Indonesia Hip Hop

Indonesian hip hop is hip hop music performed in Indonesia. Hip hop music began to be produced in Indonesia in the early 1990s, with the first Indonesia artist to release a full-length hip hop album being the emcee Iwa K, who has released five albums to date. Other Indonesian hip hop groups include Boyz Got No Brain and Neo. Many Indonesian hip hop groups rhyme in the Indonesian language, but there are also groups that rhyme in English. Variously, songs often combine formal Indonesian with street slang, youth code, regionally colored pronunciations, and even expressions from regional languages (typically Javanese, Sundanese, or Betawi).[1]

One key feature of Indonesian hip hop that is different compared with American hip hop is that the language used in Indonesian hip hop is more polite and does not use vulgar language, and does not often make references to sex and violence.[2] Moreover, American hip hop originated from a group dissatisfied with racial discrimination. Indonesian hip hop arises from a group that is dissatisfied with authoritarian rule. (After the New Order [Orde Baru])

Themes in Indonesian hip hop music mostly pertain to youth culture, such as boredom (Blake "Bosan"), basketball (Iwa K, "Nombok Dong!"), etc. but range to social protest also. Such as themes about the fate of ordinary and poor people, and critiques of middle-class and elite life, as in songs like Sound Da Clan’s ‘‘Anak Gedongan’’ (Rich kid), Black Skin’s "CewekMatre" (Material chick) and "Nyontek Lagi" (Cheating again), or Neo’s "Borju" (Bourgeois). Other themes have also appeared, such as environmental degradation (Iwa-K, ‘‘Bumi Hari Ini’’ [The Earth today]) and condemnations of governmental corruption (Neo,‘‘KKN’’ [Corruption, collusion, nepotism])

Indonesian hip hop music is a youth subculture. It has been seen as a form of protest against the New Order government's state-imposed understanding of the Indonesian cultural identity. It has largely been condemned by key political figures such as former president B.J. Habibie. In January 1995, Habibie raised objections against organising an Indonesian rap festival.