Play this unique board game to learn more about Mumbai’s hip-hop culture

A Juhu-based architecture student’s new board game uses rap and wordplay to gather insights into Mumbai’s evolving hip-hop culture Cards from the set Listen to this article This unique board game helps you learn more about Mumbai’s hip-hop culture x Tejas Mali, a 22-year-old student at the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture in Juhu has left the city’s best rapping talent at a loss of words, quite literally. We don’t blame the wordsmiths. The boardgame, created as part of Mali’s fifth year thesis, tests players’ knack for quick, impromptu rhymes based on typical Bambaiyya slang. But these aren’t empty words — Mali is taking notes from the gameplay to build bigger plans. ADVERTISEMENT A native of Buldhana district in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, Mali moved to Mumbai in 2019 to answer his calling in design and architecture. His passion for hip-hop and rap followed him, not far behind. “I was mesmerised by Mumbai’s hip-hop scene. I spent time visiting hip-hop communities in Marol, Andheri and Dharavi to study architecture through the lens of hip-hop,” he recalls. Titled Decoding Hip-hop Architecture, the thesis is a wider exploration of spaces for artistic expression in the city. The board game comes...