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| Cultural origins | Early 1990s |
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Pakistani hip-hop is a music genre inPakistan, heavily influenced by mergingAmerican hip-hop style beats withPakistani poetry.[1] The genre was initially dominated byEnglish andPunjabi, but in recent years has expanded to includeUrdu,Sindhi,Pashto, andBalochi.[2]
The contemporary hip-hop and rap movement in Pakistan emerged from globalization ofAmerican hip hop in the early 1990s. Some Pakistani artists began experimenting withrap andhip hop as early as 1993 whenFakhar-e-Alam released his first albumRap Up. His singleBhangra Pao is commonly acknowledged as the "first rap song in Pakistan". In particular, the rise in popularity ofEminem in the late 1990s and50 Cent in the early 2000s influenced many of today's hip hop artists in Pakistan such asParty Wrecker (Mustafa Khan) of the Pashto rap groupFortitude, as well as Qzer (Qasim Naqvi) and DirtJaw.[3]
The first Pakistani rap song was "Bhangra Rap" (1993) by Yatagaan (Fakhar-e-Alam), which became a major headliner on Pakistani music charts.[4] The hit 1995 song "Billo De Ghar" byAbrar-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 ofEnglish (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 otherPakistani 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 theBritish Raj, who had replacedPersian withUrdu 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 asPunjabi,Sindhi andPashto 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 byPakistani American rapper,Bohemia, aPunjabiChristian, born inKarachi, schooled inPeshawar, and raised in the working-class minority communities ofSan 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 albumPesa 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 thediaspora 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.
In 2012, a popular Pakistani television programCoke Studio featured Bohemia on the trackSchool di kitab which gained a lot of positive responses from rap and non-rap listeners alike all over Pakistan.
In 2017,Shoaib Mansoor, aPakistani television and film director released the OSTPower Di Game of his forthcoming Lollywood movieVerna that contained Punjabi rap voiced by Xpolymer Dar, making him the first rapper in Pakistan to be featured in a Lollywood movie and further popularizing the rap genre.
There is also a strong hip-hop scene centered around Rawalpindi. Notable artists include Pindi Boyz and Osama Com Laude among others. Com Laude, whose songPindi Aye went viral has performed internationally, collaborating with artists as diverse asEdward Maya,Ali Zafar,Major Lazer, andValentino Khan.
TheUrdu rap genre is recently the fastest growing in the country. The majority of Urdu rappers are heavily influenced by Bohemia, a famousPunjabi rapper. In 2012, Urdu rap first gained popularity after rapperFaris Shafi released one of his controversial songs "Awaam".[citation needed] The song targeted the system of governance and was a sleeper hit. His other renowned songs includeMuskura,Jawab de,Waasta and several others.
Subsequently, the genre gained increasing popularity after a hip-hop music duoYoung Stunners, consisting of two independent Urdu rappersTalha Anjum andTalha Yunus, released their first songBurger-e-Karachi, a satirical take on the westernized urban elites and upper-middle-class people ofKarachi. The song became instantly viral. Following which they threw back-to-back hits among which areMaila Majnu andLaam se Chaura. They lead the Malir Rap Boys and have successfully collaborated with different artists like Irfan Junejo andAsim Azhar. Currently, they are considered the pioneers of Urdu rap. Other collaborations include Indian rapperKR$NA for the successful song "Quarantine". The track has over 10 million views onYouTube.
Other notable rappers include Chinese-Pakistani entertainer Chen-K, Rap Demon, Savage, Sunny Khan Durrani, Jani, Munab A. Manay, Wustaaz, Marshall, Maarij, Kaashan, 2damn and others.
In 2011, a rap group fromPeshawar released a track namedPukhtoon Core by Fortitude. This was the first time anyone made a rap song in thePashto language. Soon the band started making hits likeNo Borders,Lewani,Outrageous, Alongside Rap Demon and in 2019 they finally droppedEra of Pushto which was a comeback music and made waves acrossTikTok, Recently,Fortitude Pukhtoon Core released the official Anthem ofPeshawar Zalmi forHBL PSL.
The Sindhi hip-hop scene draws on a history of linguistic nationalism of Sindhis. Many Sindhi rap artists are attempting to resurrect and mainstream Sindhi culture in Pakistan using hip hop. Many Sindhi rap artists are also continuing the long Sindhi tradition of Sufi poetry by including them in rhymes.Ali Gul Pir'sWaderai Ka Beta,Meer JanweriPiyar Jo Siphai and others are recent Sindhi rap songs that have gone mainstream and show signs of the genre expanding beyond Punjabi.
Lyari Underground (L.U.G.) is from Lyari, as the name suggests. Currently playing at local festivals, L.U.G doesn't plan on stopping anytime in the near future. Breakout artists like Sami Amiri, Anas Baloch & Eva B are promoting the Lyari/Balochi culture through hip-hop.[5]
The styles associated with rap, hip-hop and house all make their appearance in Pakistani popular music. Among the early leaders in this type of music were the Lahore duo Yatagaan. Their first video, 'Bhangara Rap' (1993), indicates the complex overlapping of musical styles and style labels in much popular music. The song became a major headliner on Pakistani music charts.
