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On 11 January 1973, from the streets of Bronx, New York, an underground music genre emerged – one that changed the way we listen to music. Born from the New York street culture as a communicative medium for the Blacks to voice out their issues, hip-hop has redefined the scope of music and been an OG platform for those shoved to the margins of society. While the hip-hop craze has taken the world by storm since its inception, all countries experience their own version of it. Closer home, the gully scene and the desi hip-hop movements have been gaining momentum and validation like never before.
So, it only makes sense that now hip-hop aficionados will be able to enroll in a course that will give them that edge and knowledge to understand hip-hop in-depth. Shri Vile Parle Kelvani Mandal’s Usha Pravin Gandhi College of Arts, Science and Commerce in association with the University of Mumbai will now be offering a first of its kind hip-hop course that will diversify understanding of hip-hop and allow those interested to learn its history and origins, and explore its various elements.
Dr Yatin Ingle, one of the pioneers of the hip-hop course and a well-known rapper from the Mumbai circle for almost 10 years now, believes that “the course will also be factoring in as a tool of communication as the art form originally developed as a communicative medium in New York where African-Americans and other oppressed groups in the country were trying to be vocal about their issues,” reported News 18. As someone who has had research papers published in international journals about the Indian hip-hop circles, there isn’t anyone better than him to be at the spearhead of the course.
Apart from Ingle, other experts on the faculty include Dr Sanjay Ranade, Associate Professor at the Department of Media and Journalism at the University of Mumbai (whose research interest also lies at the intersection of music, culture and media); Ankur Johar aka ‘Enkore’, a veteran hip-hop artist well-known in the circuit for his critically acclaimed albums; Akash Dhangar aka ‘B-Boy Akku’, an active hip-hop artist as well as co-founder of India’s first hip-hop collective, Slumgods; Ambarin Kadri aka ‘Am-B’ who is a professional dancer as well a pioneer of the hip-hop community (regarded as the 1st B-girl and female popper of India); Gaurav Gambhir aka ‘D-Cypher’, well-known beatboxer; Zake, one of India’s best graffiti artists; Manmeet Kaur, India’s pioneer female rapper and beatmaker; Kishan Singh, an entrepreneur who founded a platform for all things hip-hop in India called India’s Finest Hip-Hop and Sameer Inamdar aka ‘Rapture’, a seasoned hip-hop artist known for battle rap.
At the moment, the certificate course will be offering a basic introduction to the themes of the art form and its various aspects. It will also be exploring the art forms across borders and their influence on other areas of art as well as how women use hip-hop as a medium. Experts will also be helping students with practical aspects of hip-hop and written exams will also be conducted to help students succeed. In the coming years, the scope of the course may broaden and expand to a master’s degree and diploma courses.
You can enroll for the course here.
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