Yelhomie's 'We Outside' Is A Tribally-Rooted Sonic Manifesto Born From Manipur’s Conflict

In Manipur, where silence is enforced and stories buried, Yelhomie's voice is too loud to ignore. Yelhomie, a rapper and movement-builder from Imphal, has released his new single 'We Outside', his first under Mass Appeal India. With it, he's dropped one of the most politically significant music videos of the year. Shot entirely in conflict-hit Manipur, it captures and pulls back the curtain on the reality of a fractured state. We Outside is a manifesto, a memorial, and a 'middle finger' — a lyrical confrontation with a system that has long denied the Northeast a central place in the Indian cultural narrative.

Yelhomie wrote We Outside amidst the ongoing Manipur conflict: a period marked by relentless ethnic violence, government-imposed curfews, internet shutdowns, and a media blackout. For months, Manipur was either missing from headlines or misrepresented in them. In this information vacuum, We Outside steps forward as a document of resistance.

The track opens with a chilling chant:

“Carry the shield, hold the spear.” It’s a tribal war cry sung by Augustine from Featherheads, a band based in Ukhrul, Manipur. It sets the tone immediately, giving the single an energy that feels ancestral, militant, and alive all at once. Produced by Seej from Mizoram, the beat fuses Indigenous tribal textures — log drums, chants, and rhythmic layering — with the gritty backbone of hip-hop. It’s a soundscape forged in struggle, but polished with purpose.

The most haunting moment comes at the end. The outro features a spiritual invocation in Ancient Meitei-lon, written in the Meitei Mayek script, delivered by the current President of the Puya Temple Board. Standing beneath a banyan tree, the elder chants: “Do we have to live like grass under their foot? Wake up, Yelhoumee, sons and daughters of the Salai Taret!” In that moment, the song bridges centuries. We Outside becomes a collective ancestral call, urging the Yelhoumee to awaken, to remember, to rise.

Indian hip-hop has often been dominated by cities like Mumbai and Delhi, where access to studios and platforms as well as greater media visibility have created a new class of ‘gully rap’ stars. But the Northeast — with its multitudes of languages, histories of resistance, and indigenous sonic traditions — has always had its own cadence.

We Outside places the Northeast at the center of India's rap scene. This is music from the margins that does not seek centre-stage validation. For Manipur, for the Northeast, and for everyone who’s been told to stay silent. Yelhomie is not just outside. He’s out here, and he’s not backing down.

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