Street Academics

Street Academics is an Indian alternative hip-hop group from Kerala, known for their songs blending Malayalam, English and Tamil lyrics. The collective of rappers based out of various districts from their home state are noted for emphasizing on contemporary and philosophical themes ranging from social realism to dystopian fantasy. They collaborate with projects like Mappila Lahala and Palakkadan Dystopia, to release songs that focus on having cultural discussions set in avant-garde backdrops. Their multilingual lyricism usually brings up questions of expression & identity, affirming the place of vernacular rap in India, being one of the first acts to do so. Street Academics is considered to be one of the oldest independent hip-hop outfits in India. They are noted for pioneering Malayalam rap with serious content & multisyllabic rhyme patterns, against the comical parody image that rap/hip-hop music has had in their region. Even though the production relies on minimal boom bap oriented sampling as the backbone, the collective effort exhibits influences of lo-fi, glitch, folk, ambient, R&B, jazz poetry, grime & funk. Most of the themes are set in an alternate reality or a post-apocalyptic world, often presented from the narrative mode of various alter egos. It is noted that majority of those plots are inter-connected & follow a particular nonlinear storyline throughout the body of their work.