Mumbai Rap Troopers 7Bantai’Z Take Aim at the Powerful Corrupt in ‘White Collar’ Video

To promote their debut EP Into The Slum, multilingual rap group 7Bantai’Z took their music to an audience they really wanted to speak to through the six songs – Mumbai’s public in local trains, kids in slums in Dharavi and skate parks and more. The listening parties took place in right after the launch of Into The Slum, which sees the “Meter Down” and “Jhoom Zara” artists dig deeper for stories from Dharavi and make it all about community.

Teaming up with producers like DRJ Sohail, Bunny and Captain Fuse, 7Bantai’Z fire off with socially-conscious rap on songs like “White Collar” (whose music video you can watch below), but also keep the camaraderie and feeling of brotherhood strong on most of Into The Slum. The group – comprising Mr Scam aka David Klyton, MC Notez aka Nitesh Patel, Crackpot aka Aditya Vhatkar, Yoku BIG aka Yogesh Kurme, Lil Damn aka Siddesh Jammi and Bonz n Ribz aka Nishant Mohite – traverse Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, English and Marwadi on their latest songs.

In a statement, the 7Banta’Z hail the EP as one of journeys, specifically in Dharavi. “We wanted the listeners to go through our daily lives and struggles through our eyes. Dharavi is like the hub of Indian hip-hop. Dharavi has every kind of person from India living in the same community. We are part of that community in Dharavi, and we are all of those people put together in one rap group.”

The prevalent tone of the record is celebratory and sometimes somber because the group says they expressed “how wonderful our life is despite all the hardship [and] how we enjoy ourselves and the fact that we are still together after all these years.” The statement adds, “We don’t want to rap about what we have, what we want to have, and how big we want to become. We just want to show people who we are and the reality of where we come from, and we do that through hip-hop. This EP is an extension of it.”

From the raucous energy that only a big family like 7Bantai’Z can put together on “Whole Squad” and the English-inflected aspirational tune “In My Head” to the self-styled party banger “Turn It Up,” there’s plenty of diversity on Into The Slum. While “Energy” digs into drill and “White Collar” is a stern takedown of politicians and the privileged corrupt who wield power while ignoring public welfare. The EP closes with “Bambaiya Swad,” in which the rappers go heavy, bar for bar with a few beat switches in the mix.

The record has, as rapper Mr Scam puts it, brought 7Bantai’Z closer together, even as they learn to offer up space to each member to communicate and mutually understand each other. Scam adds, “We have survived this long for eight years and hopefully, we will be together for a long time to come. I feel that’s a great thing. We are like one big family.”

Listen to ‘Into The Slum’ below.