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Self-reliant, self-styled, self-accepting. Out and proud, or hidden where you just missed them, meet the new breed of innovators and creatives defining the boundaries of street culture in India. Or, the lack thereof. Across every space from regional rap to fashion, these mavericks are breaking new ground, pushing their mediums beyond their means, messing with minds just by messing with the system of how things are. Because who gets to define how things are supposed to be, anyway?
That’s exactly the question PUMA’s global #RunTheStreets campaign sought to answer, and every influencer chosen has had their say in shaping it. Fostering the new era of hustlers, ’TSUGI’, the Japanese word for ‘NEXT’, represents the new PUMA Sportstyle era. The line brings forward a new wave of aesthetics to progressive streetwear (a fusion of modernity, technology, and traditions) and with their new chapter in India, PUMA #RunTheStreets is redefining the standards of brand involvement. Rather than piggy-backing off talents that already exist, they intend to not only celebrate 5 Indian hustlers but also build a collaborative space where people in creative fields can hone and exchange skills.
Leading the charge are five India based tastemakers who embody the very spirit of the ‘hustle’ - Mohammed Abood a.k.a DJ Mocity is a DJ, a programmer and promoter who currently runs India’s first contemporary online community radio channel called boxout.fm; Priyanka Kochhar is a model and the only female motorcycle blogger in the country; Prabh Deep is a Delhi-based rapper who has brought India’s underground hip-hop community to the forefront; Abdul Shaikh is an international bboying champion who has overcome several physical hurdles to stake his claim in the space, and Joan Dominic Rai is a fashion influencer, stylist and model from Darjeeling who has been pushing the boundaries with gender-bending fashion. Read on to know what the future looks like.
I. Abdul Shaikh, B-Boy, Mumbai
It was the December of 2014 when Abdul suddenly felt a sharp pain in his leg. The muscles around knee quite literally ripped just as he was mid-way through the tie-breaking battle for the Celestial Cyphers B-Boy Championship in Hyderabad. He powered through but it left him bedridden for months. “Getting surgery is the easiest time of your life”, he half-jokes. “The hardest part comes after.”
Rebuilding himself from zero (not just dancing, but himself too) he never let the deterrent hold him back. Instead, Shaikh worked twice as hard to get back in shape after his injury. “It was like dancing with a new leg, because everything was lost after the surgery,” he admits. His challenges and self-reliance paved his path to greatness. Shaikh believes that sentiment captures his spirit the best. “The first phase of my life was to prove where I stand to others”, he says. “The second phase, after the surgery, was about proving it to myself.”
II. Joan Dominic Rai, Fashion Influencer, Darjeeling
When it comes to signature aesthetics, Joan is in a league all of his own. He’s not here to start trends or cults for the fashion elite. It’s one thing to don an obscure vintage jacket one day and four-finger-wide platformed sneakers the next, it’s another thing altogether to pad yourself with the invisible thick skin it requires to walk down an Indian street looking that different. “You need a heart of stone to look this different and walk the streets,” he quips.
Needless to say, there’s a pay-off. Joan effortlessly stands out in the pack of cookie-cutter fashion influencers and his vision doesn’t play games. It challenges conventions and embraces the kind of confidence that only comes from total self-acceptance.
“I have faced all sorts of obstacles and contradictions with regards to the way that I look,” Joan explains his philosophy simply. “There are no boundaries in fashion and that’s exactly what it means to me.” Fashion, then, was less about aesthetics and more about the personal freedom it promised for him. Still largely under the radar, both out of choice and circumstance, Joan is representative of all that we hope comes next for India’s fashion industry.
III. Mohammed Abood, DJ, Programmer and Promoter, New Delhi
Mohammed Abood aka DJ MoCity is no stranger to being caught between a rock and a hard place, but he’s learned how to turn either into musical gold. The DJ, promoter, label-owner, music entrepreneur, radio host, and essentially jack of all musical trades makes sure that whatever endeavor he sets his mind to stretches culture to its limits. And it’s earned him both local and international respect whether pioneering musical crews like Reggae Rajahs (India) and the 264 Cru (Dubai), or producing his award-winning podcast Motellacast.
Having spent the bulk of his career traveling between India, Dubai, and other international cities to discover musical talents, connect them to other artists, and introduce them to new sounds, his multicultural background has allowed him to connect to audiences on a global level. Yet it’s allowed him a way to retain a niche space for his own musical identity. He had no plans to return to India but was forced to when his Visa was denied in Dubai.
“I realized it was all meant to happen this way,” he reflects on the experience. “I was meant to come back with a vision, which was boxout.fm.” It was fortitude in a helpless situation that brought Abood to this place of acceptance. “Believing in music is the only thing I know how to do” he admits. “I realized my mission when I decided to come back here–to change the way people consume music in this country.” He represents the shift towards a borderless world where music transcends nations. Abood has cultivated a virtual space of cross-cultural musical exchange which can teach our physical world a thing or two about what a global creative platform should and could look like.
IV. Prab Deep, MC, New Delhi
Poverty, disillusionment, community. Few creatives, let alone people, have as deep a well of human experience to draw from and fewer still find ways to express it as poetically as Prabh Deep does through his rap. His music is a reflection of his experiences growing up in Tilak Nagar, a suburb which he describes as ‘reeling from high unemployment rates and the recent influx of drugs in the community.’ Widely acknowledged as one of the best underground Emcees in the country, his Punjabi and Hindi rhymes (sometimes speckled with English melodies or lines) play second fiddle only to the pioneering work he’s done to lend authenticity to Indian hip-hop. Many refer to him as one of the flag-bearers of true hip-hop ‘hustle’ in India, but Prabh isn’t one for forced definitions.
“I don’t subscribe to the concept of ‘’the hustle’ in the context that it’s become known for.” he explains. “Hustle is what people do to survive, taking every shortcut possible. I work hard on my music—with a sincere and honest attitude and I haven’t taken any shortcuts to reach where I am today.”
When he’s not cultivating his own musical identity, he works hard to uplift others that do the same. Commercial success is only the goal if he gets to do it on his own terms, building the community is more vital. Unlikely to assume credit even where it’s due, Prabh is writing anthems that will define the future of underground Indian hip-hop. He’ll teach us all the chorus too.
V. Priyanka Kochhar, Model and Biker, Pune
“I don’t run the streets, I ride the streets”, laughs Kochhar, also known by her Instagram handle @BikeWithGirl. A fair enough edit considering her two-wheeled journey to the stars over the last couple of years. Always a late-bloomer, convention only existed to be bent in the other direction and it took running away from home (Pune) to really embrace who she was. “No sob stories here, it’s just what I had to do to be me,” she states simply. Since then, she’s paved her own path(s) with style. She passed on a corporate career and joined India’s modelling circuit in her late twenties, an anomaly to say the least, experiencing significant success in spite of her timing. Her alternate passion as a biker and motorcycle enthusiast embodies the second side of her personality. “The hustle to me is making shit happen at any cost”, says Priyanka. “If I want something, I go after it and make bloody sure that I get it.”
“I started a biking Instagram handle called ‘BikeWithGirl’ so people wouldn’t think that I’m trying to use the fact that I’m a model to get attention” Priyanka admits, and it’s this DIY spirit filled with both talent and integrity that earned her her spot in this movement. Neither a stereotypical model, nor racer, it’s not like she’s easily slotted anyway. Having found success in two distinctly opposite fields, Kochar is entirely representative of the next generation of creatives. The ones making spaces for themselves where there were none and doing it all on their own terms.
All photographs by Arsh Sayeed
Styling by Aasia Abbas
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