Over the past few months, the Covid-19 induced lockdowns in India and the globe and the safety concerns related to the pandemic has led to the postponement or cancellation of numerous high-ticket music events as well as local gigs, live concerts, thus incurring massive losses and challenges for the live music industry. In our country, as the virus spread shows no signs of slowing down and many people remain confined to their homes till date, independent artists and musicians are now inclined to move online and/or find alternate (non-traditional) ways to showcase their talents.

In the current scenario when things like ‘social distancing’ and ‘stay-at-home’ are gradually becoming a norm for us, music streaming and discovery platform Flutin has come up with a first-of-its-kind virtual talent hunt show titled ‘HomeStarsRapchik’ for the aspiring rap artists of India.

Rapchik is designed as an entirely online event, wherein budding rap artists, regardless of their age, gender, or language, etc.,are allowed to submit their entries and participate from the comfort of their homes. The show, which aims to find the “next big rap icons of our country”, is offering total cash prize of upto ₹1 lakh for the top 3 contestants; besides, the winner of the show will be provided an opportunity to release their own track/rap composition produced by and supported byFlutin.

Notably, the show features an esteemed jury panel consisting renowned names from India’s music industry; while “Prince of Bhangra” Sukhbir Singh and Rajiee M Shinde, music and infotainment industry veteran and CXO, Flutin are named as the Grand Masters, Rapstar RCR aka Rohit Kumar Chaudhary and Singer and musical artist Misty Bharadwaj will be other two judges on the show. All episodes of HomeStarsRapchik will be streamed on Flutin’s mobile app, website, and social media channels for the viewers/audience to watch live.

Popular Punjabi musician and ‘mahaguru’ of the show, Sukhbir Singh says, “Following the rise of the Hip-Hop culture in our country in the recent years, rapping has become quite a phenomenon and amateur rappers are nowadays very keen to express themselves. To this end, I believe that HomeStarsRapchik will be a path-breaking show foremerging Indian rappers. As a jury member, I am extremely proud to be a part of this virtual talent hunt which is no less exciting or competitive than any physical show; our endeavour will be to bring out the best talents in their country and give an amazing head-start to their rap music careers.”

Amongst the 1500+ entries received from individual performers across the country, the jury members of HomeStarsRapchik have already screened and shortlisted 15 artists. A total of five episodes will be held during the course of the show, and there will be eliminations based on online public voting after the end of each episode. In the concluding episode, i.e. Finale scheduled to be held on 26^th September, the top 3 contestants will battle it out amongst themselves to win the crown of “India ka sabserapchik rapper”. Thereafter, the final winner announcements will be made on October 1^st and the winner, runner-up and 2^nd runner up of the show will be rewarded with cash prizes of Rs. 50k, 35k, and 15k respectively.

HomeStars, as a platform, came to being few months back, soon after the countrywide lockdown was announced by the Government in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak. Under the banner of HomeStars, Flutin has already successfully completed HomeStars Season 1 — a virtual singing competition, and in the near future, they have plans to come up with more shows in music, comedy, poetry, and various other virtual platforms for performing arts enthusiasts.