Watch ‘Mumbai City’ by Baba Sehgal

You have to give Baba Sehgal credit for trying. “Mumbai City” is the second attempt by the Lucknow-born self-described “King of Indian Rap” at creating an anthem for his adopted city, after “Welcome to Mumbai”, which was released in the mid-noughties. Comparing the two, we find that the former is a more real take on our hometown (note shots of people in local trains) than the faux gangster feel of the latter. The laid-back “Mumbai City”, featuring a now-mandatory female sung chorus (is the lady vocalist India’s equivalent of Rihanna, we wonder?), makes fewer references to city people and landmarks—though big up to Baba for namechecking Seven Bungalow’s Bon Bon—and reflecting the current socio-political milieu, calls out scams instead of propping up industrial houses like on “Welcome To Mumbai”. At the very least, Baba’s rhyming skills are very much intact: who else could pair up “psyche” with “strike” (the bane of all Mumbaikars) and “addiction” and “diction”?