"The World Has Turned Its Eyes To India": Raja Kumari On Indian Hip-Hop's Global Rise

Grammy-nominated rapper, singer-songwriter and trailblazing artist Raja Kumari has carved a unique space in global music by seamlessly blending Indian heritage with contemporary hip-hop. Known for her powerful lyricism, genre-defying sound and unapologetic artistic identity, kumari has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the international music industry while championing South Asian representation on the world stage.

From chart-topping releases and film soundtracks to electrifying live performances, Kumari continues to push creative boundaries, emerging as one of the most influential voices redefining the global music landscape.

In this exclusive interview with Loudest.in, Raja Kumari speaks about embracing her "ziddi" spirit, the global rise of Indian hip-hop, artistic authenticity, the impact of AI and streaming, and her upcoming album, The Dekade of Kumari.

Here are edited excerpts:

Has being Ziddi been your biggest strength or your biggest challenge in the music industry?

That's a great question.I think being Ziddi is definitely a strength in a lot of ways, especially as a woman. Because a lot of people always have an idea of how you should do something or how you should behave. But I find that people that are the most authentic are the ones that cut through.

So really knowing who you are and being steadfast in that has always benefited me in my career. But I think it also takes a learning curve. It's good to at least self-introspect and make sure you make the proper changes in your life so that you can be even more prepared for the next challenges that come ahead.

You've always balanced Indian roots with global hip-hop. Where do you think Indian hip-hop stands globally today compared to when you first started?

I feel like we're living in an era that we all really work towards. When I first got signed to a major label in 2015, I remember speaking about India and projecting that it would be the largest streaming region and that there were so many people, 60% of the population under 30.

So I used to preach about this saying that most of the YouTube views were coming from India and it was an important region. So to see the world now turn their eyes to India and have shows over here and us building the infrastructure to be able to bring in this kind of global exchange, I think that will only increase the possibilities for hip-hop. Hip-hop was underground at some point when I first entered India and I got to watch it rise to the mainstream, imbibe itself into Bollywood and now be an understood expression of art in India, which has been really, really rewarding to watch.

I think that the more that we tell authentic stories from our own lens, the more the world will be able to understand us from our own perspective, which I think is the most important thing during this time period.

You've collaborated with artists across genres. What convinced you that the Bantais are the right fit for this project?

Oh, I didn't need any convincing.

The Saath Bantais are OGs. I entered India in 2016 as an NRI and I think the hip-hop community really opened their arms wide to me and I think at that time I had first met Yoku and Yoku and I are both Telugu, so he'd always call me Akka. And living so far from my family, I think there was always this closeness and sincerity in our friendship.

I've watched the Saath Bantais grow and it was so amazing to turn on Netflix and see Tuyame and see my boys in the movie because people do use our voices in songs, but when we appear in the film, it's really a different level. And we've always wanted to collaborate. I always wanted to do a song with the Saath Bantais, but we had to wait for the right time, the right record, and when they played Ziddi Ladki for me, I was like, this is exactly what we need to do.

And Yoku has been working on my album as well as a songwriter because he speaks Telugu, Hindi, English, all these different languages, so it was really exciting to work with him as a co-writer in both Telugu and Hindi on my project. But I wish the best luck to the Saath Bantais. I think they worked really hard on putting together a project that represents them and I'm excited for the world to hear more of their music.

Do you think today's independent artists have more creative freedom or are streaming trends creating a different kind of pressure?

It's like both things exist. We have creative freedom because we are basically creating our own platforms. Long gone are the days where only 10 albums come out in a year and that's what the public has as music for the year, whatever number that was.I think there's some staggering number of like 60,000 new AI songs being uploaded every day.

So we are needing more and more to be creative and to keep control of that. Streaming trends, I mean, they are useful, but in some ways, as an artist, you'll ask me, I'm not even sure who's fueling the algorithms at this point.

There's so much AI bots online and streamings. I think different numbers being inflated, but I think the most important metric is connection to the audience. How do they feel? Will they come see you live? Do they remember the experience? Does the music connect with them? So in this age where we're going to be bombarded with an oversaturation of songs that are unfortunately trained off of human artists that have created this music, that has trained the algorithms, I think being in control of your messaging, your brand, and your music is the most important thing.

That's why I encourage songwriting as like a major tenant of anybody trying to pursue music, because you need to understand what kind of songs work and how you can create music around your identity and your expression.

You've built a career on authenticity rather than following trends. How do you decide what's worth experimenting with and what's true to Rajkumari?

Exactly, Great question. I think when I was doing a lot of songwriting before I released my first album, I would notice that there were certain things that I was doing that people would really relate to, but they would never replace.

I'd end up being a sample, or they would leave it on the record. So that really opened my eyes to the tonality of my voice and how that is a really, really big part of the IP. So as I've evolved as an artist and experimented in every type of genre, there's still more, definitely more genres for me to experiment in.

But I think I always keep it true to the language of my music. I learned Indian classical dance, so there's a percussive kind of nature to my understanding of music, which translated into hip hop quite naturally. And I think as a songwriter, I got the opportunity to write all kinds of music, from country to Swedish pop.

I've even worked in different languages. I've worked in South Korea, and I've sang in Japanese. So I just feel like experimenting is part of it.

If you're not evolving, then you're not growing, and that is a really big part of it. But I just try to stay true to myself, that the music should feel expansive, it should have that tone to it. And usually I like to experiment with different rhythms in different settings.

So that's really been my formula for fusion experimentation.

What's the next ambition for Raja Kumari that you still feel is unfinished, despite everything you've achieved so far?

How sweet. The next ambition for Raja Kumari is to release my next album, The Decade of Kumari.

It's a concept album. It's been produced and based off of songs that go even all the way back to 2008. I really reviewed my entire catalog and decided which songs would stand the test of time because I've loved them for so many years and they never made their way to the light.

So this album is quite important to me, and I've really worked with all different genres, all different languages, and I see an artistic vision for this music. It's not just the music, it's everything. And I think in the last few years, I can't believe it's already been six years since the pandemic, but I feel like there's been a disruption to some flows of art, and I'm excited to reconnect to my artistic flow and to release this album, all the creatives that come with it, and take it to the stage.

I have a new stage show that I'm preparing, and I can't wait to do the thing that only us humans can do, which is connect with the people, and hope that the world resonates with what I've created.