Punjabi rap, with its explicitly violent and crude lyrics, has invited ringing condemnation from established singers. But the kids can’t get enough

Jaspreet Nijher & Ruhi Batra | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; October 2, 2011)

 

The latest Punjabi hit song, Gaddi moudan ge, by Mika, poster boy of Punjabi cool, celebrates hooliganism, while the explicit titles of some of the latest chartbusters — Gippy Grewal’s Gangster and Hathiyaar, KS Makhan’s Badmashi, Preet Brar’s Desi gun — point to a trend that packages violence as a fast moving consumer good. In a radical departure from a tradition rooted in folk, Punjabi songs that once extolled golden mustard fields, pretty girls and brave men, are today littered with words like ‘bandookan’ ‘dunali’ (guns), ‘daru’ ‘bootlan’ (liquor), and gangsta rap phrases such as ‘signal todah ge’ (we’ll break all rules) and ‘chak laan ge’ (we’ll kidnap the girl).

High on testosterone and low on taste, such songs revel in being youth anthems and are meant for those who think it’s cool to cuss crudely. Sociologists attribute this to the love of notoriety and risk-taking that is embedded in the Punjabi psyche. “This region of North India faced the maximum onslaught, whether of foreign invaders or the Partition,” says Dr Archana Sachdeva, a retired sociology professor. “Land and women became a prized possession. Hence, just like all music reflects the state of its people, Punjabi music too acquired characters of violence that eventually came to embody More >