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Nepalese hip hop, or NEPHOP, is the Nepali form of hip hop introduced in Nepal by Girish Khatiwada (NepHop). Its elements include MCing, DJing, B-boying, and graffiti writing. Rap culture was introduced in Nepal through the electronic DJs mixing the classical Nepalese songs with the Western urban style. Later, it took the form of artists releasing songs with the commercial beats.
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Popularity growth (early 2000s)
In the 90s, Girish-Pranil started the rap culture. In 2000 Rappaz Union (Sammy Samrat and Nirnaya Da' NSK) created the first Nepalese rap album in English. In 2002, GP (Girish Khatiwada and Pranil L Timalsena) released the album Back Again. The song "Ma Yesto Chhu Ma Usto Chhu" featuring DA69 was the first rap song to attract broad Nepalese audiences to rap music. Another song on the album is "Timi Jaha Pani Jaanchhau".
In 2003, Nurbu Sherpa released his debut album Nurbu Sherpa Representin' K.T.M.C. ("K.T.M.C." meaning Kathmandu Metropolitan City). This was the first Nepalese hip hop album recorded in the United States, for which he was nominated for the Best Music Video Award. In 2004, The Unity {Aidray and DA69(Sudin Pokhrel)} brought out their first album Girish & The Unity presents X with Girish Khatiwada (Gorkhali G.) It included "She's the Bomb", the music video for which became a major success in the local charts. Other songs on this album were "Malai Vote Deu", a satire to politics, "Da Drug Song", and "Anything" feat. Abhaya Subba and the Steam Injuns.
Rise of the underground (2004-2008)
In 2003, underground rapper Aroz, based in New York City, spearheaded the Nepalese underground hip hop movement through his now-defunct website nephop.com. The term "Nephop" was coined by producer DJ AJ, and soon gained worldwide popularity and is accepted as a portmanteau of "Nepalese hip hop".
In 2004, Aroz released his first underground single, "Chudaina", produced by DJ AJ on nephop.com. In 2005, Nepsydaz, a rap group, had commercial success with their version of the same song. Aroz then became "the most controversial" rapper, experimenting with dirty rap in his single "Matt Khep Vannu." This single had great success in the underground, after which he quickly released his next, "Killin' Terraces", which the New Urban Music Blog considered one of the best Nepalese political raps.
Aroz received some mainstream exposure after being featured on Nurbu Sherpa's single "Baby Gurl", from Nurbu's second album, Save Nepal. According to fursad.com, "Baby Gurl" was voted one of the top ten songs of 2008. Nurbu also featured Aroz and other underground rappers in his next single, "When I'm Around", from his third album.