131experiencing the same things he was. Without
understanding the caste system, without
understanding the history of this land, we
will never understand the suicide letter of
Rohith Vemula.”
On the breakout song “Anti-Indian” from
his new album, Arivu raps:
Death is once
Dreams are forever
This is the grassroots
This is my destiny
Steadfast till I die
The pain keeps me writing
I will rewrite history
No more tragedies
No more patience for bigotry.
Yenna? Anti-Indian?Made on a budget of `500, the video is raw,
un ltered, bare – just Arivu standing in a
studio, facing the camera and spitting verse
against the system. It was enough to get Sony’s
attention, which offered to release the entire
album without a single change to the lyrics.
Slick, well-produced and inspired by the
“political is personal” lyrics of Kendrick
Lamar, Therukural was born out of long
discussions between Arivu and collaborator
ofRO aka Rohit Abraham, an independent
music producer, both coming from opposite
ends of the class and caste spectrum. ofRO
remembers when he rst heard Arivu
on stage. “I was 31, knew nothing about
Ambedkar and was learning about him
through rap music. It blew my mind. I thought
if I could package this better, it could easily be
the best Tamil hip-hop album in the world.”
One of the most evocative tracks on
Therukural is “Snowlin”, sung from the
perspective of the young girl who was shot
while marching against the Sterlite factory
in Thoothukudi in 2018. “It was written a
week after the incident, and is a song that
still gives me goosebumps,” ofRO says. The
other tracks are just as hard-hitting – “Kalla
Mouni” is about “selective silence”, a sly dig at
those in power who shout and scream to make
it to the news, but remain quiet on issues that
actually matter.
This iteration of the revolution, it appears,
will be streamed. As Dutt told me, Dalit Pride
has existed from the time Dr Ambedkar
spoke about Dalit suffering at the roundtable
conferences in London in the 1930s; but the
way caste is challenged is completely different
now. “Millennial [Dalits] understand how
important social media is and how we can use
that to boost our own narratives. We are bolder
because we understand we have a voice now.”
ofRO and
Arivu are
collaborators
on the album
Therukural