Def Jam Recordings India Announces A Multi-City Event To Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Birthday

Raga, Hanuman Kind, Bella, Rawal, Bobkat, Killa K, Irfana, Chaar Diwaari, Parimal Shais, DJ Ishani, and DHP are among the artists included.

Swati Bhat

To acknowledge and celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th birthday, Def Jam Recordings India is happy to announce a spectacular celebration with a series of rap performances on the 11th and 12th of August 2023 in three major cities: Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.

In honor of this significant milestone, Def Jam Recordings India is teaming up with top Indian rappers and record producers from Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru for an unforgettable experience. The label has sincerely strived to push the burgeoning Hip-Hop culture in India by supporting various hard-hitting bodies of work.

Def Jam India's signed emcees Raga, Bella, and Chaar Diwaari will perform in Delhi-NCR; HanumanKind, Rawal, Parimal Shais, Killa K, and DHP will perform in Bengaluru; and Def Jam India's Rapper Irfana, DJ Ishani, and Bobkat will perform in Mumbai.

The multi-city events, dubbed "Def Jam India Presents 50 Years of Hip-Hop," will take held on August 11th and 12th, 2023, in Delhi and Bengaluru at Imperfecto Patio, Gurugram, and Fandom, respectively, and in Mumbai at Khar Social.

Aside from the artists who will create the most vibrant gathering in Hip-Hop on this historic day, performing their biggest hits, some of them will showcase and perform unreleased bodies of work for the guests.

Furthermore, star-studded guest appearances are expected at events in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.

Sanujeet Bhujabal, EVP and Head of Content, Universal Music Group India, shared “At the Universal Music group both globally & here in India, Hip-hop is a huge priority for us as its one of the fastest growing genres in the youth & we’ve already done some incredible work in the past 4 years across multiple labels. Since our foray into mainstream indigenous hip-hop, we’ve published more than 150 songs from some of India’s hip-hop elite like Divine, Badshah, Ikka, Raja Kumari, Dino James, Wazir Patar, Raftar & Paradox to name a few. At Def Jam India, we carry on the storied history of the world’s most well-known hip-hop label and its legacy and so it’s our duty to celebrate the most awaited moment in hip-hop history. Celebrating 50 years of hip-hop with our artists and fans is the only natural thing for us to do & I can’t wait for our communities to help us throw the largest & and loudest celebration in recent times”

On August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc created the groundwork for hip-hop during a dance party in The Bronx, New York. Since then, the genre has grown to become one of the most influential forms of artistic expression in the world, altering performing arts and entertainment on an unparalleled scale.

By signing legendary Hip-Hop groups like Beastie Boys and LL Cool J in 1984, Def Jam Recordings played a vital role in anchoring rap music in the West and beyond. Def Jam was founded by famed Hip-Hop composer and record producer Rick Rubin and African-American entrepreneur Russell Simmons and has been vital in representing some of today's most influential Rap Artists. From Public Enemy to Kanye West, LL Cool J, Rihanna, and others, the label's eclectic lineup has left an unmistakable influence on worldwide Hip-Hop culture.

Universal Music India's intention in hip-hop was to strengthen its presence in the South Asian peninsula and encourage the genre's growth in India beginning in early 2019. Bringing down Mass Appeal and cooperating with musicians such as Divine, Ikka, Raja Kumari, Gully Gang, and others demonstrated their dedication to the Indian Hip-Hop genre.

Universal Music continues to uphold this history with the recent formation of Def Jam Recordings India in February 2023, promoting a broad archive of Hip-Hop music in India. The label has collaborated with various Hip-Hop artists such as Badshah, Ikka, and Dino James, along with Punjab's Wazir Patar, GD 47, Ellde Fazilka, and Trick Singh, Delhi-NCR's influential rap artists Paradox, Bella, Fotty Seven, Raga, and Aghor, Kolkata's J Trix, Mumbai's hard-hitting rapper Sambata, and southern India's Hanumankind and Irfana Hameed, and others, highlight their dedication to supporting the vibrant Hip-Hop culture across the entire country.

“It’s important to celebrate a culture that has given so many people around the world a space to express themselves and speak their truth. It has given me so much throughout the course of my life. The Hip-Hop scene in India is still young but a fast-evolving and diverse scene. Celebrations and events such as this one are important to me as they provide a great opportunity to invite more and more people to experience the culture and become a part of it themselves.” shares Raga.

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MINI has partnered with MIFF2023

MINI has teamed with MIFF to present a selection of films under our Documentaries stream that highlight the universality of the human condition, inspired by its 'Big Love' attitude towards life.

Swati Bhat

Image: MIFF Official

We all have the ability to improve our own and others' lives, irrespective of age, creed, culture, ability, gender, or sexuality.

Explore our whole Documentary strand by clicking the button below, or continue reading to learn more about this year's MINI Selects titles.

Explore here MINI Selects titles

Invisible Beauty

Bethann Hardison, an influential Black model, booking agent, and fashion industry changemaker, is captured in an intimate self-portrait. A parade of voices, from Fran Lebowitz to Whoopi Goldberg, builds an image of the magnetic force who became a forceful catalyst for change, alongside evidence from Hardison herself.

The Echo

The joys, heartaches, and rhythms of daily life in rural Mexico as seen through the eyes of children and young women are captured in this double Berlinale prize winner. With this hypnotic and poignant picture of an often-overlooked part of Mexico, Prayers for the Stolen director Tatiana Huezo returns to factual filmmaking.

The Tuba Thieves

Alison O'Daniel blends together a number of mediums in her trailblazing film that reframes filmmaking from a d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing perspective, informed by her own experience as a hard-of-hearing filmmaker. On Sunday, August 13, don't miss the Deaf-led session, which will include an introduction and post-film discussion in Auslan with spoken-English interpreters!

A Still Small Voice

This Sundance US Documentary Directing Award winner is a stunning depiction of a hospital chaplain and the COVID patients under her care. Luke Lorentzen's fascinating look at healthcare workers and the sacrifices they make in pursuit of their calling follows the kinetic overload of Midnight Family.

On the Adamant

This sympathetic film, which won the Berlinale's Golden Bear, encourages viewers to spend time with the occupants of a floating art-therapy clinic in Paris as they seek help for their mental health. Nicolas Philibert, the director, chronicles their daily lives with sympathy rather than sentimentality.

Casa Susanna

Deep in the Catskill Mountains of New York in the 1950s and 1960s, there was a secret haven for transgender women and cross-dressing men to live freely. This must-see film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at DOC NYC's US Competition, is the latest from Queer Palm-winning filmmaker Sébastien Lifshitz.

Fledglings

Three children spread their wings tentatively as they say goodbye to their parents and start a boarding school for pupils who are blind or have impaired vision. Lidia Duda, a Polish documentarian, takes over the storytelling reins to the first-graders, whom we follow as they take their first, tentative steps towards conquering the sighted world.

The Eternal Memory

The love story of former journalist Augusto Góngora, who has Alzheimer's illness, and actress and politician Paulina Urrutia is told in this Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Maite Alberdi depicts the Chilean couple's adjustment to their new reality with sensitivity and humour, brilliantly examining the complexity of personal and political memory.

#thecommunique #tcn #tc #event #event2023 #MIFF #MINI

Nita Ambani Brings Proud for India: MET, USA is About to Witness Indian History Like Never Before!

The exhibition 'Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India, 200 BCE-400 CE,' supported by the chairperson of the Reliance Foundation and the creator of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, will be on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET) beginning from July 21, 2023, till November 13, 2023.

Swati Bhat

MET official

A special preview of 'Tree & Serpent...' was just organised at The Met. It was attended by Nita Ambani and hosted by Max Hollein, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Marina Kellen French, a connoisseur, and supporter of art in the United States and abroad. The event also drew distinguished guests from the art world and beyond, including Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the Indian Ambassador to the United States, Eric Garcetti, the US Ambassador to India, and John Guy, the Florence and Herbert Irving Curator of South and Southeast Asian and curator of Tree & Serpent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Reliance Foundation and Nita Ambani-backed exhibition 'Tree & Serpent...' brings over 125 artifacts spanning from 200 BCE to 400 CE to The Met. Nita Ambani's communiqué on Art and Event, "I am from India, the land of the Buddha, and it is a great honor for me to support 'Tree & Serpent' through the Reliance Foundation's collaboration with The Met." With approximately 125 pieces from ancient India, this historic exhibition recounts the origins of early Buddhist art from the 2nd century BC to the 4th century AD. We are extremely proud of the 'Tree & Serpent,' which demonstrates the deep relationship between Buddhism and India. Buddha's teachings are intertwined with Indian ethos and continue to affect global ideas. I hope visitors from all over the world come to enjoy this one-of-a-kind event. We remain dedicated to presenting the best of India to the rest of the world, and the best of the rest of the world to India."

"Buddhism inspired an extraordinarily innovative and beautiful flowering of art in ancient India," remarked Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Met. It is a fantastic honor to present this spectacular show to our global audience, as well as to introduce fresh discoveries from this key period in art history. We would like to thank the Government of India and the six state governments in India, as well as institutions in Europe and the United States, for their generous lending to this groundbreaking exhibition."

"This exhibition presents the story of the origins of Buddhist art through the lens of newly discovered masterpieces from early India," said John Guy, Florence and Herbert Irving Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at The Met. It depicts the origins of Buddhist art in southern India and situates it within a larger landscape of early Buddhist devotional practice centered on the Buddha and his relics. Buddhist monasteries were places for meditation but also for loud feasts, the air thick with the aroma of new flowers and perfumes. The role of beautiful stories that found expression in the art embellishing the stupa, as well as the lived traditions of early Buddhism, are foregrounded here. This is an exhibition that, like Buddhist prayer, embraces the senses."

Look out for more Art on display:

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