{"id":591610,"date":"2026-08-21T13:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T13:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/591610\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T13:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T13:46:11","slug":"rapper-krna-reacts-to-his-song-boom-shaka-becoming-student-protest-anthem-just-the-right-place-and-time-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/591610\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapper KR$NA reacts to his song Boom Shaka becoming student protest anthem: ‘Just the right place and time’ | Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rapper KR$NA<\/a> has been active in Indian hip-hop for nearly two decades, delivering some seminal hits. But last month, one of his tracks crossed over from rap to the world of activism. Boom Shaka, the rapper\u2019s latest single, became the anthem for the student protests held across the country in June and July. On YouTube, it went viral, with comments referring to the protest. The rapper said he was caught unawares.<\/p>\n

\"KR$NAKR$NA talks about Boom Shaka and rebellion in rap.KR$NA on Boom Shaka becoming the protest anthem<\/p>\n

In a chat with Hindustan Times, he says he had \u2018no idea\u2019 the song would take this shape. \u201cYe gaana usse thoda pehle aaya tha (This song had just come out), but it just happened since it was already picking up on social media at that time. Meta pe already trending tha gaana,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Boom Shaka released on April 28, and had generated significant buzz within the first month of its release, but it really took off only after Reels set to the song were used in videos from student protests at Jantar Mantar and other places in India. As of August 21, Boom Shaka has 76 million views on YouTube, becoming one of KR$NA\u2019s most-widely viewed music videos.<\/p>\n

\u2018Michael Jackson ko kahan pata tha\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n

KR$NA\u2019s fellow rapper Raftaar<\/a>, who is judging the show Legacy with him, equates this boom of Boom Shaka to the resurgence of Michael Jackson\u2019s Beat It after his biopic. \u201cMichael Jackson ko kahan pata tha ki 2026 mein be dobara se number one ho jaayega dobara Beat It (Did Michael Jackson know that Beat It would be number one again in 2026).\u201d Nodding in agreement, KR$NA adds, \u201cBasically it\u2019s just (the right) time and place sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raftaar talks about rap being at the forefront of rebellion, saying the emotion is at the core of hip-hop. \u201cIt\u2019s not just against a human being. It’s not only political. It’s probably just about where he or she is in life at the moment and their circumstances. Without rebellion, you will never indulge in the art of rap,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

KR$NA says the journey of rap in India, evident by the use of songs in such acts of rebellion, is different from that in the West. \u201cRap didn’t come out of rebellion in India. In fact, the first big wave of hip-hop in India was very commercial. Yes, there was an underground movement that us rappers were aware of. But here, the journey of rap has been in reverse, from commercial to the underground.<\/p>\n

Currently, Raftaar and KR$NA are judging Legacy, a show aimed at finding the next generation of hip-hop artistes in the country. Legacy streams on Zee5 and on Kalamkaar\u2019s YouTube channel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rapper KR$NA has been active in Indian hip-hop for nearly two decades, delivering some seminal hits. But last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[267551,146,744,85,46,267550,24905,409,165949,267552],"class_list":["post-591610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-boom-shaka","tag-entertainment","tag-hip-hop","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-krna","tag-michael-jackson","tag-music","tag-raftaar","tag-student-protest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}