Hard Kaur: Broadcasting the new Desi woman

In the last 20 years hip hop has become an important site of identity construction for South Asian diasporic youth (Nair & Balaji, 2008; Huq, 2006; Sharma, 2010). In this article I examine the mediatized personae of Indian born and British raised recording artist Hard Kaur, who claims to be the first ‘Desi’ female rapper. As Hard Kaur’s music, music videos, and interviews travel to and are now being produced in India, the race, gender, and class constructions formed during her experiences in the U.K. are finding their way to a youthful Indian public. I argue that an analysis of Hard Kaur’s mediatized interactions reveals the ways in which gendered norms are being contested and reaffirmed within a transnational imaginary.