Hiphop Tamizha

Hiphop Tamizha
Their logo uses the graffiti of Tamil poet Subramanian Bharathiyar[1]
Background information
Origin	Tamil Nadu, India
Genres	Hip hop
Years active	2005 – present
Labels	Independent
Associated acts	Anirudh Ravichander, Hard Kaur, Yo Yo Honey Singh, SOL, Indian Idol Juniors '13
Website	www.tamizhanda.org
Members	Adhi Jeeva

Hiphop Tamizha is a music duo consisting of musicians Adhi (born 20 February 1990) and Jeeva (born 29 January 1991) based in Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. Initially underground, the duo achieved worldwide recognition through the track Club le Mabbu le the first single from their debut album which received over 2 million hits within few days of its release on YouTube. The duo is credited to be the pioneers of Tamil Hip-hop in India. The duo are from Chennai, and formed Hiphop Tamizha in 2005 after meeting on Orkut, a social networking website. Later in 2005 the duo released Vishwaroobam Arambam which was the first Tamil hip-hop mixtape from India. In 2012, they released the critically acclaimed debut album Hiphop Tamizhan which was even more successful, driven by the hit singles "Club le Mabbu le", "Iraiva", and "Tamil Theriyum".

History

In an interview with The Hindu, lead vocalist Adhi spoke of the group's formation:^[1]

Initially in 2005 most of hip hop artists used the Internet as the forum to promote their music. On the advice of YOGI-B and looking at the gradual growth of music in Tamil Nadu, I took the initiative to have an online forum called HIP HOP Tamizha with active participation from many artists. Later in 2010, it became a registered organisation uniting all the hip hop artists including beatboxers, MCs , DJs and every single artist interested in this kind of music together under one wing. It's a movement started to promote hip hop culture in the State. We are also working on making it a record label exclusively promoting music artists.

Their single Ezhuvoam Vaa was chosen as the official anthem for Tamil Nadu's 2011 state elections;^[2] the song was however unsuccessful.^[3]

Adhi & Jeeva performing at The Music Academy, Chennai in 2013

Debut album

The band's debut album HipHop Tamizhan was released on 17 August 2012 at Sathyam Cinemas in Chennai. Publicized as "India’s first Tamil hip hop album", the album was launched by Purple note and produced by Remy Martin, who was for the first time associated with an Indian album. The music for all the songs was composed by Adhi and Jeeva while the songs were penned by Adhi.^[2] Club le Mabbule was composed by Adhi when he was in his first year of college. One year prior to the album's release, when he "started taking it seriously and doing this as a project", he approached several radio stations who helped him on the song, and it received over four and a half lakh views on YouTube.^[4] The studio version was released on August 26, 2012.^[5] The official music video for Iraivaa was launched on 13 April 2013 in YouTube.^[6][7]

Venkatrangan R of Musicperk rated the album 8.5 out 10, calling it "A must listen. Not only for the music but for the messages hidden in it." and concluded, "This album is definitely a landmark in the Tamil hip hop scene if not the international rapping scene."^[2]

Hip Hop Tamizhan
Front CD Cover
Studio album to Hip Hop Tamizhan by Hiphop Tamizha
Released	17 August 2012 (2012-08-17)
Genre	Underground hip hop
Length	37:06
Language	Tamil
Label	Think Music
Producer	Remy Martin

Track listing

Controversies

The number Club le Mubbu le created a stir because of its portrayal of Tamil women in bad light, such as "clubbing, pubbing, drinking, smoking, doing weed, having live-in relationships and so on and so forth".^[8] Sofia Ashraf, lyricist and rapper of the Chennai-based Peter Kaapi band claimed that "the song was not only disrespectful to women but also an insult to rap music which began as a medium of subversion". Adhi however defended the song and said, "Hip hop is about self expression and opinions so such controversies are only natural. The song was intended as a fun number and most people like it because the lyrics are witty. We also sings [sic] about social causes like education and individual identity".^[9]The song clubbule Mabbule's beat was sampled from snoop dogg's ups and downs,while some claim it was a copy.There was no information on this from the hip hop tamizha team.

Other works

Despite initially expressing no interest in singing/composing for films,^[10] Adhi has contributed to a few works outside Hiphop Tamizha: He sang the title track of the film Ethir Neechal composed by Anirudh Ravichander accompanied by Punjabi rapper Honey Singh.^[11][12] In May 2013, Anirudh collaborated with him to perform the song Chennai City Gangsta along with Hard Kaur from Vanakkam Chennai.^[13][14] In July 2013, the duo composed Na Na Na (Nice v/s Naughty), a song used for promoting The Smurfs 2 in India. The song also features 9 contestants from the singing reality show Indian Idol Junior.^[15][16] Adhi has also announced that he would be acting as the lead in a film based on Hiphop Tamizha, which is due for release in 2014.^[17] In November 2013, Adhi had signed an international album with Remy Martin, titled International Tamizhan, which will feature 8 tracks, including two songs by American artists Sol and MC Call. The album, which was incorrectly named Hip Hop Tamizhan by The Hindu, will be released in English, Hindi and Tamil, and is scheduled for release on 15 August 2014.^[3][18]

Further reading

• "KEEPING IT REAL, HIPHOP TAMIZHA STYLE". Zomba.in. May 4, 2012. 
• "ADHI RUFFLES FEATHERS WITH NEW VIDEO". Zomba.in. August 28, 2012. 
• PRINCE FREDERICK (February 9, 2011). "Fascinating fusion". The Hindu. Retrieved 15 April 2013. 

References

External links

• Official website
• Hiphop Tamizha on Facebook
• Hiphop Tamizha on Twitter
• Hiphop Tamizha's channel on YouTube