Indian hip hop is a genre of popular music developed in India. Desi hip hop is a term for music and culture which combines the influences of hip hop and the Indian subcontinent; the term desi referring to the South Asian diaspora. The term has also come to be used as an alternative for rap music and even pop music which involves rappers of South Asian origins. Overview Apache Indian, UK artist of Indian origin, was the earliest to make an impact on the UK charts with a series of hits during the nineties. Baba Sehgal introduced Hindi rap in the nineties with his albums. In 1992, his album Thanda Thanda Pani sold 100,000 copies in three and a half months and brought rap music to the Indian club scene. In the 2000s the Hip hop scene remained limited largely to the underground, with a very niche loyal audience. Hip-hop culture, including graffiti and b-boying started seeping into the club scene and street culture of big cities like Delhi and Mumbai. Ashok Kumar’s recitation of Harindranath Chattopadhyay’s poem Rail Gaadi is considered to be one of the first rap songs in Bollywood. It was featured in the film Aashirwad (1968). In the 1990s rap started getting popular following the success of Baba Sehgal’s album Thanda Thanda Paani. One of the early moments of Indian hip hop was the Bengali-language underground film Gandu which narrated a story of a rapper and had a soundtrack which mixed rap with alternative rock. Besides Bollywood and commercial rap music, the underground hip-hop scene started shaping. Many emerging rappers, crews started to create a buzz in the underground hip-hop scene. Groups such as Roll Rida, Noel Sean, Machas With Attitude, Hiphop Tamizha and Street Academics pioneered respective vernacular rap music scenes. There was increased interest in the rap genre in India after 2011, with many rappers emerging from across the country. This is largely credited to the success of Yo Yo Honey Singh in India and Bollywood, India's Hindi film industry. Following huge success of his album International Villager, Singh went on to release several hits songs both in independently and in Bollywood. In the wake of success of Honey Singh, a new trend was formed in Bollywood with many producers roping in rap artists for their songs. Bollywood actors like Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar and have also tried their hands at rapping. Indian hip