From streets to stadia with Travis Scott & Past – Firstpost
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The vitality that after lived in avenue corners is now being amplified on the nation’s greatest dwell phases. There’s a seismic cultural shift in India’s music panorama – one which’s echoing throughout youth tradition, trend, streaming platforms and world touring circuits. On the coronary heart of this transformation? Hip-hop. With world rap famous person Travis Scott set to debut in India with two sold-out reveals in Delhi this October, the nation’s hip-hop narrative is hitting an plain inflection level. There may be one other present that has been added in Mumbai too within the month of November as a result of overwhelming demand.
What started in cyphers and avenue corners is now spilling into stadiums. From Divine, Raftaar, Kr$na, Hanumankind, Talwiinder, The Karan Kanchan Expertise, Prabh Deep and AP Dhillon taking up the stage at Lollapalooza India, to artists like Yung Raja lighting up Nykaaland, with King opening on the Feeding India live performance in 2022 produced by BookMyShow Reside, Badshah acting at YouTube FanFest 2023, India has quietly constructed a vibrant, uncooked and related hip-hop ecosystem, and now, the world is taking word.
On October 18th and nineteenth, 2025,
Travis Scott will carry out two back-to-back sold-out reveals at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium marking not simply his India debut, however a cultural milestone for hip-hop followers throughout the nation.
What was as soon as ‘underground’ is now a motion that’s shaping popular culture at giant. Music has all the time been a countercultural drive and hip-hop has led that cost. In India, it’s greater than a sound, it’s a motion the place marginalised communities converse for themselves and thru their phrases, for a whole technology.
From India to the world; a brand new period for hip-hop
With world giants like Travis Scott now coming into the Indian touring circuit, the narrative is shifting. India is not a fringe market – it’s quick changing into a strategic cease for worldwide hip-hop excursions, identical to Europe or Southeast Asia. What’s extra, Indian artists are more and more collaborating throughout borders, bringing their distinctive regional sounds and lyrical identities to the worldwide stage.
How Hip-hop is not area of interest, what the info says
It’s now amongst the Prime 4 streamed genres in India on Spotify, with 70% of its followers being youth one of many highest age skews for any style globally. India additionally ranks eighth globally in hip-hop listenership.
BookMyShow has already offered extra hip-hop tickets in 2025 (Jan–Might) than it did in all of 2024. Artists like Hanumankind and Diljit Dosanjh who carried out at BookMyShow Reside reveals, went on to carry out at world festivals like Coachella.
Audiences from metros and non-metros alike are tuning in high hip-hop ticket patrons in 2024 included these from cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Shillong, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Raipur, Thrissur and Nashik. It’s a really geography-agnostic style, chatting with id, authenticity and riot – themes that resonate with Indian youth in the present day.
Causes for the recognition of hip-hop
Hip-hop reveals as ‘therapeutic’, ‘emotionally liberating’ and ‘a type of collective launch’. They’re drawn to the lyrical honesty, style fluidity and the emotional vary hip-hop presents: from rage to loneliness to pleasure. The best way artists rhyme and assemble their lyrics resonates with me deeply. They’ve a singular capacity to evoke a variety of feelings—from rage to loneliness—via their phrases and music.”
About Rap cyphers
Naman Pugalia, Chief Enterprise Officer – Reside Occasions, BookMyShow explains that Cyphers are the heartbeat of hip-hop. They’re much less about fame and extra about ability, respect and the uncooked pleasure of wordplay. In a cypher, there’s no autotune, no elaborate manufacturing, simply bars, beats and authenticity. It’s the place expertise is examined and sharpened. Even in the present day, cyphers stay the truest type of expression in hip-hop tradition, the place rising voices earn their stripes and veterans remind everybody why they nonetheless matter. It’s hip-hop in its most democratic type the place anybody can step in, however just a few can maintain the ground, and that’s the fantastic thing about it.
From underground roots to change into mainstream
It’s not a lot a shift as it’s a gradual takeover. Naman says, “This evolution has been a gradual rise. Audiences began craving honesty in music and hip-hop delivered uncooked, unfiltered and unapologetically.”
He additional explains, “Add to that the web penetration and audio streaming the world over and you’ve got a technology that grew up on Kendrick, Nas, Divine and Prabh Deep the place immediately, the underground grew to become the blueprint. Over time, as social consciousness shifted and the world grew to become extra open to various narratives, hip-hop discovered its place not simply on playlists, however in promoting, cinema and world discourse. Artists stopped ready for validation from conventional gatekeepers and as a substitute constructed their very own communities on-line.”