Sound Of Freedom

Azadi Records, one of India’s burgeoning home grown labels, has been able to provide a platform for music with a cause – and they are here to stay.

- Rajeev Mathew

Around a year back, I came across ‘Prabh Deep x Sez On The Beat – Kal’ on YouTube. The music video, evidently made on a shoestring budget, started on an empty street with the rapper Prabh Deep riding his BMX bike while rapping about goons trying to rob him and how he and his parents live in a drug-ridden neighbourhood. The video and its message stayed with me and I went on to explore more of his music. That was my first introduction to Prabh Deep and the label he was signed with — Azadi Records. Azadi Records came into existence in 2017 and was founded by music entrepreneur Mo Joshi and journalist Uday Kapur. The Delhi-based independent label seeks to “provide a platform for South Asian artists to release forward-thinking, politically conscious music that critically engages with and comments on the pressing issue of our time.” The label originated during the era of Indian underground hip-hop, but its objective was to rise way above that. It aims to be a mainstream platform that helps highlight and sonically magnify pertinent stories that the people of the nation should listen to.I put forth a simple question to Prabh Deep, one of Azadi’s star artists, “What’s the best part about Azadi according to you?” A prompt and confident response followed.“We don’t give a fuck. That’s it. We just don’t give a fuck. That’s how we’ve been and that’s how we’re moving ahead.”In the rapper’s earlier songs, he rapped about the drug problem that is rampant in Northern India and what it was like growing up in a refugee community in West Delhi affected by the 1984 riots. He believes in putting out import