Meet Reble: India’s rising rap star

Reble, the rising Gen Z rapper redefining Indian music with powerful lyrics and genre-blending tracks, including "New Riot."

Meghalaya-born Daiaphi Lamare, better known as rapper Reble, released the single ‘New Riot’ last October. Produced by Kerala beatsmith Parimal Shais and featuring a nu-metal edge delivered by guitarist Krishn M. Sujith, the slick, goth and industrial-aesthetic music video (featuring MMA fighters, dancers, black goop dripping from Reble’s eyes) recently hit a million views on YouTube. Looking back, Reble says over the phone from Guwahati, where she is now based, “Obviously, it was an easy pick, to choose music, because I didn’t want to do a 9-to-5 job.”

The 24-year-old, who finished her civil engineering course in Bengaluru last year (and rapped for the promo song of Malayalam hit Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra in August), released her music via Homegrown Records, which has a partnership with the globally renowned Atlantic Records, home to the likes of Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and Cardi B. In December, she had three songs on the blockbuster soundtrack to Dhurandhar, composed by Shashwat Sachdev.

Originally intending to have her just on ‘Move’ (which adapts Mohammed Rafi’s peppy ‘Yeh Ishq Ishq’ from 1960), which went into the movie trailer, Sachdev found Reble’s fast-paced, no-holds-barred English rap suited more songs, leading to ‘Run Down The City – Monica’, adapted from R.D. Burman’s zingy 1971 number ‘Piya Tu Ab Toh Aaja’, and later the original composition ‘Naal Nachna’.

All three songs — much like the full soundtrack of the Bollywood actioner — took off, with people surprised at how well a Gen Z rapper could fit alongside a classic voice like Sonu Nigam on ‘Move’. “It’s an introduction for people to this rap thing, because otherwise, Bollywood songs have this typical soundscape,” she says, adding that the soundtrack also had fellow rappers Hanumankind and Tsumyoki, perhaps exposing Bollywood music fans to English rap from India for the first time.

Having followed Reble’s rap from her very first releases — with Shillong artists such as D-Mon from seasoned hip-hop act Khasi Bloodz — it’s safe to say that the artist from Nangbah in the West Jaintia Hills had her mind set on music from the very start. Shillong and other cities in Meghalaya have often gravitated towards English music, like most of the Northeast. There is a familiarity with everything from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Linkin Park and Weezer, and Reble credits her taste in music to friends and family alike.

“I take all that rage, anger, stress… everything, and just project it into something more positive. There’s a lot of ways to vent, one way is to just make music”Reble