“Ladko ke beech mein main hoon ek stree mera naam hai Gayatri.” That’s how 16-year-old Gayatri Naddar, Dharavi’s only female hip hop artist introduces herself. The feisty teenager adopted her alter ego- ‘’Iccy Fire’ because being on stage makes her look cool and she performs with a fire in her belly. Gayatri’s music questions the gendered stereotypes, the challenges that she faces growing up in a conservative society which has a different set of rules for boys and girls.
Hip-hop was an alien term for Gayatri until she first heard a few guys at an annual function beatbox and she wondered what the sound was called. Her curiosity led her to join free classes held by the Dharavi Art Project, an organisation that teaches rap, music and graffiti to children of Dharavi.
“Ladka log(rap) kar rahe the jabhi mereko bhi laga ki main bhi kar sakti hoon. So maine jaake un logo se poocha ki yeh kaise kartain hain? Woh log bol rahain the- Tu ladki hai, tu yeh nahi kar paayegi. Lekin main unko boli -Main yeh kar paaongi! Maine ek saal main beatboxing aur rap seekh gayi,” shares Gayatri, in a video in Quint.
However, Gayatri’s journey hasn’t been all that easy. She faced resistance from her parents who did not consider rap as a “good” form of music and often associated with drugs and substance abuse. She would bunk school and tuition to be able to attend the practice sessions. However, with the constant motivation from Dharavi Art Project, her parents realised that rap was all about self-expression than substance abuse.
“When I started, I was the only girl in a group full of guys, which led to a feeling of guilt. I am a South Indian girl toh aise allowed nahi hai, aise bahar jaana (we aren’t allowed to engage in activities like this and go outside). Bahar log sochte hai ki hip-hop sirf drugs aur nashe ke bare mein hai, toh beti log ka naam kharab hoga (People have misconceptions that hip-hop is all about drugs and alcohol and that letting their daughter do it will spoil her perception in society),” she shares in an interview with Vice.
Today, Gayatri has had several stage performances and the once shy and reticent girl has found her expression through rap.
While the movie Gully Boy has popularised the underground movement in India, the rawness of rap is not new to Dharavi, often said to be the birthplace of Hip Hop where many found expression through it. However, it is still a genre picked up by more by boys and men than girls.
What’s the reason for this one would wonder and Dolly Rateshwar one of the founding members of the Dharavi Art Project had seemed to have a fair explanation for this in the article in Vice. “Dharavi was considered to be an aggressive place, and domestic violence and drug influence is present even today. So, parents are more protective about their daughters compared to their sons,” She further adds, “If you see the layout of ghettos like this, houses are very close to each other so there’s no privacy and whatever is being spoken about in one house is easily audible to the neighbour next door. So girls are informed to keep themselves low. That pressure remains on them.”
While Gayatri has been the first female rapper from Dharavi amidst all the baintai’s (brothers), other gully girls too can get inspired. Well because Apna Time Aayega!
