The culture that began among the underprivileged youth of New York is being shared in the slums of India. Bringing hope and opportunity into the lives of young people who don't have the privileges of those born into upper class families, hip-hop is a creative outlet that has always helped youngsters find joy and express themselves creatively. 

Now that culture is being brought into the lives of children in the slums of Mumbai and Delhi. Netarpal Singh, a young man who lived in the States but has now relocated to India and founded the Tiny Drops Hip Hop Centers:

"My inspiration behind the hip-hop centers has been my observance that many lower income neighborhoods in India lack culturally oriented facilities for the youth. This isn't to say the youth isn't involved with contemporary cultures or sub cultures. Hip-hop for example has been gradually expanding among most urban slum communities across the country. This is seen by how kids are choosing to dress these days, act, and even the way they walk," he told DesiHits.com. 

"Also, Tiny drops recently started a center in Delhi, and most of the kids already danced, they BBoyed. Meaning they had seen this dance briefly in Bollywood videos or on the internet, and have been captured by it and practiced it almost daily, usually in any open space they could find anywhere in their hood. So Tiny Drops becomes a space they can use, have equipment, music, and be able to connect with other dancers from across the city, country, and we're soon hoping from across the globe," he added.

Hip-hop brought positive change into Singh's life when he was a 16-year-old growing up in Queens, New York. He was able to practice his BBoying skills at a center in Forest Hills. It helped Singh work hard and put his energy into something positive and now he hopes to do the same for kids in Mumbai and Delhi.

With the popularity of Bollywood we had to ask why he didn't open up a Bollywood center. "Though Bollywood music is still popular across the country, the actual identification young slum kids have with actual Bollywood characters has heavily faded. Most of Bollywood today caters to the neo middle class and upper class identities, and Indian diaspora identities, like Indians in America, and not to the truths and realities that still exist in the countries, such as poverty," Singh told us. 

"There is a strong youth culture in India that connects with many genres of global music, and many of these youths finds Bollywood too redundant and not representing them. In other words, it's kind of played out, though, still a good source of entertainment. Another thing on this is, not all communities in India actually speak Hindi and don't watch Bollywood at all," he added. 

With artists such as Snoop Dogg and Akon doing projects in B-town it looks like the Indian public is being intrigued by much more than Bollywood these days!