CAN'T LABEL THIS

RANVEER SINGH’S HIP-HOP LABEL, INCINK, WANTS TO CHANGE THE MUSIC WE HEAR AND THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

- Shreevatsa Nevatia

PUSHING

BOUNDARIES

Ranveer Singh and Navzar Eraane (centre) with the IncInk team

Released in February 2019, Gully Boy was a revelation. Inspired by the lives of rappers DIVINE and Naezy, the Ranveer Singh starrer brought into focus young men and women who were spitting rhymes in the lanes of Dharavi and Andheri, using hip-hop to make sense of both insufficiency and ambition. Singh says, “Gully Boy brought this burgeoning underground culture into the mainstream in a massive way. The hip-hop scene in India gained unprecedented momentum after the success of the film.” Though the actor doesn’t once deny the impetus his film gave Indian hip-hop, he does separate it from IncInk, a hip-hop label which released its first music video, ‘Zeher’, six weeks after Gully Boy.