Emiway Bantai

Self-made Mumbai rapper Emiway Bantai harnessed the power of the internet to launch his unapologetic—and sometimes cheeky—Hindi bangers that have made him one of India’s biggest hip-hop artists.

• Born Bilal Shaikh in 1995, Emiway Bantai began exploring rap as a serious creative outlet after releasing his English song “Glint Lock” in 2014.
• With “Aur Bantai”, “Mazak Hai Kya” and “Boht Hard”, Bantai steadily became a confident storyteller with songs of friendship, confidence and forging ahead.
• Bantai has garnered an enormous and loyal online following who rallied behind him when he beefed with rapper Raftaar, helping birth incendiary diss tracks like “Giraftaar”, “Samajh Mein Aaya Kya?” and “Khatam” in 2018.
• In January 2019, he cemented his reputation as a party-starter with “Machayenge”, which became one of the most-streamed Indian rap songs by an independent artist. The 2020 follow-up “Firse Machayenge” even spawned a remix featuring American rapper Macklemore.
• Originally experimenting with English and then Hindi, in a rare turn Bentai acknowledges his Tamil roots on the chorus of “Dhua Dhua”.
• He has also leveraged his international reach to feature on songs alongside Snoop Dogg (“New World”) and DAX (“I Been That”).