Rap is not music – it is a story told in bars and beats
– Hakulal
Now if you think about it, this sentence really does make sense. The whole point of rap is to express the stories that you have, be it good or bad, and express them in rhymes while following the beat.
But that being said, it is not just stories that are told through rap, a lot of the raps are rather disses. And rap is one of the most popular forms of music in modern times all over the world – even in Nepal. That being said, How many Nepali rappers do you know?
We all know rappers like Eminem, 50 Cent, MGK, Drake and but what about Nepali rappers?
Here we will talk about 10 Rappers that influenced Nepali Music In one way or another!
1) Mc Flo
Mc Flo is arguably one of the best rappers out there in the current Meta. His lyrics are deep and his songs are the ones that will make you think deeply. His wordings paired with his flow and timing make his songs some of the best to listen to.
Add the fact unlike a lot of rappers, his songs are mostly about simple moments in life – which all of us can relate to in one way or another. Be it about his sadness in “maile hasna sike”, about a story of an unfortunate event like “sunita”, love in “tyo din” or just a casual day in songs like “lay it down”, he has the capacity to keep us hooked.
For those who are wondering, his real name is Anurag Sharma.
2) Uniq Poet
He is definitely one of the best Nepali rappers out there in the current Meta in the Nepali rap scene. Born in Bhaktapur he started rapping from when he was in school. While a lot of us probably remember him from his days at Raw Barz where he battled with Laure, he has come a long way from there – just getting better as time passes by.
His words are deep and the lyrics of his songs always manage to throw us into the ocean of thoughts. With songs such as “Mero Desh Birami” and “Balaatkar” that covers some of the darkest topics, to rants such as “straight outa Kathmandu” that we all can enjoy, no one can deny that he knows how to play with words and hit the beat.
His name is Utsaha Joshi – we haven’t forgotten this.
3) Laure
Although he hasn’t made any music for a while now, no one can deny that he has one of the best flows out there. If you are old enough, you should know that he got famous back in the days when battled Uniq poet back in the Raw Barz. He was a bit overpowering at that time and when he finally dropped his bars in English we could all see his rise.
With songs covering casual topics like “superraga” to songs like “hami ho laure” and “Yuddha” his songs are good and we can see his skills with words and flows through his songs.
If you are still wondering if he still has any beef with Uniq poet, then you can feel relaxed as there was never any beef. That was a one-time battle that had no long-term consequences – rather it seemed to have made them acknowledge each other skills. This can be seen when he collaborated with Uniq on his song “chup laag”.
His real name is Ashish Rana for those of you who are wondering.
4) Vten
Even if you are not interested in Rap songs of Nepal, you should know who he is. Somehow it seems like he is always involved in some form of controversies – mostly regarding his songs. From getting hit by a stone during his concert to being arrested just because of his lyrics, he somehow tends to always get the bad end of the stick.
That being said, we have to acknowledge his courage to say what needs to be said regardless of the consequences. While his songs cannot be considered to be lyrically deep, they are brutally honest and easy to understand- which connects us to his songs on a personnel level.
With songs such as “Thaha chhaina” that talks about the uncertainties of life to “hami yestai ta honi” that is just about enjoying being who you are, he has the chops to be considered as some of the few good rappers out there. While his style of rap is not your typical “lyrical rap” he sure has the bars.
His real name is Samir Ghising.
5) Yama Buddha
So first of all, let’s all pay respect to this legendary rapper who reviewed the dying rap music in Nepal. Even if you are not someone who enjoys Rap music or all that into music at all, you should know who he is. He was one that made us all believe in the power of rap music.
His songs reflect how we view the world and talk about the things that we mostly ignore. From Iconic Songs such as “saathi” which talks about the story of a recovering addict to “Yo prasanga” which shows the grim reality of girls from rural places, he deserves all the love and respect that one can ever get.
He is the inspiration for a lot of modern rappers including Uniq Poet and Laure. In fact, Uniq still pays respect to Yama Buddha in these songs to this day. Sadly, he is one of those gems that failed to protect. We lost this legendary rapper back in 2017
For those who are wondering his real name is Anil Adhikari.
6) Manas Ghale
So far, all of the rappers we have listed so far have been the ones who have popped into the scene rather recently. But Manas Ghale has been there since the start. Back in the days, he was a part of a Nepali Rap group called “Nepsydaz”.
This group had thought-provoking songs such as “KTM reality” and “Vram”.
Besides being in this group, his solo songs are rather good as well. With songs like “yatri” that shows the struggle of everyday young adults to “keraisiti” which is just a fun rant, Manas Ghale is among some of the best out there. Besides this, we also have his solo album called “sukeko jiu ma lukelo bal” which was a massive hit. The name of this song nod at his name when “nepsydaz” was still in the hype. While he was in the band – his nickname was Looray.
He is one of the OG’s still out there making music.
7) Mad Zone
While Mad Zone has disbanded long ago, we cannot deny the fact that they were one of the OG’s out there. With popular songs like “keit timi” and “timi nai ho meri man ki raani” they ruled the Nepali music charts for quite a while.
But did you know that they also had some grim songs like “mero Jivan” that talked about the grim reality of life and hopelessness?
Besides this, one of the rappers from Mad zone – Mana, has recently produced a hilarious song called “Goldstar” that is all about a Nepali shoe band?
8) Da NSK
Yes, we are in the realm of OG’s here. While some of you may be too young to remember him, who can forget this legendary rapper from the early 2000s? We all bopped our heads to “Hamro Gaule Jivan” and “Ma Nepali’. These were songs that everybody knew back in the day.
After leaving the rap game, he has been focusing his effort on providing education for the underprivileged kids in Nepal. Along with this, he is a founder member of the social organization for children as well.
So for those who are wondering what his real name is – it’s Nirnaya Shrestha.
9) 5:55
5:55, who is famous for his psychedelic rap and weird but thought-provoking songs. While the theme of his songs is all about smoking weed and tripping out, the core of his songs is everything but drugs. With his unique way of expressing deep thoughts on the pretext of singing about weeds, we have to admit his skills in bending the words.
Now he first came into the limelight with “budi” one of his few songs that talk about nothing but smoking with his girlfriend/wife and chilling out. Apart from this, almost all of his songs provoke our thoughts. While the songs like “Samadhi” and “Bhumari” give their context in the name, he also has songs like “life jacket” which sounds like nonsense but are actually deep.
For those who are wondering what his real name is – it’s Chirag khadka.
10) Girish
Grish is another one of the OG’s on this list. He has been there since the early 2000s. He was among those who started the rap revolution in Nepal with his song “ma yesto chhu” which featured DA 69 back in the early 2000s.
Later he collaborated with tons of artists including B-8eight, Pranil L Timalsina, Sugam Pokhrel, and Bullet flow. Some of his popular songs include “she is the bomb” featuring Kranti ale and Da69, Miss Kollywood Featuring B-8eight, and “Tolai Baschhu”.
So,
For the honorable mention, we include GX Soul. While GX soul is not a person, it is one of the most popular and one of the best rap bands out there in the current meta.
The only thing is, GX Soul focuses more on the Romantic aspect of life rather than the grim and aspect of life. This is a good change of pace though this is what GX Soul is known for. With super hit songs such as “Satayera” and “Raat Bhari” which are still some of the most popular songs during parties, they are undoubtedly some among those who stood at the top.
But of course, these are not all the rappers in the Nepali music industry. The ones we have mentioned here are just some who defined this genre. As you may have noticed some of these rappers are no longer active while some of them are still alive in the music industry.
Hope you found this interesting. If you have any suggestions for us, do let us know in the comments. And as always, thank you for reading till the end.
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