Latest track: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_Q-YjEXDN0ufkU4AoWhU1g/featured
#14 Prabh Deep
Prabh deep a Delhi based rapper who took Indian hip-hop industry to another level. He is a high-school dropout, a mere example of the Indian education system’s pressure and families. He pursued his dreams, struggling, from the narrow lanes of Delhi-18. His first album ‘class-Sikh’ was released in October 2017. The album is all about the pitfalls of drug abuse, losing friends, and jail, about how he grew up in a gang-driven, drug-infested community being a Sikh in a Hindu majority country. He’s known for his fearless rapping. His visceral lyrics weave political storms. In one of his interviews, he said, “I want to go commercial like Badshah did, but I’m making music for myself, nobody else. Naezy and DIVINE are my friends, but I can kill them with my verse anytime,” His recent track ‘Chitta’ has over 403K views, and his YouTube channel has around 63.3K subscribers. Latest track: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2YyibL61HZl68aflFknUTA
#13 King Rocco
Arpan Kumar, also known by his stage name king Rocco was a contestant in ‘MTV hustle.’ He gained popularity from this reality show. From 8th grade, only he made up his mind on making hip-hop as his career. He’s also seen in live performances with Raftaar, Raja kumari, and Nucleya. After his first performance, Nucleya offered to work with him in his album which will be released this year. His new album ‘the carnival’ is released this year only. The latest song of the album ‘Let the eyes talk’ has already crossed 969K views and his YouTube channel has over 610K subscribers. Latest track: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrtOnzd9dWH9lXTAB-64Hfg/videos
#12 KARMA
Vivek Arora, a.k.a KARMA is an Indian rapper from Dehradun, Uttarakhand. He left his B.sc nursing degree to pursue his dreams. In his early days, he struggled a lot. He took jobs in a call centre and as a night guard in ATM. It’s so inspiring to see him rap so effortlessly and fluently despite having a stammering problem. His first rap was released in 2014, ‘Agar Main Haara.’ During a concert in Dehradun, Raftaar met Vivek and listened to his rap and gave him a chance to work with him. His next song ‘Main Wahi Hoon’ released under the label of ‘Zee Music Company’ in collaboration with Raftaar in 2019and crossed 34 million views. Currently, he is signed with Kalamkaar, a music label. His latest track ‘BABA YAGA’, also in collaboration with Raftaar, has 1.8 million views. His YouTube channel has 37.6K subscribers. Latest track: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN5voRYhro0QDgCkiWW7qMw
#10 Naezy the ba
Naved Shaikh, wildly known as Naezy, the ba is a Mumbai based underground rapper who’s the first breakthrough was ‘Mere Gully Mein,’ featuring fellow Mumbai based rapper Divine, from the 2019 film Gully Boy. The film itself was inspired by Naezy’s life and struggle in the ‘Gullys’ of Dharavi. In the early stages of his career, he used to record music and videos with an iPad borrowed from his friend. His debut single in 2014, ‘Aafat,’ went viral overnight and reached a million views. His recent releases’ Awli’ and ‘2014’ have over 217K and 176K views, respectively and his YouTube channel ‘Naezy TV’ has over 708K subscribers. Latest track: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/theschizophrenicable
#9 Brodha V
Vignesh Sivanand, better known by his stage name Brodha V is an Indian hip-hop artist, lyricist and music producer. In the early stages of his career, he composed raps in English only. But at that time, there were not many people listening to English raps. Language became a major barrier for his career. Later he collaborated with Raftaar and made ‘Naachne Ka Shnauq’ where he did rap in English as well as Hindi. Brodie V’s music is a blend of hip-hop, Hindustani Classical, Carnatic Classical, and Indian Folk Music. His songs are mostly in the local language and drawn from his personal experience. His latest track, ‘Vainko’, featuring Jordindian, has over 10 million views, and His YouTube channel has over 399K subscribers. Latest track: Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BrodhaV/featured
#8 Dino James
Dino James is an Indian rapper, composer, and lyricist. He was born in Bhopal, and later, he came to Mumbai, basically pursuing his acting career, where his struggles began. He struggled for a long period in Mumbai, but then he got inspired by listening to a random stranger singing with his guitar. He was so inspired that he composed his own rap ‘Girlfriend’ and uploaded it to his YouTube channel in 2016. This was a breakthrough, the song went viral, and people loved the newborn rapper. His songs are mostly a reflection of his life experiences and struggles. His latest track ‘Mirage’ currently has over 6.1 million views. His YouTube channel has over 4.13 million subscribers. Latest track: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/DinoJames/featured
#7 Pardhaan
Parichai Modi a.k.a Pardhaan is a Haryana based Hindi and Haryanvi rapper. In the early stage of his career in 2009, he joined the hip-hop crew, Desi Beam. Later their crew came into limelight after collaborating with Punjabi rapper Bohemian for the song ‘Bandookaan.’ He switches between serious and goofy raps so effortlessly that it becomes a pleasure to listen to. His recent track ‘Ghar Aaja’ is dedicated to all the front-liners away from their home, their loved ones, keeping the nation first and their family secondary. The music video currently has over 933K views, and his YouTube channel has over 409K subscribers. Latest track: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/aslipardhaan/featured
#6 Ikka
Ankit Singh Patyal, also is known as Ikka or Ikka Singh is a Delhi rapper. His Bollywood debut was with the song ‘In Da Club’ from the 2014 movie Tamanchey. Previously he worked with Yo Yo Honey Singh in his hip-hop band Mafia Mundeer along with Raftaar, Badshah and Lil Golu. His raps are famous in commercial Bollywood songs as well as underground hip-hop genre. His latest track ‘Jassi’, a Punjabi song, released under T-Series Punjabi’s label, has over 3.6 million views on youtube. The artist has no YouTube channel of his own. Latest track:
#5 Divine
Vivian Fernandes, wildly know by his stage name Divine is a Mumbai based underground rapper. He came into the limelight with the song ‘Yeh mera Bombay’ in the year 2013. He came into the attention of Sony Music Company in 2014 during his performance in Blue Frog festival. In the following year, his breakthrough ‘Mere Gully Main’ ft. Neazy from Gully Boy released and became a massive hit. His solo release, ‘Jungli Sher,’ about the poor’s life in Mumbai, ruled the chart. He founded his music recording label ‘Gully Gang Entertainment,’ a platform for underground Hip-Hop talent in the Mumbai area in 2019. His latest track ‘Bandana Gang’ ft. Sikander Kahlon has over 3.8 million views. His YouTube channel has over 2.39 million subscribers. Latest track: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/jdproductionsmumbai
#4 Raaftar
Dilin Nair, also known by his stage name Raftaar is an Indian rapper from Kerala. He is also a song producer, dancer, and judge in many reality shows. He started his career in 2008, making songs with Lil Golu, Ikka and uploading them on social media. Later he joined the RDB band and released three songs under there label. But soon after that RDB spilt and he started working with Manjeet Ral. He did his Bollywood debut in 2012 with the song ‘Tamanche Pe Disco’. He can pull off only hip-hop but also commercial songs better than any other rapper. Some of his greatest hits are ‘Baby marvake maanegi’, ‘Dhaakad’, ‘Tu mera bhai nahi hai’. His latest track ‘Naiyyo’ in collaboration with ‘Akasa’, under Sony Music Company label and has over 24 million views currently. His YouTube channel has over 3.25 million subscribers. Latest track: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/raftaar/featured
#3 Yo Yo Honey Singh
Hirdesh Singh a.k.a Honey Singh is the revolutionary one who introduced Bollywood to raps. He made hip-hop so popular and brought it to mainstream commercial movies. He is known as the highest-paid music artist as of 2012 for a song in the movie ‘mastan’ and charged INR.7 million for it. His debut song in Bollywood was ‘shakal pe mat ja’ ft. Gagan Sidhu. In 2014 he got into a dispute with Raftaar over the lyrics credit of the song ‘Yeh fugly fugly kya hai.’ After 2015 Singh disappeared into thin air for few years, allegedly suffering from bipolar disorder and alcoholism. He made a comeback in 2018 with ‘makhna,’ ‘Dil Chori’ (sonu ki titu ki sweety) and many more. His latest track ‘Billo Tu Agg’ has been released with T-Series and currently has over 21 Million views. His YouTube channel has over 2.87 million subscribers. Latest track: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1KonH1j8WMhc5cT6Bp7NtA
#2 Badshah
Aditya Prateek Singh Sisodia wildly known as Badshah, is very popular in mainstream Bollywood music lovers. He is more into commercial music-making than the underground hip-hop genre. He is known for his simultaneous hits and record-breaking performances. He did his debut with Punjabi album ‘born star’ in 2012 with Deep Money. When Badshah entered the Bollywood industry honey Singh had already laid the foundation of rap songs in Bollywood, it was an instant success for Badshah, though they both are equally good. His Bollywood debut was in 2014 with ‘Abhi Toh Party Suru Hui Hai.’ His massive hits, like ‘Kala chasma’, ‘DJ Waley Babu’, ‘breakup song’, ‘garmi’ and many more were released with big music labels like t-series, Sony Music Company and Zee Music Company. His latest track ‘genda phool’ has over 509 million views and counting. His youtube channel has currently 1.43 million subscribers. Latest track: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUQg_UBQfVjptn7Wqcgzz-w
# 1 Emiway Bantai
Bilal Sheikh a.k.a Emiway Bantai is currently the most popular underground hip-hop artist. He did his debut with the track’ Glint Lock” ft. mintra back in 2013. His first Hindi rap ‘Aur Bantai’ became very popular among youngsters, and it was a massive hit in 2014. In 2017 Emiway collaborated with Raaftar and released ‘#sadak’ which was a breakthrough for him. But later on 2018, he got into a rap battle with Raaftar, which brought him into the limelight, intentionally or unintentionally. He released his diss track ‘samajh me aya kya’ after Raaftar in one of his interviews said: “rappers like Emiway cannot earn money.” But the battle did not end here, leading Raaftar to release a diss track ‘sheikh chilli’ after which Emiway also released a diss track ‘Giraaftar’. Anyways this 24 years old rapper made his debut in Bollywood with ‘Asli hip-hop se’ from the movie ‘Gully Boy’ in 2019. His latest track, ‘Kaun Hai Ye’ is booming with 7.6 million views. His YouTube channel currently has over 12 million subscribers. Latest track: YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmk8iNJHvf5mGN6_pkPc7g
