An Open Letter to Honey Singh

An Open Letter to Honey Singh is a 3.5-minute rap video featuring Rene Sharanya Verma, a student of St. Stephen's College, Delhi, performing at Café Zingo Star in Greater Kailash-II organised by Delhi Poetry Slam, an initiative that aims to "restore the art of spoken word into the everyday culture of the Capital".[1][2] She performed before a 30-person audience.[2] The subject of the slam was "Portrait of a Lady". The rap number was composed in one hour at the cafe.[3] The video has been uploaded to YouTube using the handle "Delhi Poetry Slam".[4] The addressee referred to in the title is Indian artist Yo Yo Honey Singh. Besides challenging Singh, the video criticizes extant value systems in the media, advertising and the arts that demean women and treat women as commodities, instead of persons.[2]

Context

Honey Singh is an Indian rapper whose work has been perceived as being vulgar, misogynist, promoting violence against women and a bad influence on youth.[5][6] There have been reactions in prose to Singh, such as from Annie Zaidi, who wrote her own "An Open Letter to Honey Singh" in January 2013,[7] and Sandipan Sharma, who wrote "Thanks for the crassness: An open letter to Honey Singh from a parent" in July 2014.[8]

Review

In part, the work is a response to the perceived misogyny in Singh's work. Verma said in an interview that on initially hearing Singh's "Blue Eyes" it "hooked" her, but that when she "paid attention to the lyrics" she realized they were "very problematic".[9] Femina said that Verma uses phrases in Singh's works to express her disgust, and appreciates that the message Verma wishes to convey that every woman is intrinsically good the way she is.[10] The target is not only Singh but also eve teasers, who were the template for works such as Singh's.[11] Although there have been other protests against Singh's work, including petitions and an open letter written by Annie Zaidi in The Sunday Guardian, Verma's rap number uses the same artistic format as Singh and incorporates some of his own lyrics.[12] Verma's work has been considered as an example of Indian women confronting adversities.[13] Verma's work has been cited as an example of a spoken word performance being used as a revolutionary tool,[14] and as parodying Singh while attacking the sexism in Singh's rap.[15] Subsequently the video of another work of hers received over 180,000 hits on YouTube and was the subject of media attention,[16][17][18] in which she was described as someone who had confronted Singh,[19] and "slamming"[20] and "knocking the wind out of" him.[21] She was featured on The Arts Hour for the BBC World Service presented by Nikki Bedi, with her rap number "Reclaim the night".[22][23]

Social media

The video was uploaded to YouTube on 28 January 2015.[4] It went viral on social media and had received about a million hits on YouTube by 2 February 2015.[9] As of August 10, 2015, the video had received over 1.6 million hits.[14][24]

References
  1. Bhattacharya, Budhaditya (13 December 2013). "Words of Wonder". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 18 December 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2013. Organised by Delhi Poetry Slam, an initiative that aims to “restore the art of spoken word into the everyday culture of the Capital”, the event brings together poets and performers from various backgrounds.
  2. Lakhani, Somya (4 February 2015). "Don't Mess with Her". The Indian Express. Retrieved 4 February 2015. Verma never anticipated that a rap she performed in front of 30 people in Delhi would go viral, and that her inbox would be full of people congratulating her.
  3. Rawat, Gargi (3 February 2015). "My Rap Rebuttal to Yo Yo Honey Singh: A College Student's Story". NDTV. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  4. Open Letter to Honey Singh (YouTube video). Delhi Poetry Slam. 28 January 2015.
  5. Phartiyal, Sankalp (31 December 2012). "Yo Yo Honey Singh: A vulgar obsession or our own creation?". Reuters Blogs. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  6. Chintamani, Gautam (1 January 2013). "The biggest problem with Yo Yo Honey Singh: Bollywood's embrace of him". Firstpost. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  7. Zaidi, Annie (5 January 2013). "An open letter to Honey Singh". The Sunday Guardian. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  8. Sharma, Sandipan (23 July 2014). "Thanks for the crassness: An open letter to Honey Singh from a parent". The Hindustan Times. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  9. Yadav, Shalu (2 February 2015). "Yo Yo Honey Singh: The Indian student who took on 'misogynist' rapper". British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  10. "An open letter to Honey Singh". Femina. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  11. "Watch: This woman raps out an open letter to Honey Singh". IBNLive. Cable News Network. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  12. "'Are you a f***king transformer?' Delhi student's anti-Honey Singh rap is epic win". First Post. 30 January 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  13. "Rap Against Rape: How India's Young Women Are Using YouTube Video To Stand Up For Themselves". International Business Times. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  14. Bhasin, Simar (10 August 2015). "I'm not 'ambaran di queen' or 'kudi namkin': The spoken word". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  15. "Rap on the knuckles - Mumbai Mirror -". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  16. "Student Who Rapped About Honey Singh Says This About Periods". NDTV.com. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  17. "Because it's natural. Period". Indian Weekender. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  18. "En Inde, un slam contre la honte autour des règles". Rue89. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  19. "My period is not my shame: Girl who challenged Yo Yo Honey Singh says in new video!". India.com. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  20. "After slamming Yo Yo Honey Singh, Rene Sharanya Verma now has a poetic message about periods for Indian girls". Folomojo. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  21. "The Girl Who Knocked The Wind Out Of Honey Singh Is Back. This Time Rapping About Her Periods!". India Times. indiatimes.com. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  22. Bedi, Nikki (18 September 2015). "Delhi rapper, Rene Sharanya Verma performs 'Reclaim the Night', The Arts Hour - BBC World Service". The Arts Hour. BBC. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  23. "BBC The Arts Hour | India Blog". blog.britishcouncil.org.in. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  24. "An Open Letter to Honey Singh". YouTube. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
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