“Supposedly what I’m supposed to be and what was meant for me
Was told, through the odyssey of my ancestry
But now I choose to separate destiny and heredity and
Bomb everybody’s perception of our identity”
— Karmacy, “Outcasted”

While researching Karmacy, I stumbled upon an issue I was completely unaware of – Indians involved in hip-hop and the notion of “rotten coconuts”. There is a surging population of first-generation Indian Americans whose parents emigrated from India. More and more, the well educated, predominately middle class Indian youth are embracing hip-hop – a black cultural movement – to express themselves and connect with other races.

So where does “rotten coconuts” come in to play? I found a very interesting yet informative blog posting discussing the fruit metaphors used to describe people who are trying to be white – such as “banana” or “coconut”. “Rotten coconuts” is a nickname KB of Karmacy was given during his time as a student at UC Berkeley. It essentially means brown on the outside, black on the inside – an Indian American who lives and breathes the black culture of hip-hop.

Hip-hop groups such as Karmacy are trying to break preconceptions that Indians have to be “Indian” by bringing a new, unique perspective to hip-hop (see above lyrics). And they do. Karmacy’s approach is nothing but innovative. Their Indian heritage is the dominating influence, lending sounds from Bhangra and Hindi Pop. They combine traditional hip-hop beats with South Asian instruments and sounds, and use session musicians instead of samples. But the intermixing of different languages is by far the most exciting aspect of Karmacy’s sound.

Karmacy is a breakthrough fusion hip-hop group comprised of KB, Nimo, Sway and Sammy Chand. They all began as individual artists in the independent hip-hop scene and came together to form Rukus Avenue– an independent record label that gives South Asians a place to showcase their talent. All four members are incredibly talented, well educated and entrepreneurs. Sammy Chand is a respected producer and composer who has written scores for many popular Indian American movies. Nimo writes comics for the popular website Badmash.tv. Karmacy’s music has been featured on many film soundtracks and its video for “Blood Brothers” was the first video to be aired during the launch of MTV Desi. Now lets get to the music…

“Blood Brothers” tells the story of two brothers – one who can’t wait to leave India for the US and one who stays in India to care for their parents. The verses are conversational, switching seamlessly between English and Gujarathi. The song speaks of the struggles, opportunities and consequences immigrants face in coming to America. And it has subtitles.

Next up is “Horizons”, a song that flawlessly blends FIVE languages – English, Spanish, Hindi, Gujarati and Punjabi. I’ll let Nimo explain the song in his own words:

And now, “Horizons”:

I’m going to finish this up with the title track (free mp3!) from Rukus Avenue’s first release – Passage To India – the album that got it all started.

mp3: “Passage to India”

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ANOTHER BONUS: For all you animal lovers, Karmacy partnered with PETA to create an animated music video – promoting the ethical treatment of animals. Check it out here.