In 100RBH’s home, a music career was not on the table. Growing up in a traditional Indian household, the aspiring rapper was instructed by his father to find a “respectable” job that would earn him a daily wage. But the 24-year-old, born Saurabh Abhyankar, had other ideas.
For most musicians, dreams of global success seem far-fetched. But in 100RBH’s rural hometown of Amravati, in the western state of Maharashtra, few people were even aware of what hip-hop was. “People didn’t know s*** about this industry,” he tells me in his local Bambaiya accent (Mumbai’s Hindi), over the phone. He had to hustle just to persuade locals to come to his shows. Yet in time, “ever since the money started flowing in, other [parents] have been telling my mum that they want their sons to find a career in the music industry too”.
