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Pakistani hip-hop
Pakistani hip-hop is a music genre in Pakistan, heavily influenced by merging American hip-hop style beats with Pakistani poetry. The genre was initially dominated by English and Punjabi, but in recent years has expanded to include Urdu, Sindhi, Pashto, and Balochi.
The contemporary hip-hop and rap movement in Pakistan emerged from globalization of American hip hop in the early 1990s. Some Pakistani artists began experimenting with rap and hip hop as early as 1993 when Fakhar-e-Alam released his first album Rap Up. His single Bhangra Pao is commonly acknowledged as the "first rap song in Pakistan". In particular, the rise in popularity of Eminem in the late 1990s and 50 Cent in the early 2000s influenced many of today's hip hop artists in Pakistan such as Party Wrecker (Mustafa Khan) of the Pashto rap group Fortitude, as well as Qzer (Qasim Naqvi) and DirtJaw.
The first Pakistani rap song was "Bhangra Rap" (1993) by Yatagaan (Fakhar-e-Alam), which became a major headliner on Pakistani music charts. The hit 1995 song "Billo De Ghar" by Abrar-ul-Haq also featured rapping.
Hip hop and rap culture in Pakistan during the 1990s and early 2000s were mainly centered around those with a good grasp of English (a socioeconomically privileged group). Pakistani hip hop and rap artists at this time were mainly underground English acts and were dismissed by the media and mainstream as "Eminem ki aolad" (Eminem's children) and "yo-bache" (yo-kids).
Hip hop music in Pakistan is still an emerging genre. Since the early 1990s, it has been performed taking inspiration from underground English scenes to regional Punjabi rap in the early 2000s, before branching out into various other languages.
By the late 2000s, Punjabi rap began influencing non-Punjabi speakers to experiment with hip hop in other Pakistani languages, thus leading to new Sindhi and Pashto hip- hop scenes. Urdu rap artists struggled to make a significant impact on the country's hip-hop landscape. This was due to class and linguistic politics dictated in the mid-nineteenth century by the British Raj, who had replaced Persian with Urdu as the official language. Furthermore, Pakistan’s post-independence language policies have continued to privilege Urdu over indigenous languages, creating a cultural dichotomy. Urdu became associated with urbanity, power, privilege and sophistication, while other Pakistani languages such as Punjabi, Sindhi and Pashto were considered "crass vernacularism".
It is known that Punjabi rap existed in Pakistan even before 2000, used by folk singers and street artists to amaze audiences with how fast they could speak Punjabi, although it was not labeled as rap.
Punjabi rap was notably popularized by Pakistani American rapper, Bohemia, a Punjabi Christian, born in Karachi, schooled in Peshawar, and raised in the working-class minority communities of San Francisco. Bohemia's music emerged from personal experiences, such as seeing his best friend murdered and several others sent to jail. In 2002, Bohemia released his debut album 'Vich Pardesan De (In the Foreign Land)' that gained a lot of popularity in desi diaspora all around the world. Later in 2006, Bohemia released his second album Pesa Nasha Pyar (Punjabi for "Money Drugs Love") commercially backed by Universal Music. Pesa Nasha Pyar stood out as lyrically groundbreaking. With Universal's distribution network, Bohemia found a ready market among Pakistanis, both in the diaspora and in Pakistan itself. This proved to be a catalyst for the local Punjabi rap scene in Pakistan and ignited the fire in younger generation of many Pakistani rappers. The early wave of Punjabi rap in Pakistan had a lot of artists such as Xpolymer Dar, Billy X, AK The Punjabi Rapper, Young Desi, Desi Addicts, Peace Grip, Zammu Faisalabadi, M.Zhe, FreeStyle Co (FSC), Blac Panther & D-Naar. Many of these artists stopped making music due to non-acceptance and not being able to generate enough income to support themselves. While many of Punjabi rappers continued to release their music independently on social websites such as Orkut, Myspace and ReverbNation, a major chunk of that music can still be searched and streamed.
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Pakistani hip-hop
Pakistani hip-hop is a music genre in Pakistan, heavily influenced by merging American hip-hop style beats with Pakistani poetry. The genre was initially dominated by English and Punjabi, but in recent years has expanded to include Urdu, Sindhi, Pashto, and Balochi.
The contemporary hip-hop and rap movement in Pakistan emerged from globalization of American hip hop in the early 1990s. Some Pakistani artists began experimenting with rap and hip hop as early as 1993 when Fakhar-e-Alam released his first album Rap Up. His single Bhangra Pao is commonly acknowledged as the "first rap song in Pakistan". In particular, the rise in popularity of Eminem in the late 1990s and 50 Cent in the early 2000s influenced many of today's hip hop artists in Pakistan such as Party Wrecker (Mustafa Khan) of the Pashto rap group Fortitude, as well as Qzer (Qasim Naqvi) and DirtJaw.
The first Pakistani rap song was "Bhangra Rap" (1993) by Yatagaan (Fakhar-e-Alam), which became a major headliner on Pakistani music charts. The hit 1995 song "Billo De Ghar" by Abrar-ul-Haq also featured rapping.
Hip hop and rap culture in Pakistan during the 1990s and early 2000s were mainly centered around those with a good grasp of English (a socioeconomically privileged group). Pakistani hip hop and rap artists at this time were mainly underground English acts and were dismissed by the media and mainstream as "Eminem ki aolad" (Eminem's children) and "yo-bache" (yo-kids).
Hip hop music in Pakistan is still an emerging genre. Since the early 1990s, it has been performed taking inspiration from underground English scenes to regional Punjabi rap in the early 2000s, before branching out into various other languages.
By the late 2000s, Punjabi rap began influencing non-Punjabi speakers to experiment with hip hop in other Pakistani languages, thus leading to new Sindhi and Pashto hip- hop scenes. Urdu rap artists struggled to make a significant impact on the country's hip-hop landscape. This was due to class and linguistic politics dictated in the mid-nineteenth century by the British Raj, who had replaced Persian with Urdu as the official language. Furthermore, Pakistan’s post-independence language policies have continued to privilege Urdu over indigenous languages, creating a cultural dichotomy. Urdu became associated with urbanity, power, privilege and sophistication, while other Pakistani languages such as Punjabi, Sindhi and Pashto were considered "crass vernacularism".
It is known that Punjabi rap existed in Pakistan even before 2000, used by folk singers and street artists to amaze audiences with how fast they could speak Punjabi, although it was not labeled as rap.
Punjabi rap was notably popularized by Pakistani American rapper, Bohemia, a Punjabi Christian, born in Karachi, schooled in Peshawar, and raised in the working-class minority communities of San Francisco. Bohemia's music emerged from personal experiences, such as seeing his best friend murdered and several others sent to jail. In 2002, Bohemia released his debut album 'Vich Pardesan De (In the Foreign Land)' that gained a lot of popularity in desi diaspora all around the world. Later in 2006, Bohemia released his second album Pesa Nasha Pyar (Punjabi for "Money Drugs Love") commercially backed by Universal Music. Pesa Nasha Pyar stood out as lyrically groundbreaking. With Universal's distribution network, Bohemia found a ready market among Pakistanis, both in the diaspora and in Pakistan itself. This proved to be a catalyst for the local Punjabi rap scene in Pakistan and ignited the fire in younger generation of many Pakistani rappers. The early wave of Punjabi rap in Pakistan had a lot of artists such as Xpolymer Dar, Billy X, AK The Punjabi Rapper, Young Desi, Desi Addicts, Peace Grip, Zammu Faisalabadi, M.Zhe, FreeStyle Co (FSC), Blac Panther & D-Naar. Many of these artists stopped making music due to non-acceptance and not being able to generate enough income to support themselves. While many of Punjabi rappers continued to release their music independently on social websites such as Orkut, Myspace and ReverbNation, a major chunk of that music can still be searched and streamed.