10 Acts to See at Rolling Loud India’s 2025 Festival Debut

This article was originally published on Consequence

India has never been able to foster a music industry completely independent of Bollywood or its domestic counterparts. The country has indeed produced extraordinary talent over the years, but only a minuscule fraction of those creatives have been able to make a living solely from writing and performing songs. Whereas the digital era did boost visibility a great deal, it took shape in conjunction with the global devaluation of music brought on by streaming.

Although artists from various genres have attempted to forge paths for themselves in the absence of a supportive ecosystem, hip-hop is the closest India has ever come to a self-sufficient “scene.” Sure, rap made sporadic appearances in various pockets of Desi culture for decades, but it wasn’t until the early 2010s that it reached the public on a massive scale.

Western titans such as Eminem, 50 Cent and Lil Wayne had already cultivated a fanbase for that sound the decade prior, prompting homegrown MCs to start catering to that market pull. While personalities like Badshah and Raftaar were able to access millions through their active involvement in the film business, others like Divine, Prabh Deep, Naezy and Emiway Bantai built their followings largely by slinging bars.

While the majority of artists have stayed true to the culture’s enduring tradition of challenging the status quo, pushing back against injustice and calling attention to the misuse of power, a select few have betrayed these standards. For example, Hanumankind’s credibility took a hit when he embraced Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is directly responsible for the rise of Hindu nationalism in the country as well as the 2002 Gujarat pogrom that claimed over a thousand Muslim lives. Yet, the scale of his global success remains unmatched.

Across its many different shades, hip-hop has managed to exist by itself in India today. While commercially viable music is still pretty much an extension of the cinema empire, the country’s people are growing more and more accustomed to separating music from movies. With that, the prospects of a creative circuit that thrives on albums, music videos and concerts are rapidly increasing.

Following the launch of Lollapalooza in 2023, Rolling Loud will make its debut in the coastal city of Mumbai on November 22. The two-day event will feature a total of 33 local, international and hybrid acts, all gathered in one place for the love of hip-hop and adjacent R&B. Here are 10 performances we recommend you check out:

Divine

By no means the first Indian rapper, Divine is arguably the single most important MC to emerge from the country, elevating hip-hop to new heights and playing a key role in the culture’s brisk development in South Asia over the past decade. Building himself from the ground up through stories about impoverishment in Mumbai, his authenticity transformed the craft of bars and beats from a gimmick into a lifestyle.

As hip-hop began spreading from cities, towns, and slums past districts and states, Nas partnered with Universal Music Group and launched Mass Appeal India in 2019. Divine was unsurprisingly the first artist to sign with the label, and with that, hip-hop became a future worth investing in for the first time in India.

The gully rap icon will take the stage on the second night of Rolling Loud to perform songs from his upcoming studio album, Walking on Water.

Wiz Khalifa

India’s love for Wiz Khalifa is no secret — with enough solo dates, he could likely match Rolling Loud’s ticket sales in Mumbai alone. He has already performed three other times in the country to packed crowds, so it only made sense to invite him back.

Desis have smoked cannabis forever, but the stigma surrounding it began diminishing around the early 2010s. While it’s tough to attribute this culture shift to a particular moment or person, Wiz played a major role in not only increasing the visibility of marijuana but also extinguishing alarmist narratives. For that reason, charas enthusiasts have always championed his songs, music videos and lifestyle, especially those who grew up with the objectively ridiculous humor of Mac & Devin Go to High School — you best believe plenty of people from that era will be at his set.

Karan Aujla

Whereas Mumbai has undoubtedly served as a breeding ground for the Desi hip-hop scene in recent years, the Punjabi community’s affinity for the culture predates its rise to national prominence. This is imperative to note, because it’s not like the genre suddenly blew up out of nowhere.

While pioneers like Bohemia and Yo Yo Honey Singh laid the groundwork for the Punjabi subdivision of the craft, Karan Aujla is among those who turned it into a movement. Although he now lives overseas, his deep connection with the region as well as its customs is glaringly evident from his public persona. Hailing from a village in Ludhiana, he has now reached a level of international stardom that only a handful of his contemporaries can boast. With blockbusters like “Jhanjar” and “For A Reason,” the 28-year-old has become the poster child of pop-rap in India.

Aujla is scheduled to headline the second day of the festival.

Nav

Canada has a sizable Desi population, and Nav is the single biggest name in hip-hop born from that crossover. In fact, his work has surpassed racial and cultural barriers to the point where his Indian ancestry isn’t typically attached to his profile.

Almost immediately after he kick-started his career as a producer, he joined forces with Drake on “Back to Back” in 2015. He signed with The Weeknd’s label XO not long after, and has been an A-lister in the traposphere ever since. Over the past decade, he has worked with JAY-Z, Beyoncé, Don Toliver, Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, Playboi Carti, Travis Scott and Metro Boomin, among several other giants. He became one of the most sought-after beatmakers in the game quite early in his run, but has been rapping and cooking instrumentals for his solo releases since 2019.

Sambata

“I want to represent my people and inspire them,” Sambata said back in 2023. “Not everyone knows how to rap in English or even Hindi, for that matter. We’re all born with our unique vernaculars.”

Born and bred in Maharashtra, the bar-heavy MC’s choice to convey himself through the state’s official language of Marathi is a reminder of India’s linguistic diversity. A 2018 census concluded that almost 20,000 dialects were still in use across the nation at the time, but the use of Hindi and English at the federal level has obscured the depths of communication in India. This is precisely why Sambata is so important: his following illustrates the enormity of just one of the country’s many languages. Through this grassroots mission, he has demonstrated that “Indian culture” has no one meaning and is in fact multi-multi-dimensional.

There’s no better city to catch him live than Mumbai, where he’s set to perform on the event’s second night.

Denzel Curry

Denzel Curry is and has always been great for hip-hop. From beats to bars to aesthetics, he has consistently honored the fundamentals of the sport while coming up with new ways to keep it exciting. The only pick on this list with no prior ties to India, his track record in the studio and on stage makes him easy to endorse simply because he has always gone about his artistry with undeniable passion. The level of energy he brings to his concerts makes him a must-watch act at any festival or venue he performs at, and it’s only because he proactively puts effort into honing that reputation.

The Florida MC does not play once he’s grabbed the mic — consider this a warning.

Reble

The only reason Reble isn’t higher on the Rolling Loud lineup is that she’s incredibly particular about the material she publishes under her name, which is why there isn’t too much of her out there yet. What you will find, however, is of the highest standard, and it seems only a matter of time before she becomes one of India’s leading spitters.

Similar to Sambata’s purpose as a Marathi rapper, she speaks for a side of the nation that is not only underrepresented but also flagrantly sidelined. Reble grew up in the state of Meghalaya, which is a part of the larger Northeastern region that shares its borders with China, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. Due to its geographic location, the native population shares a lot of physical traits with people from its neighboring countries — this has contributed greatly to how poorly they’ve been treated by the rest, most evident from the hate crimes they endured due to their appearance during the coronavirus pandemic.

Reble’s ferocity and in-your-face approach to songwriting and lyricism are a threat to those desperately trying to flatten India’s rich cultural textures. Her existence alone is enough, but the fact that she is unbelievably skilled makes her one of the country’s top prospects in hip-hop today.

Gurinder Gill

A certified hitmaker, Gurinder Gill has a solid understanding of what works. Despite relocating from Punjab to Canada in 2019, he has firmly held on to his roots and constructed his artistic identity around the culture that raised him. With his foot firmly fixed on the pedal, he has churned out pop-rap tunes such as “WAKE UP” and “Charged Up” that have broadened the scope of Punjabi hip-hop.

Along with fellow Desi-Canadian artists AP Dhillon, Shinda Kahlon and Gminxr, he founded Run-Up Records to stretch his commercial reach and position himself for mainstream success. The team has since parted ways, as he is now focusing primarily on solo material.

AR Paisley

Another fine example of the South Asian diaspora in Canada, AR Paisley put in the work and let the community he nurtured do the rest for him. He began releasing music consistently in 2017, and his presence online began expanding exponentially soon after.

Although he initially took on the more conventional hip-hop sound of the Great White North, teaming up with other artists of Punjabi origin allowed him to export his brand to the other side of the world. Sure enough, his collaborations with AP Dhillon, Gurinder Gill, Sidhu Moose Wala and other Desi artists boosted his popularity immensely in India.

“Working with Punjabi artists significantly expanded my reach, particularly within the Punjabi music scene,” he said earlier this year. “It opened doors to a whole new audience and helped push my numbers to another level.”

Yung Fazo

While most artists on the Rolling Loud India lineup adhere to the established forms and structures of hip-hop, Yung Fazo belongs to a generation that is reimagining the genre from every angle. Still only 20 years old with millions of streams to his credit already, he brings a glitchy, sensory overload to his music that, through its popularity, proves rap is still evolving.

A product of TikTok virality, he is still developing his character and has been remarkably successful at it so far. With songs like “FALLIN” and “BANG BANG” on his side, the Guyanese-American New Yorker is projected to deliver a knockout performance at his Mumbai set.