A significant upsurge in hip hop popularity can be seen amongst younger generations. As hip hop culture and music rapidly take over Nepali music, Raw Barz is back in action. The first Rap-Battle League of Nepal, Raw Barz can most likely be called the initiator of NepHop, with Yama Buddha at its helm and other amazing personalities behind the scenes such as Kolin, DJ Subba, Hakim, Lay-Zy, etc.

After not being active for four years, Raw Barz is back with a new season in collaboration with RINC Entertainment. Previously, Raw Barz only entertained a cappella round of three, but this reboot will contain one a cappella round, one round on the beat, and one round just for the freestyle.

Another significant change in Raw Barz Reboot Season 5 is that rappers will be judged by actual judges instead of the audience being the judge. The battle will also consist of knockout stages. Despite being the initiators of NepHop back in the day, rappers didn’t actually get paid anything except for fame from their screen time. “We are also providing cash prizes for winners this season to motivate rappers,” says Surendra Gurung, aka Hakim, rapper, and mentor of Raw Barz. “It is important to ensure rappers that they can make a living out of it”, he adds.