Watch: #RollingWith Hip-Hop Special Feat. Naezy, Divine, Ace and Bobkat

Naezy and Divine teamed up for “Mere Gully Mein,” inviting child rapper Noor Hasan who was in the audience to join them on the track. Photo: Prashin Jagger

The #RollingWith hip-hop special saw Rolling Stone India’s August edition cover stars take center stage at Twitter India’s Blue Room. Bajaao is the official sound partner of #RollingWith. In addition to answering several fan questions from the audience and Twitter, “Mere Gully Mein” hit-makers Divine and Naezy, Mumbai’s Finest’s Ace and Bombay Bassment’s Bob Omulo aka Bobkat talked about the evolution of desi hip-hop and its future. “Social causes is what makes it real,” said Bobkat as he stressed the need for artists to talk about things that matter to them most. “What we do is what we sing about.”

Talking about what influenced their music, Divine cited Mumbai as his biggest teacher while Naezy felt his inspiration lay in the pursuit of truth. The artists also shared advice on how to make it as a hip-hop artist in India. Said Divine, “There’s so much more to hip hop [than being a rapper]. You can be a manager who’s managing an artist, a drummer who’s backing up a band or you can be a DJ who’s backing up someone’s vocals.”

The highlight of the evening was when each rapper took the stage, taking turns to spit out verses from some of their best tracks. Ace started the party with songs from his rap crew Mumbai’s Finest’s latest album Mumbai Till I Die while Bobkat involved the crowd in a call-and-answer rap on “Pump It Up”. Naezy and Divine teamed up for the anthemic “Mere Gully Mein” and also invited child rapper Noor Hasan who was in the audience to join them on the track. The evening went on to witness a great big jam with performances by other young hip-hop artists such as Maunit Shroff and Rushikesh Jadhav (Azad).  The edition culminated with the customary selfie session.

 

Watch what went down at Twitter India’s Blue Room during the Hip Hop Edition of #RollingWith: