Madras Day | From ‘Enjoy Enjaami’ to ‘Jorthaale’, tracing Tamil rap’s evolution in Chennai Premium

Chennai’s burgeoning local rap circuit, which thrives on deep roots here. Explore how independent, Tamil hip hop music interprets our home in verse

On alternate Sunday evenings, a movement takes over Anna Nagar Tower Park.

With big, bluetooth speakers in hand, rappers face their contemporaries in a friendly war of riffing. Beatboxers and B-boys join in, as intrigued crowds look on. Verses in Tamil that span dialects take over a pocket of the public park as a growing community marks its presence.

This fortnightly affair has a fond moniker: The Movement.

Against the backdrop of the mighty tower, they rap about everything under the sun — from societal pressures and politics of the body, to love and food — but the underlying sentiment holds true to the city. A rooted sense of being is hard to miss. 

The city’s interaction with hip hop started in the early 2000s, owing to the proliferation of Malay-Tamil rap by the likes of artistes Yogi B, Natchatra and Psychomantra, but has steadily grown since, despite the pandemic lull, as more independent artistes experiment with the form. 

The city, from North to South and East, has for long fostered homegrown independent talent. From Lock Nagar, to Kasimedu and Kodambakkam, pieces of the city play characters in their music.

For some artistes, the international exposure that a genre such as hip-hop brings to the table is what makes it so alluring. Director Ken Royson who lends a visual narrative to Tamil rap through widely popular music videos (take for instance, the album Therukural by OfRo and Arivu), credits the Tamil diaspora from countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka, and their consistent involvement in the genre as his entry point.