Hip-Hop Artists from Six Cities Form New Collective Khaos Kartel

Proclaiming themselves to be India’s first English rap collective, Khaos Kartel arrive with an intention to disrupt on their debut self-titled album. Put together by Kolkata rapper-producer Pablo Dutta, the shimmering hip-hop record for all seasons includes 13 tracks, featuring artists from Manipur, New Delhi, New York City, Bengaluru, Mysuru and of course, Kolkata.

Dutta says it took over a year to bring Khaos Kartel to life. “A few hundred calls, texts and emails later we finally had it ready,” he says. In essence, Dutta and fellow Bangla-English rapper-producer Oh Arya aka Aryaditya Bose made a few beats and sent a collection of tracks across to the other members of the collective. This includes artists such as Newtone aka Vishesh Dabas, Oh Arya aka Aryaditya Bose, Vash aka Vashisht Cherkuku and Niks aka Nikit Reddy, Twinq aka Tanishq Asem and Jay Kila aka Jai Kilachand.

Dutta says, “It took a while to choose the right beats because none of us are from the same city but most of the songs are collaborations so even if more people wanted to go on the same beat, it was an advantage. The singles were more specific for the artists individually. Everyone kept recording their vocals and sending till we had the best takes we could go with.”

Indeed, even if most of these rappers weren’t present together at the time of recording, Khaos Kartel often comes across as a room full of artists taking turns at the mic in an almost freestyle manner. Only Oh Arya and Dutta add in solo tracks, in the form of an intro, a poignant, heart-baring interlude and outro. Across tracks, each verse is seemingly approached with total gusto by all the rappers. Whether it’s about women, money, cliques or personal upheavals, Khaos Kartel members make the most of it.

With a launch show in Kolkata on February 27th out of the way, select members of the Kartel will perform in Bengaluru on April 18th. Dutta adds, “We are planning to shoot a music video for ‘The Bag’ and possibly another one. This album is just the beginning, we are planning to put out music all over the year from all the artists and even feature more English rappers from not just India, but all over the world.”

Stream the album below. Hear on more platforms here.