BEHIND THE BEAT: HIP-HOP'S HIDDEN ARCHITECTS

MEET THE BEATSMITHS BUILDING INDIA'S HIP-HOP SCENE FROM SCRATCH.

- By SHAMANI JOSHI AND ANURAG TAGAT

You may not always catch them in the spotlight, but India's hip-hop scene was built, beat by beat, by the producers putting in the hours behind the scenes. From South Indian drums and Kashmiri folk samples to Punjabi percussion, ambient field recordings, and church choirs in Paris, these invisible architects have been busy layering regional textures, electronic experimentation, and personal memories into tracks that have carried Indian hip-hop from the gully to the globe. We asked some of the country's most definitive producers the same set of questions, creating a prism through which their perspectives, inspirations, and techniques come through.

KALMI

Kalmi’s fingerprints are etched into some of Indian hip-hop’s biggest explosions, powering rapper Hanumankind’s rise and pushing the scene into the global spotlight.

A track you want people to remember you by?

“Run It Up” because of how much the cultural aspect of my hometown comes into play. I’ve grown up listening to a lot of South Indian drums and music, but this is the perfect mix of where I come from, which is more of a subconscious inspiration, and the electronic music I naturally gravitate to, which was the reason I started making music in the first place. When those two came together was when I felt like I was doing justice to the sound palette.

First-ever DAW that was your playground?

FL Studio, which I used on my mom’s Sony Vaio laptop. This was like ninth grade, and I was still trying to understand how music was made. I actually learnt the tabla for a bit, but it caused too much back pain (laughs). My parents wanted me to get into music because they thought I would focus more on studies, which never really worked out in their favour.

The most unexpected sample, sound, or instrument you’ve ever flipped into a track?

In the song “Sicko” on the