Indian rappers use music to sound climate alarm
Indian rappers are using music to raise awareness about the climate crisis, specifically focusing on water scarcity and its impact on marginalized communities. The 'Climate Emergency Mixtape' serves as a multilingual platform to tell stories of environmental change in India.
Why it matters
The use of popular culture and music to communicate climate issues highlights the growing role of grassroots activism in addressing environmental challenges.
Indian rapper Kali needed little inspiration to write about dwindling water supplies -- he drew on childhood memories of hauling plastic pots full of the precious resource.
Kali's "Neer Kodu" -- "Give Water" in the Kannada language -- is one of six tracks on the "Climate Emergency Mixtape", billed by its organisers as India's first multilingual rap album about the climate crisis.
The 29-year-old, whose real name is Akshay, grew up in Bengaluru and has been making music for more than a decade, citing Eminem and Akon as influences.
As a child, Kali walked for around 10 minutes to fill pots with water from a public tap.
"We would always think... we should not waste this," he told AFP during the album launch this month.
Water shortages are a chronic problem in Bengaluru, India's tech hub, where many residents rely on groundwater wells that often run dry in summer.
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