Nepalese hip hop music ("NEPHOP") is a blend of Nepalese traditional music, western popular music, with lyrics that are usually altruistic and depicting the present Nepalese political and economic situation.
History
Hiphop in Nepal started getting popular around the '90s when western rap artists were introduced through MTV, Channel V etc. Though some of the rappers existed during that period but were not that well recognized. It was around 1999–2003 when Nepalese rap was commercialized for the first time in Nepal by rappers such as Girish, Pranil, Nurbu Sherpa, Sammy Samrat n NSK. However the Nepalese hip hop market had not reached that large audience to compete with the western rappers who were winning over the Nepalese rappers in their own country.The first only legal Hiphop/R&B production company of the nation was BrownBoy Productions consisting legendary club Dj's,Mc's,Singers,Engineers and Beat makers. Later, BrownBoyProductions.com was officially released and hiphop production was brought to next step nationally and internationally.Nepalese Hip hop still had to work through the Nepalese streets to reach an audience and fans that preferred Nepali over English (as lyrics).
Early 2000
In 2000, Rappaz' Union (sammy samrat and Nirnaya) came up with first English rap album. In 2003, Nephop was taken to next level, when Nurbu Sherpa released his debut album "Nurbu Sherpa Representin' K.T.M.C (Kathmandu City) which was the first ever Nepalese hiphop album recorded in the US, for which he was nominated for Best Music Video award. In 2004 "TheUnity"[Aidray/Da69] came out with their first album"Girish n TheUNity presents X" with Girish ( Gorkhali G )
consisting of numbers like "Shes the Bomb"[1] which later with music video tore the local charts apart. Around 2003–2004, when commercial artists with remix theme emerged in the Nepalese hip hop scene with lyrics the urban younger Nepalese generation could relate to, then the whole Nep Hop scenario was revolutionized, with increasing fans everyday "Nephop" was sure to stay. Then remixes like "Chyangba hoi chyangba"[2] The Unity(remix- DJ Raju) "Chhundaina"[3] by Nepsydaz (remix - DJ AJ) were uprising and went more than expected on main commercial theme,While on other side soon enough Nepalese rappers published their music underground even though the audience were usually Nepalese living in the United States, UK and other parts of the world, an underground internet Nepalese hip hop scene was booming.
Rise of the Underground
In 2003, NYC based underground rapper Aroz spearheaded the Nepalese Underground hiphop movement through his hiphop website (now defunct) which he aptly named nephop.com.The term "Nephop" (coined by AJ) soon gained worldwide popularity and is being accepted to define Nepalese Hiphop in general.
In 2004, Aroz released his first underground single "Chudaina", produced by pioneer producer DJ AJ sampling 1974 AD in nephop.com. In 2005, Nepsydaz gained a commercial success as a rap group when they released their version of the same song. Aroz became "the most controversial"[4] rapper to experiment with "Dirty Rap" with his next single "Katti Khep Vannu"[5]. After a massive underground success of his single, he quickly released his next single, "Killin Terraces"[6]. The Germany based New Urban Music Blog [7] in its review hailed "Killing Terraces" as one of the "best" Nepalese political raps.
He gained some mainstream exposure after getting featured in Nepali Hiphop star Nurbu's single "Baby Gurl" off Nurbu Sherpa's second album "Save Nepal". "Baby Gurl"[8], a hiphop record by Nurbu Sherpa, was voted one of the top 10 songs of 2008, according to Fursad.com. Nurbu is set to feature him along with other underground rappers in the next single "When I'm around" "[9] from his upcoming 3rd album which is set to be released by 2010. In 2010, a Nephop battle took place on Youtube, and the winner of that battle Was Dox. The good response to the competition shows that Nephop is on the rise.
