Mass Appeal India has announced the signing of Grammy nominated Indian-American rapper, singer, songwriter, and dancer Raja Kumari, first-female rapper to sign with the label. Mass Appeal India launched in August 2019 as a partnership between Mass Appeal, Nas’ urban culture-focused entertainment company and Universal Music India, a division of Universal Music Group, the world leader in music entertainment and is dedicated to amplifying India’s burgeoning hip-hop culture on a global scale.

In announcing her signing to Mass Appeal India, Nas said, “When I first met Raja, I knew she was someone the world needs to hear. Her presence exudes confidence and individuality -- a true artist with global appeal.  We're thrilled to have her on the team as the first lady of Mass Appeal India."

“I’m so excited to be joining Mass Appeal family, ever since I fell in love with hip hop it has been a dream of mine to work with Nas. Their vision of bringing Indian hip hop to the international market is inspiring and I look forward to working together to achieve that goal,” Raja Kumari says of signing with Mass Appeal India.

Her first release single through Mass Appeal India will be NRI, which will be released on 10^th April, with a full-length EP to follow. Kumari will also drop Goddess, a new track collaboration with Krewella and NERVO to celebrate Women’s History Month this month. Additionally she will host a new show Internationally Known, which debuted on March 11 on REVOLT TV, where Kumari will introduce the latest hip hop coming out of India to a worldwide audience.  

Peter Bittenbender, CEO of Mass Appeal, said, “Raja Kumari is going to play a crucial role in the growth of Hip Hop in India.  We are excited to have her on the team and we can’t wait to introduce her talent to the world.”

Born Svetha Rao in Claremont, California, to Indian parents who emigrated to the U.S. in the ’70s, Kumari is a fearless, charismatic personality and natural-born storyteller whose mission is to create art that blends her Indian roots with her American upbringing. Her music is a sonic bridge between East and West that fuses the rhythms she absorbed as a trained classical Indian dancer with her love for hip-hop.

Since the release of her debut EP The Come Up in 2016, she has released a series of acclaimed singles, Mute, City Slums (ft. DIVINE), Believe In You, and I Did It. Her Bloodline EP, released via Epic Records last year, created with international renowned producers Sean Garratt and Danja, spawned the hit single SHOOK and an award winning video (South American Film Festival Award, Best Music Video 2019) and her most recent single Bindis and Bangles was premiered by Bobby Friction on BBC’s Asian Network last month, and received more than 2M video views in its first week. With these releases Raja Kumari has successfully established her position as one of today’s most fearless and unique voices in rap, whilst representing Indian culture to the world.

An accomplished songwriter in her own right, Kumari was Grammy nominated for her work on Iggy Azalea’s ‘Change Your Life’ ft. T.I., she has co-written hit songs for Fall Out Boy (the 4x-Platinum “Centuries,” which earned her a 2015 BMI Pop Award), Fifth Harmony, Twin Shadow, Knife Party, Dirty South, Lindsey Stirling, and Gwen Stefani (Kumari co-wrote six tracks on Stefani’s most recent album, ‘This Is What The Truth Feels Like)’.

In fall 2019, Kumari released Raja Kumari: So Far, a documentary detailing her journey as a songwriter in LA and her battle facing stereotypes and stigmas to find success. She is a series judge and mentor on MTV Hustle, India’s first rap-reality show, which debuted in August 2019, and will return for series 2 which begins filming it's hunt for the next rap superstar this month, Raja will once again reprise her role as a judge and mentor on the panel when the show airs later this year. Kumari is a global face of MAC Cosmetics.