culture and gave way to other rappers to gain fame from a new path. The feud started when Raftar gave an interview to Raj Jones and said that Emiway isn’t earning money right now, this triggered Emiway and he released a song named “Smajh Main aya kia?” In response to that statement saying that he’s earning more than enough right now, it’s just that he’s not showing it off, he’s an independent artist and does not ask for any funds. In response to that Raftar released another song called “Sheikh Chilli” answering Emiway’s allegation, saying that everyone takes him for granted and Emiway is not thankful for all Raftar has done for him. This lead to Emiway releasing yet another song called “Giriftar” saying that he hasn’t taken anything for granted and he can pay heaps to Raftar if that’s what he wants. He also stated that Raftar always deceive artists less popular than him and take all the advantages from them. Raftar released “Anime Hentai” retorting Emiway throwing insults at him and said that Emiway isn’t worthy of receiving his help. Last song in this famous diss was released by Emiway known as “Khatum” in which he said that he always knew that Raftar isn’t loyal to anyone but yet he respected him because he treated him as an elder but he doesn’t feel that he’s superior to him in Talent or in any other way.
After the diss between Raftar and Emiway Bollywood released a movie called “Gully Boy” which portrayed the true image of underground rapping culture and was appreciated by viewers so much that it was nominated for Oscars. The movie is a lot similar to 8 Mile, which tells the story of Eminem’s struggle to become the top rapping artist, which is way it didn’t win the award.
Due to diss culture people are starting to forget what rap originally means, it is gradually becoming all about who gets more views and who disses better. This culture does not portray a better image of rap and that leads to most people’s increase in dislike of rap music.
Type of Rap;
Commercial Rap
It consists of a Hook and a chorus, it is majorly designed for all type of masses and even if curse words are used in it they are censored. These types of songs can also be defined as ‘Major Party Bangers’
Comic Rap
In this type of rap, a light issue like traffic, love triangle, breakup etc are taken and portrayed in a comical way to the audience while making jokes that adds up to the comical side of the song. This is also known as “meme song of raps.”
Free-verse
It’s the kind of rap where a beat is given and the artist has to come up with the rap, the song should be so versatile that it can be fixed on any type of beat.
Freestyle
A word is given in this type of rap and the whole song revolves around that particular word and everything else that relates to it.
Offbeat
Chopper flow and supersonic flow is used in these types of rap, it’s not supposed to follow the beat.
Dark rap
This is the kind of rap discusses taboo topics like rape, drugs, murder etc. The artists either tell their own story, of what they went through or they talk about a social issue. The audience who don’t have a fair understanding of that issue can become toxic towards that artist or show hate.
1.3 Topic of Rap songs
i. Social issues
This topic talks about the issues regarding the artist’s personal life and their own social issues. Through rap songs social awareness can be created, it can be a way for artists to convey their message, tell their struggle while growing up and all the problems they faced, that they wish others should not have to go through. They talk about rape, poverty, racism etc.
ii. Psychological Issues
This topic is a bit sensitive and may trigger some people because it talks about topics that are not mainstream. Rappers tend to discuss topics that serve a more meaningful purpose, it creates awareness among people. Those who don’t take depression and trauma as real issues or as a problem that should be dealt with. That is one of the positive aspects of rap songs.
iii. Relationship
This topic is exactly what the name suggests and revolves around the closer relations of the artist. Different types of relations are discussed in the songs but they mostly revolve around Love, breakup and fake friends and how it affected them mentally. Most of the youth is attracted to those kind of songs since they can relate to it in a lot of ways.
iv. Lifestyle
This topic tends to discuss the lifestyle that many rappers prefer to live or are living. It has the sense of luxury and money. This theme includes representation of culture where rapper brought up.
Top Rap Artists
These are the most famous artists in sub-continent, their content is highly appreciated by the masses who have a massive interest in rapping. Their lyrics are meaningful and contextual, ninety percent of the time the words used are not suitable for the audience under 18 and often degrade women as well portraying them as gold diggers or targeting them sexually.
Having said that, it’s not all that there is to rap, it’s much deeper than what people seem to understand in first go.
1.3 Rationale
The underlying meaning in the lyrics of a song depicts the picture of our society, it describes stories of the artist, their struggle, their views on a certain topic which helps raise awareness, their skill to pick random words to rhyme with each other and still have a deep seated meaning. The impact of these songs has an ever growing effect on the listeners and they, unknowingly, change their views according to the person they listen to. The basic principle of rap songs is to render the true face of a particular society or a topic.
1.4 Problem Statement
This study intended to explore the content of Rap songs. Sometimes Contents of a rap song is often problematic, for the viewers it’s not something unheard of or something that may leave them horrified but for the people who don’t completely understand the meaning of rap, it may come off as something insulting and the use of abusive language doesn’t help the artist’s situation either.
1.5 Objectives
1.6 Research Questions
1.7 Significance
This study will focus on themes of rap songs because they are gaining popularity among the youth or Generation Z.
1.8 Limitations
Time seemed to be the major hindrance in terms of limitations, since this subject requires an in depth study to understand all its aspects.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
A very different kind of audience tend to listen to rap music. These diverse types of viewers vary from people of diverse races to people of the similar race but with different religious backgrounds or beliefs. People listen to music for all different reasons, varying from them preferring the sounds they hear all the way to they like an artist for a very precise reason.
From a sociological view, violence forms the mainstream view of rap. Listening to rap, anyone can figure out that most of the rappers are more inclined to rap about sex, violence and drugs. Because of the lyrics it’s not very hard to understand what the rapper is trying to convey. A large amount of rappers grow up in less fortunate areas and we can make that guess because most of the time that is what they’re rapping about in their songs. Since they spent most of their childhood on streets, you’ll find them rapping about different types of weapons because that’s what they grew up watching and that’s all they know about getting around with life. Drugs are also talked about in rap because of the way the artist grew up, usually they grew up around it, sometimes making or selling it (Everett, 2002; Kitwana, 1994).
One of the most distressing traits of rap music is its violent orientations to women. Over time rappers have become aware of the fact that it’s fairly easy to make money targeting violence and sex. It is seen that the most used forms of violence in rap are assault, rape and murder. According to research, physical aggression is used the most to control the female in a ‘Female-Male interaction’ (Miller & White, 2003; Skeggs, 1993).
This music promotes violent actions. Every time a song is sold with lyrics that are violent toward women or violent in any way it helps pacify its listeners. It adds the idea that violence in general and violence against women is acceptable. This music promotes violence in a strong way. This idea is further boosts when a rapper is said to be popular in the music industry. The youth may view these actions as a positive thing and a way to get famous (Kubrin & Weitzer, 2010).
In some contexts, the lyrics portray the man as being protective, taking care of the woman whereas in other contexts the man is looking up to the woman, admiring her. Although the pop lyrics in this investigation are displaying a positive image of women, they may be misleading regarding the image of love. Love is a common theme within pop lyrics and the way it is portrayed. It is easier to distinguish hip-hop culture, of which rap is a part, due to the fact that it consists of distinctive language that is highly connected to that particular genre. The language used in the lyrics is rather commonplace and does not stand out in the crowd as rap lyrics do (Hanke, 1998; Lay, 2000).
Ronald Weitzer and Charis E. Kubri in their research paper "Misogyny in Rap Music" According to one review of popular music over the past century, the portrayal of women has increasingly shown ‘‘greater diversity, more complexity, and dramatically mixed messages about the individual female persona and women’s roles in society’’ (Cooper, 1999). Some analysts describe rap music as part of a larger reaction against the feminist movement, seeking to perpetuate women’s inequality and re-empower men. It also argues that rap artists are not solely responsible for the content of their work. The entertainment industry plays an essential role, cultivating sexist lyrics and rewarding artists who produce them with huge sums of money, Grammy and Oscar Awards, and spin-off products like Pimp Juice (Kubrin & Weitzer, 2010).
rap’s messages have been incubated and resonate in communities where men have few opportunities for socioeconomic success and dignity and where respect is instead often earned by mistreating young women. like other music genres, rap is more varied in its content than is often recognized. So, misogyny does not characterize rap music as a whole. A majority of songs in our sample do not degrade women, and there are rappers who actively challenge rap’s misogynistic messages and endorse a more egalitarian form of masculinity (Diaz, 2010; Sweet, 2014).
2.1. Theoretical Framework
Theory of narrative and Stuart Hall’s concept of representation were the best suited theories for this research. Narrative theory describes how different people use different songs and lyrics to describe the society or interpret the world. Cultural studies gave an insight about how representation of different situations has different meanings and interpretations according to an individual.
2.1.1. Narrative Theory
Narrating is a convincing part of human culture, saving and sharing the cherished parts our affirmed memories and organizing our laws, our fun and our history. We experience history in words, lyrics and songs; however, paying little attention to what a song is telling, the words remain autonomous from the media that produces it. History takes people wherever they travel and adjusts effectively to new types of correspondence. Always developing and continuously cooling. history is a basic activity of human articulation and a focal component of human uniqueness (Altman, 2008).
The examination of history has been adjusted as a burden of expansive and polymorphic research within sociologies. The most varied individual, political, institutional, dictator and informative convictions are being gathered and considered at present, however, the expression "examination of history" remains brimming with registered brand tensions. Social researchers have rarely thought about the meanings of representation (Brock meier, Jens, and Rom Harrie, 2001). Numerous consultants convincingly resonate with Aristotle's description Of a satisfactory disaster with a beginning, a center and an end (Aristotle, 196B).
For Open, inforrnative or tasteful songs, it is a terribly intense recipe, which emphasizes the splendid attitude Of the occasions; addition, the understanding is extremely broad to remember something basic in the properties of what the accounts actually do. Someone told another person that something had happened (Smith, 1981). With a slight change, we can also cover the intensity of the lyrics: "Someone who tells someone about specific events and for specific purposes that something has happened" (Phelan, 2005b). Social exams can be condemned by two equivocal methods to talk about the narrative. In the main case, a wide range of discussions, the discussion is recognized as a representation, a narrative or a Story behind a song. Therefore, the full term of history runs the risk of being rejected. Customary conversations can also incorporate types of adjusted conversations. for example, argument, direction and representation (Linde, 1993). In the extra case, the song is a desire for a recognized speculation, a hypothesis or an ideological position without consecutive -association (Rimmon-Kennar', 2006).
The Polish Worker exhibits the limit of individual history for sociological creative energy. The recognition of the truthful and referential precision f these descending movements is genuine, while the creators ensure the letters as contours of mental states, life circumstances or their own decisions (Thomas.V Villiam, i and Florian Znaniecki, 1984).
Scholars of psychology recognize the situations, Structures, and schemes mentioned as intelligent methods to see the new and old circumstances (Shank, Roger. and Abilson,1977). Fundamental accounts structure the way in which the world is clear and, in this line, stack the small stories behind the songs of our well-known discussion. A fascinating relationship emerges above, including horizons scarcely adjusted by a social situation or shared social information, accounts that introduce remarkable regulatory histories, opposing stories behind the songs that fight and emerge from them. Since the stories educators are fully described by anyone, the term cliché added is used to refer to al and situational impacts on storytelling (Bamberg, 2004). In this study we will understand what kind of messages these songs transmit to their audiences. A rapper draws a situation characters. the area and the cirumstances that motivated him to write those lyrics. More essentially through the investigation of this study, we can have the possibility to visualize elements and problems of society and culture that the singer wants to tell about.
2.1.2. Stuart Hall's representation theory
The way in which Stuart Hall deals with representation basicallv clarifies how modified, composite, spoken or motivational signs associate their implications with the way of life. The idea representation seems to retain another critical territory in the reflection of culture. Representation associates recognition and dialect with culture (Makus, 1990).
To put it quickly, representation is the importance through the dialect. Then, there are two procedures, two representation frames included. In the first place, there is the framework, by which a wide range items and people and rivalries are initiated with an array of ideas or brain representations that we transmit in our heads. Without them, we could not adjust the universe deliberately. In any case. at that point, the implications are based On the plan of ideas and words farmed in our contemplations that can guide or speak to the world, allowing us to talk about things inside and outside our heads. We recognize this as a “representation arrangement". This is because it does.10t include particular ideas. but rather methods adjusted to organize, gather, adjust and group ideas and establish occupied relationships between them (Stutesman, 1989). For example, we use standards correspondence and contrasts to allow connections between ideas or to separate one another. We should also have the ability to speak or exchange implications and ideas and we can do it such with the possibility that, we approach an aggregate dialect. The language is, in this way the additional plan of twisted representation in world development activity importance. Our integrated idea scheme will become typical dialect, so that we can connect our ideas and contemplations with specific words and sounds. The recognized term we use for words sounds that have recognition are signs.
These signs speak the ideas connections applied to them that we have in our heads and together they frame the of recognition of our way of life. The signs are arranged in dialects and are the way of recognizing dialects that allows us to translate our reflections (Ideas) into words and sounds and still use them, work as a dialect express implication and disseminate contemplation to others.
The creation of implications depends on the redundancy of the clarification, and understanding is maintained by us currently using coding in lyrics, placing things in encryption and by the person at the opposite end deciphering or interpreting the meaning (Hall, 1980). But because the implications are always tight and deceptive, the codes work more like fun traditions than safe laws or perpetual patterns. As the implications change and slide, the culture codes change step by step. The preferred and abundant point of view the ideas and groupings of culture that we maintain with ourselves in our brain is that they allow us to visualize things. Regardless of whether they are there or not; without a doubt, if they always existed or not. There are ideas for our dreams, our desires and our creative impulses, and for the alleged "genuine" protests on the planet today. In addition, the benefit of the dialect is that our reflections on the world should not be restricted to us and be silent. We can understand them in the dialect, influence them to use signs that mean to them and speak, compose, adequately disclose about them to others.
Our songs, regardless of class, show or represent messages about a specific circumstance or society. Through the representation hypothesis, we can understand the hidden messages that a singer or rapper needed to delineate through his songs.
2.2. Conceptual framework
2.2.1. Rap Song
This genre is closely related to Hip-Hop, it uses various types of techniques and can be divided into more categories of rap. There are different types of rhymes involved for instance;
Internal Rhymes, Offbeat Rhymes, Multisyllabic Rhymes
Then there are different techniques used namely; Triplets, flams, 16th notes, 32nd notes, syncopation and extensive use of rests.
Two main topics that fall under the theory of rap songs are Rhythm and Meter. These two theories can be further divided into subtopics that are essential to make up a rap song. Meter is an organizing structure that we feel when we make or listen to music.
2.2.2. Rhythm
This is the most crucial part of a rap song; it is associated with musical time which is measured in beats, how further apart the beats are and for how long a beat lasts. The topics that can be discussed under the header of rhythm are;
1) Inter-onset intervals
The inter-onset interval of each syllable ranges from the beginning of one syllable to the opening of the next syllable. Since rhythm is timed to a metric grid, the IOIs of syllables in rap will be similar to the speed of various beat levels in the metric hierarchy. Therefore, if the tactus beat is recorded at 80bpm, an emcee might rap syllables at 80, 160, or 320 syllables per second. By mingling and toning several shorter and longer IOIs, the emcee can form a variety of rhythmic patterns. Any given rhythm will predominantly jump between two metric pulses that are separated by one level, like 80 and 160.
2) Metric position
When the syllables land in the metric grid is the other rhythmic consideration.
3) Syncopation
Oftentimes the syllables are delivered by emcees to match the metric hierarchy. For instance, if we place the longest and the most important syllables on strong metric positions. Though, rhythms can also be delivered in a way which encounters with the metric grid. This is known as syncopation.
4) Cross Rhythm
We've already discussed the fact that we can form up triplets by dividing beats into three instead of two. However, additional technique is to group beats in groups of three. By default, the metric hierarchy assemblies everything in units of two. If the emcee chooses to group rhythms in groups of three beats, that creates a cross-rhythm.
2.2.3. Meter
Meter is a shaping arrangement that we feel when we make or listen to music, it cannot be heard separately in a rap song. The topics of meter can be divided into sub-divided into;
1) Beat
The ultimate rhythmic construction that lie beneath musical meter, and in turn rhythm forms the beat. In simple terms, beat is defined as a steady pulse. Beats form the tempo which is defined by how fast or slow a piece of music is, it is measured in beats occurring per minute, also known as BPM. Beat producers are celebrated just as much as the rappers since beat can also be defined as the soul of the rap. Some of the subcontinent’s major beat producers are;
2) Metric Hierarchy
When multiple different beats make a pulse in synchrony it makes up a musical meter, one level is made by each beat; Slower beats tend to be ‘higher” and faster beats are of a ‘lower’ level. The major point in this is that every single beat is two times the speed of the lower level. Therefore, each higher (slower) beat aligns with the every other lower (faster) beat.
Each time several beat levels line up, those beats are fortified. The more aligned the beats are the stronger it tends to become. This in turn forms a hierarchy of sturdier and frailer beats. Whenever a "high level" (slow) beat occurs, it is reinforced by all the lower level beats.
3) Tactus
Whenever we listen to a song our main focus is on the ‘beat’ that’s playing; the kind of sound that would make you tap your foot or shake your head a little. This kind of beat is known as Tactus. Defining which level is the tactus is subjective and not everyone who listens to the song will agree with your opinion. Nevertheless, people usually have a preference to pick a beat level with a tempo between 70 and 120 bpm as the Tactus.
4) Measures
It is valuable to keep trail of how many beats have passed at several metric levels. The most communal tactic is to simply count along with the tactus beat level. Nonetheless, rather than just totaling to infinity, we jump back to one every few beats. Since the beat levels in the metric hierarchy are all related by two, counting in powers of two is most useful: 2, 4, 8, or 16. There is no "correct" way of counting; you can choose whatever beat level you want, and count whatever power of two you want. However, the most common approach is to count to four on tactus beats.
2.2.4. Themes
Social Issues
Through rap songs people can create awareness for various topics, it can be a way for artists to convey their message, tell their struggle while growing up and all the problems they faced that they wish others should not have to go through. They talk about rape, education, racism etc.
Relationships
Different types of relations are discussed in the songs but they mostly revolve around Love, breakup and fake friends and how it affected them mentally. Most of the youth is attracted to those kind of songs since they can relate to it in a lot of ways.
Psychological Issues
A lot of rappers tend to discuss topics that serve a more meaningful purpose, it creates awareness among people who don’t regard depression and trauma as real issues or as a problem that should be dealt with. That is one of the positive aspects of rap songs.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.1. Research Design
A qualitative analysis will be given on the top ranked rap songs of last two years. The main focus of the research was to evaluate the themes and narratives of the rap songs, what kind of content is being produced and to figure out a more defined picture of the rap songs.
3.2. Population
The populations are based on the most viewed or top ranked songs during 2015-2020.
3.3. Sample
The sample consists of the top five Bollywood and Lollywood rap songs with the most views on YouTube.
3.4. Sample Size
Size is evenly distributed among the songs from both industries being discussed. Five from Bollywood and Five from Lollywood.
3.5. Sampling Techniques
For this study purposive sampling was a perfect fit since it follows a judging technique and uses subjective sampling. It depends on judgement of the researcher and their ability to identify what units are to be studied.
3.6. Operationalization
3.6.1. Rap Songs
In this study, rap songs sung by Pakistani and Indian rappers are being discussed, they make use of excessive rhyming techniques to make their song more meaningful.
Recommended by LinkedIn
3.6.2. Rapper
A rapper is a person who performs rap music and call himself/herself a rapper. He or she has a unique style of rapping with own produced lyrics and beats which differ them from others. These are the artists who mostly compose, write and perform their own songs. They vocally deliver rhymes and rhythmic speech that is performed in many ways over a beat.
3.6.3. Themes
Themes are what makes the structure of a rap song, every rap song has its own back story, a deeper or underlying meaning to it and that’s what forms its theme. If the lyrics and beat are strong enough to keep the listeners engaged till the very end, that means that the theme of the song has been perfectly portrayed.
3.6.4. Lyrics
This is the most crucial part of a rap song, if the lyrics aren’t influential enough then the song itself wouldn’t gain much audience and won’t be as popular as the intended by the artist. Words in the lyrics and their delivery by the artist are the main contributing factor while aiming for more views
3.6.5. Cinematic Techniques
This technique is all about portrayal of the song, whether or not the lyrics match what the audience is watching, the lightning, the props, the costumes and the camera shots, all contribute towards making a video worth watching.
Chapter 4: Findings
Lollywood
1. Agaya Time
Introduction
Agaya time is a Hip-Hop Rap song. This song is sung by Rahim Pardesi Shamroz and Butt Mohsin. Music video was released on 14th of March. The Lyrics of this songs were written by Rahim Pardesi, Shamroz Butt and Mohsin Azad Khan. The one reason of this song’s popularity is Rahim Pardesi and young talented YouTuber of Pakistan. He is famous due to his funny YouTube content.
Plot and Theme
The main theme was representation of Punjabi Culture. Punjabi Culture is promoted in whole song. This song was shoot in interior Lahore and the Visuals glamorized the punjabi culture. The lyrics are also giving hype to punjabi culture and its people.
Lyrics
Lyrics were written mainly Punjabi but there were few lines in Urdu language as well. Punjabi was mainly focused in Lyrics as the prime focus of song was to create a hype of Punjabi Culture. There are lines “Gall nu vadhoon da, Punjabiyan nu worldwide, Kon nai pechanda, Asi gore kaaleyan di boli nai bol ni, Wakhra nizam sadi wakhri ay tor ni, Oh sadi wakhri ay tor ni, Wakhra nizam sadi wakhri ay tor ni”. These lines mean that Punjabis are known worldwide because of their unique style, they feel proud to speak their mother language Punjabi. The beauty of the song is they punjabi culture is highlighted beautifully while avoidy and kind of racism. As in these lines, “ Mitra te bwliyan nu dil to salam bhai, Ailaan bhai, Noble peace naale pyaar da paigaam bhai, Wadi ki choti zaat di koi baat nai, Insaan bhai, Kyun ban da shaitaan bhai, Agg lave apne aap nu, Mitti to banya ek baap di olad tu” they try to delivered the message that we love our culture but we also respect other cultures equally, because we are advocate of peace and harmony.
Costume
Costume used in this song is perfectly representing Punjabis. All of the participants including Rappers were wearing traditional “Kurta Pajama” that was main costume. Second costume was hoodies and jeans shirts that is kind of identity of rappers. The main theme was black as they all wore black costumes throughout the song and the background was also dark.
Cinematic Techniques
Cinematic shots proved as icing on cake, it gave life to song. There were few drone shots used in video to show beautiful structure and architecture of Lahore. There were also few shots of random people on street were used to show real life of Lahoris/Punjabis.
Lightning
There were colorful funky lights were used with dark black background. These lights were giving disco feel and smoke also glamorized the whole set. Funky lights, smoke and beats altogether created amazing hip-hop feel.
2. Asli Hip-Hop (Chen-K)
Introduction
Asli Hip-Hop is Rap song that is directed written and edited by Pakistan’s Rapper Nadir Kha aka Chen-K. This song was released on 3rd of March 2019. Chen-K is famous for its unique style of highlighting social issues through using Rap. Like all of his other Raps this rap also highlighted social issue.
Plot and Theme
This Rap song is mainly focused on social issues that is causing disharmony. There are three parts in this Rap, In First part Chen-K accused all Top Pakistani and India Rap singers of spreading vulgarity and objectifying females in their Music Videos. He used abusive words for famous Rappers Badshah, Honey Singh, Ikka and Raftaar for sexualizing women in their Rap. He said Rappers are responsible for spreading inappropriate behavior among youth. There are certain things that are forbidden in all religions but Rappers are using them as a tool to get popularity. Drinking alcohol and nude girls are promoted through so called Rap singers.
In Second part he talked about how rap came in Pakistan and Bohemia is the one who introduced Rap in Pakistan. While talking about the content of Bohemia’s Rap, he said Bhoomia opened his heart out about the struggles and shared his story and alien experience of living in the foreign. There are very few rappers who are creating decent content.
In third part he thanked his fans from Pakistan and India who have supported him for presenting real face of society and giving him courage. He gave shut up call to all critics by saying, I am not religious scholar but I know what is right and what is wrong. He also added that he will never leave the path he is following for the curse of money. He appreciated Dar, Durrani, Faris, Anjum, Naezy, Lahori, Lazarus, Kahlon for their Rap content, and said Rappers like Ikka and Badshah are bad singers as Dhinjak Pooja for him. At last he said he will keep doing his work as at the end of the day that might change the perception of few.
Lyrics
Lyrics of this Rap were in Urdu language. Lyrics of this Rap are harsh as the singer tried to highlight very sensitive issue. He used abusive and inappropriate words for the accused persons. The delivery of lyrics is as harsh as lyrics. The tone used is little bit violent and extremist.
Costume
The costume wore by rapper simple and regular T-Shirt and pants. Rapper was wearing rings chains and ear rings as usually rappers wear. There was notice board on the wall in background containing pictures and newspapers cutting related to the content of this Rap songs. There were few shots of these pictures and newspaper cuttings. These newspapers cutting are containing top news showing social disharmony. At last fake blood is used to stress on the seriousness of issue.
Cinematic Techniques
Video was shoot in a room that is mini studio of Nadir Khan. So the D.O.P (Director of Pictures) show creativity with shots at single location. D.O.P used asymmetric shots in order to give life to video. There were also shots of noticeboard containing pictures. Rap video starts with a picture of Dajjal, there is Urdu word “Kafir” is written on his forehead. Then camera moves to second picture of Muhammad Ali Jinnah Founder of Pakistan and Gandhi founder of India with a note “Indo-Pak unity”. Then again video ends with pictures and newspaper cuttings.
3. Pindi Aay
Introduction
This song featured Hamzee, Fadi, Osama Com Laude, Zaheer Qureshi, Shuja Shah, Khawar Malik & Hashim Nawaz. The producer of this Rap song is Gauhri.
Plot and theme
The artists discuss the pride, people and boys of the city Rawalpindi. Throughout the song the city is being praised for its hospitality, for its atmosphere and “Pindi boi culture”, which is basically wearing bright colored shirts with hair tightly set and not a single strand out of place, with glasses and riding a motorbike at an insane speed.
They describe that the people are very humble and greet everyone nicely, they describe even the days and nights of the City and what people are like at that respective time.
It describes how the boys like to have a girl seated on the back of their bikes while they ride it on one wheel, showing her off as well as their one wheeling skills. The whole song is a predicament of how Rawalpindi and its people are above all and how they differ from the rest of the country.
Lyrics
The words “Pindi ay” have been repeated a lot throughout the song and that’s the hook of the song. The lyrics aren’t comparatively vulgar given the fact that most of the rap songs consist of foul language. The words are acceptable to the people of all ages so the song is widely appreciated by a wide range of people.
4. Bali or Main
Introduction
This song was not released under any label since the singer is Talha Anjum, who is an independent artist. It was released on 21st December, 2019. The beat of this song was produced by Jokhay and it has 2.1M views on YouTube.
Theme and plot
The singer tells his own dark past by using personification for his alter ego “Bali”. In the song he tells us that he grew up poor and belonged to a poor family, he wanted to earn heaps of money and did not wanted to wait for it so it didn’t matter by which means he earned it. Therefore, he went down the wrong path and whatever he earned he spent like it was nothing, eventually he got addicted to drugs and ended up killing a drug dealer that lead him to become “WANTED” and at the end Talha Anjum killed his alter ego in a police encounter.
Lyrics
The lyrics tell his story and consist of a lot of rhyming words, the words are molded to give the message “As you sow shall you reap.”
5. Zamana Jali
Introduction
The artist of this song is Bohemia, it was released on 18th October, 2016 under the label of T-series. It has 27M views on YouTube.
Theme and plot
In this rap Bohemia spoke about bitter reality of the world and what we face in our everyday life. He says that nobody helps anyone unless one has their own benefit in it. He says that if you help someone without any reason, he will take it for granted and won’t say a word of thanks. The world is full of backstabbers; he says that he faces discrimination on airports because he gets mistaken for a suspicious person trying to smuggle drugs, authorities hold him to question him and search his belonging for hours.
He also says that he is loyal to his friends who are with him from the very beginning and he will remain loyal to them till the end of time because he does not follow the rules of this world.
Bollywood Songs
1. Swag Meri Desi
Introduction
The artist of this song is Raftar, it was released on 23rd June 2015 under the label MTV (Spoken word) and the beat was produced by Manj Musik, it has 40M views on YouTube.
Theme and Plot
Raftar is showing pride of his skills lyricism and flow. He is poking rivals by rapping in chopper flow and showing his success and by saying that they are not relevant like him. He is also taunting that nobody can reach his rapping skills and if anyone wants to be where he is right now they will have to hustle very hard. This song is also a subliminal diss towards “Honey Singh”
2. Samajh Main Aya kia
Introduction
The artist of this song is Emiway, it was released on 13th October, 2018, he is an independent artist, the beat of the song was produced by Flam Boy and the video of this song has 121M views on YouTube.
Theme and plot
This is known to be the most viewed rap song in the history of desi hip-hop till now. It is the first instalment of the beef between Raftar and Emiway. In this song Emiway disses Raftar because he mentioned Emiway’s name in an interview that Emiway isn’t earning money right now which triggered Emiway and he released this song against Raftar. He said that in making videos and producing songs independently “are you giving me fundings or them?”. He said I didn’t even ask anybody to help me, I’m hustling on my own. He told that he can afford a lavish lifestyle but he doesn’t like to show off. In this song he also dissed divine and MC-Stan.
3. Say My Name
Introduction
The artist is called Kri$na, it was released on 15th September, 2020. The beat of this song was produced by “Call Me G” and it has 4.2M views on YouTube.
Theme and Plot
This is known as one of the most intelligently written rap in Desi Hip-hop. There are also subliminal disses directed towards Emiwayand Muhfaad. This song is filled with double-entendre, triple entendre and multiple syllable and internal rhymes. This song is also filled with references from all over the world. In this song Kri$na portrays himself as the devil or Lucifer and urges his rivals to say his name directly. In other words, he is asking them to diss him directly and stop sneaking around behind his back. He warns everyone in the rap community that if they want to go on a war with him then they are welcome, he will undoubtedly end their careers. He also compares himself with Mike Tyson, Michael Jackson and Army Birgadior. He also released the same song in English which is the exact translation of the hindi version and which also rhymes.
4. Machayenge
Introduction
This rap song is sung and produced by Emiway, it was released on 25 January 2019. Director of this rap song is Sam Mohan. It has 2500 million view on YouTube.
Theme and Plot:
Machayenge is a fun song in beaches sung by Emiway. Here Emiway is welcoming his fans to join his party in island. Main theme of this song is Lifestyle, and the secondary theme is relationship. This song became Emiway’s first popular song of his career as it reached around 2500 millions views on youtube. This song was also got fame on Tiktok where Bollywood celebrities were seen dancing of this song. This song is full of energy. This was shooted on beach and artists in videos can be seen dancing and partying at scenic location Goa. There is another thing that is relationship with friends, emiwey tried to portray how to have fun with friends during vacations.
Cinematic techniques
This music video was shoot at beach in Goa, India. Director of Picture played beautifully with frames to capture beautiful scenic location. Emiway is seen singing to camera with his trademark energetic persona.
Lyrics
Lyrics of songs are full of enthusiasm. Two minutes Song revolves around two sentences “Dhoom Machaenge, jo nahi Nachay ga usko bhi nachaingay” so beautifully. There is also objectification of female in this song and discussion about wine is present.
Costume
Rapper and talent of video were wearing beached themed dress as this video was shoot at beach. They were wearing colorful shirts with printed florals, hats and short trousers.
5. 1 se 23
Introduction
This is a rap song by Karma, it was released on 1-Jan-2019. The beat producer for this song was Deep Kalsi. It was released through the Kalamkar label. It has 9.3 Million views on YouTube.
Theme and Plot
In this song Karma told the story of his life from his childhood to youth and compares it to his present. He says that he was a very shy nerdy and a bore type of a boy. Nobody wants to play or talk to him. He was often bullied by the elder boys. He didn’t even have a bike like other boys. He wanted to learn dance but he was poor so he could not make his that dream come true. But now he is famous and he has become a rapper so all of his old mates and so called friends calls him and say that he is like their brother, now he is sweet talked by others who didn’t looked at him in his sufferings.
Cinematic Techniques
In all the songs mentioned above, the cinematic techniques used are all quite similar. These songs have been shot from various angles to cover every position of the artist while making sure the setting is closely related to the words being sung.
Table of Themes
Missing Themes
Rap is one of the famous genre now days and serves very important purpose in social building and narrative building. Many rhymes, styles and themes are being used while making rap songs like, social issues, lifestyles and relationships etc. These major themes are being discussed by all rappers mostly in their own unique way. Still there are few most important topics that are being ignored by rappers or in other words missing in rap songs.
Education is one of the most important topic that need to be addressed by rap artists. There is no single rap song which highlighted the importance getting education. They always showed education as boring and stressful activity. That mindset needs to be change because most of the audience of rap songs is youth. Through educational we can make our audience realize the importance of education and knowledge. Economic growth is also very important issue now days especially in Pakistan but no one talked about that issue. As everyone knows our youth is our future, so to tackle with economic issues. we need to prepare our youth to face future problems of economic growth, and rap songs are best to do that.
Another topic that is seen neglected in rap songs is technology. This topic could be interesting for today youth as they are dealing with technology in every sphere of life. We can show evolution of technology or how technology have change ways of living in a free style or comic way. There are so many topics that can be used in rap song in order to educate and upgrade standards of society.
Chapter 5: Results and Discussion:
Results:
In this study the researcher wanted to discuss the rap culture around subcontinent, predominantly in India and Pakistan. The researcher has provided with the discussion that answers all the previously asked research question.
RQ.1 Lollywood rap songs are focusing on which themes?
First Rap song of Pakistan sung by well know Singer Fakhr-e-Alam. That song was “Bhangra Pao”. As name indicates the theme of song was culture. Because bhangra is an entity of culture. As time evolved many other themes were also used in rap songs in Pakistan. Just like English rap, Pakistani rap is focusing on social issues but in a different approach. The reason may be every culture and every social have different social issues and approaches to tackle with these issues. Western rappers mostly discuss Racism and in equality of human rights, contrary to that Pakistani rap focused on Street Crime and political imbalance and immoral things happening in society. In this research we studied top five Pakistani rap songs from year 2015 to 2020. In these songs Social issue are the major theme being discussed by the rappers in past five years.
Secondary theme that is focused by Pakistani rappers is Relationship. They talked about relationship between friends and parents. In “Bali or mai” sung by Talha Anjum, he talked about his relationship with friends who encouraged him to commit crime, and his mother who suffered because of his criminal activities. In “Pindi aay” song rapper showed the hospitality of locals of Pindi city.
RQ.2 Which themes are majorly focused in Bollywood songs?
Many Indian rappers from the Underground culture who are literally killing the music Industry with their raw and real desi hip hop sound. Rap culture is more famous in India as compare to Pakistan. Rap songs in India are majorly focused on lifestyle. Rappers in India are more likely to show luxurious lifestyle through their rap songs. They used luxurious cars and villas in their rap videos.
Second theme that is most frequently seen in rap song are Social Issues. Bully is one of the main topics that is used. Just like rap singer Karma tells his life struggles from introvert to becoming famous rapper. He says that he was bullied at school and everyone use to ignore him then how he dealt with that. Same most of singers highlighted different issues like religious intolerance as this is one of the major issues in India.
RQ.3 What is the difference between Bollywood and Lollywood Rap songs?
After doing comparative analysis of Lollywood and Bollywood rap songs, we come to the point that apart from similarities there is different approach while making rap songs. Lollywood songs had a theme involving Social issues where they discuss street crime, terrorism and social immorality whereas Bollywood songs while making social issues related rap songs they go for bully, religious intolerance and life struggle. Although we Indian and Pakistan share same culture still, we have different challenges when it comes to social issues. These challenges are one of the reasons of different approach to highlight social issues.
There is another major difference between Bollywood and Lollywood rap songs is costume. Costumes used in Bollywood songs are more towards modern western dresses whereas in Lollywood costume are more moderate. Objectification of female is more common in Bollywood as compare to Lollywood. When it comes to lyrics, both industries used different styles or language. Bollywood rap lyrics are more meaningful than Lollywood lyrics, that is the reason rap in Bollywood is more famous as compare Lollywood. Bollywood rap industry is well established but Lollywood is still struggling and evolving.
Discussion:
The themes that Lollywood songs contained were more inclined towards the relationships a rapper has in his past and how those times and people changed him. The other main theme in the Lollywood songs was of social issues. The songs talked about the situation and problems that are present in the society and how they are affecting the people or him in his life. The songs also contained hidden messages about how these problems needs to be addressed immediately and should be stopped.
However, most of the Bollywood songs had a theme involving dissing or psychological issues of the rapper. Like the songs ‘Samajh Mai Aya Kia’ and ‘Say My Name’ both had the lyrics of taunts and disses towards other rappers who the singer believes are his competitors in the music industry. Other main theme in the Bollywood songs was regarding social issues. Songs contained was of past and backgrounds of the rappers and the difficulties they faced growing up before getting fame and popularity.
The Bollywood songs were more popular in the audiences with way more views than the Lollywood songs. The Bollywood rappers’ lyrics in the songs were more famous and meaningful as compared to the Lollywood songs. There was a difference of themes in both industries and the style and way of rappers also differed from one another in Bollywood and Lollywood.
Chapter 6: Conclusion
Rap songs or rap music in the subcontinent has been gaining popularity for years now, it’s developing at a slow pace but the audience for rap has been increasing every day. If the quality content is produced by an artist, then the song promotes itself. At this stage, it has more popularity in India than in Pakistan and a lot of factors contribute to that. India is a secular state, there aren’t that many restrictions when it comes to practicing or participating in rap music and it’s much more popular in India, there are huge underground rap communities there whereas in Pakistan people aren’t much fascinated by it, mostly because they don’t understand it.
However, rap is slowly becoming a new addiction to the Generation Z, social media platforms are playing a huge role in it, the tik-tok app is filled with rap songs for people to enact on. If the video becomes viral, the song in turn becomes viral, no matter what is being sung by the artist.
To conclude the above research, Rap songs, in both Pakistan and India has been regarded as the “trash” the young generation listens, there isn’t much support for it even though efforts have been made to raise awareness among the millennials so they can promote and support rap but it has been proven to be in vain since, older generation of the subcontinent prefer songs with more rhythm and raga.
References