The poetry of an unequal society
Dalit rapper Sumeet Samos tries to critique society and its fallacious ideology of dividing human beings on the basis of caste, writes Aparna Banerjea
Twenty four-year-old Sumeet Samos could have joined the government. He could have used tools of affirmative action offered by Indian society to enter the system and change it from within. Instead, he has chosen a path that is full of struggles. Samos is a rebel poet. He uses the musical/poetry form of rap to create awareness about casteism and develop a powerful anti-caste narrative. A postgraduate student from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) — a hub of student activism — Samos recently completed his masters in Spanish Language and Latin American Literature. He is associated with Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association (BAPSA), which helped him to refine and sharpen the Ambedkarite anti-caste discourse.
Hailing from a small village Tentulipadar in the Koraput district of southern Odisha, the young rapper belongs to the community of Doms, a scheduled caste in India. After his selection in JNU, Samos started participating in student activism and also extensively read Dalit literature. “My lived experience, my reading and my activism are what I bring together to articulate caste through rap,” he said.
So how and why did Samos choose such an unconventional medium of questioning the regressive caste system of India? “While participating in student activism roles in JNU, I felt that writing articles and giving speeches becomes boring after a certain point of time. Apart from that, to cater to a larger audience, especially the young turks of the nation who have the capability to bring change in the society, I chose a more popular medium and started my journey of protest rap” he said adding “My rap-style and its lyrics are very critical of the society. They question the distinction between human beings on the basis of caste and subsequently, the idea of placing them in a particular profession solely based on his or her caste.”
Unlike other rappers, Samos reaches out to a much larger crowd of India with unique multilingual rapping style with his compositions in Odia, Hindi and English. He paints a picture of the grotesque realities of a caste-ridden society, unnerving the audience, and holding a mirror to their complicity.
He also adheres to the stronger idea of ‘writing back’ to the dominant cultures. “My compositions emphasise on how the marginalised castes, are protesting against such casteism. I have been seeing boys from Maharashtra’s Dharavi or Nala Sopara areas rapping over various issues. But those are more personal testimonies to their local problems. My compositions focus on the very core of the system that most of the other protestors term as corrupt. I want to get to the bottom of this system and question the genesis of it. And to do that, I have to not just resist casteism, but also give voice to the marginalised, queer communities and highlight their achievements and intellectual prowess,” Samos said.
Highly influenced by Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” and his critique of the treatment of blacks in US, Samos composed a strong counternarrative of the condition of Odisha. He exposed the false glorification of a history of a caste-ridden state. Titled “The Tale of Odisha”, his composition highlights how the dominant cultures and class look at the marginalised — with contempt. Through this rap, he exposes the violent contradictions of the idea of a unified ‘society’ of Odisha and the quotidian religious beliefs. In one stanza of his composition, he talks about the supremacy of the Jagannath Temple’s priestly class who control the political discourse of the state and deprives the lower castes of any opportunities.
Samos’ first official rap single “Ladai Seekh Le” or ‘get used to resistance’ was released last week. It is about caste-based discrimination from birth, culminating recent Dalit suicides in the country like the Rohit Vemula’s case and ends with the Bathani Tola and Laxmanpur Bathe massacres that led to the killing of several Dalits. “There are certain castes that are either glorified or criminalised. The caste tag that you belong to is pressed upon you since birth. You are made to associate yourself with a particular caste that will condition your whole being.”
Samos says those punished twice on account of caste are women. He says a lot of Dalit women supported him throughout his journey. A poet of anger, resistance and revolution, Samos is committed to bringing about a major change in the country, especially in the political scenario. “If anyone in this country can make it more democratic, it is the marginalised human and I always recognise with that,” he says.