Nephop Coming of Age
A tourist walked in, bewilderment on his face. He heard the music outside on the street and came in to satisfy his curiosity. He introduced himself as DJ Mordy from Israel and said, “This is amazing,” gesturing to the rappers, the audience and the sheer surprise at his discovery of the local hip-hop community that is small, tight and still redolent with an underground flavour. The support rappers show each other is evident when the Nepsydaz are invited to come onstage. The six members-Kiran Shrestha (Mistah K), Gyanon (Dizazta G), Manas Ghale (MC Basic), Yengzi Sherpa (Rappa-yng) and Saurav (Schizo), are not all there but are well represented by the rest of their posse. They launch into a familiar tune and the penny drops-“Hell Raizer” is their baby. Others were invited to join a ‘battle’: a hip-hop war of words locked to a recorded flow where the wittiest one wins. It is unscripted, spontaneous and breathtaking in its intensity to cow the other competitors down under a verbal barrage. Admittedly it was sprinkled with profanity but what earned the most audience appreciation were rhyme, rhythm and humour. Repartees fly at each other, and in an odd way it sounded like a close kin of the Nepali dohari folk tradition where male and female singers exchange risqu? dialogue through song.