Thane to have two-day hip hop festival

All the fans dance, especially the movie Step Up will now get to see hip hop in its best element at Thane this month. While choreographer Remo Fernandes gave India its first dance movie ABCD, three boys from Thane are all set to give India its first hip-hop festial. Touted to be India's first, this pan-India festival will be for two days, December 20 and 21. "In this fest, we are going to show all the elements of hip hop culture, which includes dance, music and urban art," said Virat Pawar, president, Thane Hip Hop Movement (THMM). The THMM was founded in November 2013 by three friends - Pawar, Sarvesh Gurav and Akshay Patil. Now it has seven members.

Hip hop originated on streets of New York in 1970s and was practised by Afro-American and Latino-American youth. At the two day fest, the audience will get to see an amalgamation of all the elements of rapping, beat boxing and graffiti. Beat boxing is an art of vocal percussion, where the artist produces sounds of drum beats, rhythm and music from his mouth.

Till now, more than 100 artists have registered for all the elements of hip hop, around 60 for solo battles and there will be crew battles also. The event will be held at Khule Rang Manch, near Vartaknagar, Thane (W).