Pakistan’s burgeoning rap and hip-hop music industry is becoming very exciting. From Adil Omar to Faris Shafi, Lyari Underground to Abid Brohi, Rap Engineers to Osama Com Laude, it’s a genre that is now finding footing in mainstream films like Mahira Khan-led Verna and Mansha Pasha-Ahmed Ali Akbar’s Laal Kabootar, directed to acclaim by Kamal Khan.

It even found traction on Coke Studio.

However, leaving everyone behind, at least in terms of viewership, is the colossal effort, ‘Pindi Aye’. Taken forward by Osama Com Laude (OCL) and Khawar Malik, the single, ‘Pindi Aye’ features several rappers such as Hashim Nawaz, Khawar Malik, Zeeru, Shuja Shah, Hamzee, Fadi and OCL himself.

For OCL, the idea, he had told Instep upon release, was to uplift and bring the hip-hop scene together. Speaking to Instep at the time of its release, he had said, “I had this idea back in November and brought my friend, Khawar Malik, on the song; he’s a singer, not a rapper. He’s the only singer on the track. He played a song for me from Shuja Shah. He’s a younger rapper. They’re younger rappers so I was like, tell him not to release it now and let’s do it on a bigger scale with all of us and I’m very sure, it’s going to be huge.”

It looks like OCL, who also released a solo EP, paKING this year, must be relieved because he had the right idea which ultimately resulted in an electrifying song. At a time when rap music is growing in depth and verve, OCL has left behind several others including ‘The Sibbi Song’ (over 4 million hits) by SomeWhatSuper ft. Abid Brohi as part of Patari Tabeer to collect a massive 9 million plus views on YouTube. It sure looks like this is a collaboration that has appealed to most number of people.

Rushk drop music video for ‘Muwaaslati Saiyara’

‘Muwaaslati Saiyara’ meaning ‘broadcast satellite’, is the newest music video from Rushk since they first released the single earlier this year. With Ziyyad Gulzar, Mohd. Ali Jaffri, Tara Mehmood, Sikandar Mufti, Nazia Zuberi and Uns Mufti, Rushk is very much a super-group.

After dropping their debut album, Sawaal, what feels like eons ago, Rushk expanded its line-up from co-founders Ziyyad Gulzar and Uns Mufti to a group that is not only a recording act but can perform on stage as well.

With a slew of new singles since Sawaal in recent years including ‘To Ja!’, ‘Mera Naam’, ‘Bori’, ‘Tujhay Pata To Chalay’ and now ‘Muwaaslati Saiyara’, Uns Mufi, often the chief songwriter for the group, is keeping us on our toes with not only new music but a level of unpredictability.

Having released a music video for ‘Mera Naam’ a while back, Rushk – known for iconic music videos such as ‘Behti Naar’ - has not lost its touch while constructing a visual narrative for its song(s). The same is applicable to ‘Muwaaslati Saiyara’, which is directed by Tooba Saleem with production by Rola and sung by Uns Mufti.

The song, experimental in nature and melancholic in verses, has what is maybe Rushk’s darkest music video, taking inspiration from our current reality. The monochromatic video features an older woman in various hues of life, from lying on bed to laughing to gazing in the mirror.

On the other end of the year, an astronaut-esque person appears who seems to be in search of something as he struggles while walking up a staircase.

It wouldn’t be fair to give up the whole narrative except to say that given the lines that reside within the song and how it makes you wonder of something different each time, the music video manages to do the same. It’s Rushk doing what it does best when bringing visuals to its sonic experiments.