While mass strikes and demonstrations against the February 1 military coup continue to paralyze cities across Myanmar, rappers are releasing music pushing for the swift return of democracy.
Dozens of tracks by hip-hop artists living inside Myanmar and abroad have been uploaded to social media platforms and streaming sites, including Facebook, YouTube and Soundcloud. The music marks a new front in an ongoing information war against the military junta.
In the six weeks since the overthrow of the elected government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy party, martial law has been imposed in districts across the country. At least 149 people have been killed by police and security forces, and another 1,800 have been detained. Last Sunday, in the deadliest day of protests so far, 74 people lost their lives in Yangon and Mandalay, the nation’s two largest cities.
Hip-hop tracks criticizing the military began to appear online within days of the coup. One of the most popular — “End Game” by Nay Ye Khant, Adjustor, Yung Hugo, GRACEe, D-Vision, Young Yair and EilliE — has been viewed over 200,000 times on YouTube.











