• Sanjay Ranade
• Yatindra Ingle

Over the past decade, rap and hip-hop, the Afro-American forms, have gained a lot of interest among youth especially within marginalised sections of society, tier two or three cities and even rural areas of India. Both these forms, everywhere in this world, have been a vehicle of protest, of self-exploration, interrogation of society and societal norms and in some case even social change. YouTube and other digital media are being explored as platforms to reach audiences by these performers apart from the more popular battles and live performances. One of the categories of rap and hip-hop involves storytelling. These range from the intensely personal narratives of poverty, discrimination, exploitation reflecting the angst of these young men and women performers to the broader narratives of changing times and circumstances like living conditions, employability, livelihood issues etc. Issues like urbanization, poverty, broken families, addiction, slum life are also part of these narratives. This study presents a lyrical analysis of some of the more prominent stories that are doing the rounds of the rap and hip-hop circles in the last five years. Our methodological approach is qualitative, and we have used the in-depth interview method to gain insights into the stories being told by rappers and hip-hoppers from across the length and breadth of the country. The study is exploratory and descriptive, and we present in this study the agenda of the performers their purpose for narration, and their overall approach to the craft and art.

"The story in Indian rap", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no.174-177, June 2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRCX06034.pdf

"The story in Indian rap", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 6, page no. pp174-177, June 2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRCX06034.pdf