Hip-hop star MC Heam of The Dharavi Dream Project (TDDP) travelled to the Udaipur Central Jail to kickstart classes with the prison’s talented inmates.

Known as Asia’s largest school of hip-hop, TDDP has been a force of change since its inception. The collective has gone beyond fostering creativity through hip-hop in Dharavi; it has also now taken its programme to a Rajasthan jail. TDDP’s motto is ‘Where music is a healer and hip-hop is a movement.’ In the pilot residency project at the Udaipur Central Jail, TDDP continues to live up to its credo.

MC Heam, whom many people know as the breakout star of MTV Hustle, is a hip-hop veteran who has not only charted an illustrious career as a musician, but has also enabled change as an educator at TDDP. The artist has been cultivating the next generation of hip-hop across the country. He recently spent a month with 10 inmates of the Rajasthan prison. While mentoring the inmates, MC Heam welcomed them into a space where they were acknowledged and accepted, creating a medium where they could positively channel their thoughts and emotions through art.

Says MC Heam about TDDP’s impact through the Udaipur Central Jail project,“With so many hip-hop artists coming from rough pasts, it's really no surprise that some of the best rap songs are about jail and prison. In fact, artists like Tupac and Gucci Mane, among many others, have even written music (including prison songs) while serving time. Behind bars or not, some of hip-hop's biggest hits are those about being incarcerated, getting out and never going back.”

He adds, “Whether you're talking about Snoop Dogg's ‘Murder Was the Case’ or Nas's ‘One Love,’ prison is the subject of many a great rap song, and these kind of tracks are still being produced today. In short, prison is a scary place — no matter who you are — and these rappers tell the powerful tales of what it's like on the inside, while reforming and educating themselves to join society after serving their sentence.”

By the end of the residency, the inmates had not only grown creatively but also finished writing a track with hip-hop heavyweight MC Heam. The group is now looking to co-produce the song with a label.

At the Udaipur Central Jail, it’s normal for prisoners to sign up for educational classes. From painting, music, styling and photography to yoga, organic farming, web design and more, the jail’s inhouse Swaraj University is attended by almost 1000 inmates are engaged in upskilling as they serve time for their sentence.

Says TDDP co-founder Dolly Rateshwar about the pilot prison project, “We look forward to taking this pilot to the next level where we come together and create a space to be inspired, build relationships, and tap into deeper imaginations of what learning can be. Together we are re-imagining and embodying a new form of higher education.”

While there are several big prisons like Delhi's Tihar Jail famous for skill development of inmates, Swaraj Jail University focuses on deeper transformation. "It is not basic skill training," says Manish Jain (co-founder of Shikshantar) The Peoples’ Institute for Rethinking Education and Development based in Udaipur, India, and is co-founder of Swaraj University. "It is about understanding yourself, your leadership capacities and your higher purpose in life.

TDDP collaborated with NGO Shikshantar for this programme that was started by the humanitarian organisation in 2021. The prison’s unconventional learning system lays a foundation of healing while encouraging inmates to pursue the possibility of a new life. Hip-hop’s landmark tracks by Tupac, Nas, Gucci Mane and more have given voice to the stories of reformed prisoners. Through their residency project at Udaipur Central Jail, TDDP is continuing the changemaking legacy of the Bronx genre.