New Trend in Hip Hop Radio? Hindi Music?

Anil Dash mentions an email he received from his cousin in California about the increase in Hindi music in Hip Hip radio station rotation. He wonders if it is a new thing but, according to comments in his post, it has been sweeping the nation over the past few months.

This comment sums it up:

"103.5 KTU has featured artist: Punjabi MC's song, "Beware of the Boys" as the #1 song for the past week. It is not sampling the instrumental, it's the straight Punjabi Bhangra with the Knight Rider techno beat cleverly mixed in.

This isn't unusual, the affluent young Indian population has integrated itself into the gangsta-rap and Hip Hop culture more so than any other race. So seeing commercialized rappers like Jay Z ride the Indian beats to tap the desi market was only expected.

I think NY's KTU is the first radio station to play a pure Indian song, without any English voiceovers to add a (if translated) nonsensical meaning to the song.

KTU recently just finished pumping Angelo Venuto's "Tiamo", sung entirely in Italian (and remixed by the Sicilian Assassins).

If you're on Kazaa, I recommend Tiamo and Punjabi MC to anyone with an open mind.

Posted by: Rajan on May 5, 2003 04:02 AM"
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