In the early 2000s, a little girl in Lyari, a Karachi slum infamous for crime, picked up a pen and a notebook. The girl had a lot to say, but not many to listen to her. So she started writing, copiously, furiously about the conflicts at home, the conflicts in her neighbourhood, the conflicts growing up female.

Now, almost a decade later, she has found millions of eager listeners. Famous as Eva B, Pakistan’s first hijabi woman rapper, her recent release on Coke Studio has over 10 million views in a month.

Before the Coke Studio song, Kana Yaari, brought her international limelight, Eva B had built herself a fan following from works such as Gully Girl, Tera Jism Meri Marzi (Your Body, My Rights), and Qalam Bolega (Pen Shall Speak). But she has not revealed her identity.

“Kisi ki awaaz ko bahut dabaoge tou who ek din zor se cheekhega (If you keep suppressing someone’s voice, one day, they will scream out). I am that scream. I write about everything girls like me are not allowed to say,” Eva B in her early twenties, tells The Indian Express over a phone call. On the phone, Eva sounds much as she does in her videos, young, unfazed, and determined.

On the path to success, Eva has been criticised for many things –for singing at all, for choosing rap as her medium, for the subjects she sings about, and for singing in a hijab.

The Eva in her name comes from Eve, the first woman, because she is the first veiled woman rapper in Pakistan. The B is a nod to her Balochi roots.

The decision to keep her identity secret was born out of necessity. “Rapping is not considered a suitable profession for women in large sections of Pakistan. So when I started putting my videos on the internet, my brother put the condition that I would have to do so anonymously,” Eva says.

However, she insists the hijab is purely voluntary. “I may reveal my identity someday, but I will not remove the hijab. Wearing it comes naturally to me, it is a part of who I am.”

Eva has been attacked for wearing the hijab by the conservative — for doing something ‘haram’ (forbidden in Islam) while wearing a garment linked to religion. “But it is not like I put on the hijab only to sing. I have been wearing it since Class 7. For Balochi people, hijab and burqa are cultural things too. Little girls wait for the day they can grow up to wear one. Why should I have to remove a part of my identity to pursue my passion?”

Eva has let little stand in the way of her passion, though the obstacles were many.

“Do you know how I was introduced to rap? I bought a used computer from a neighbour, which had Eminem songs. I was blown away by it. I had always loved singing, but had no idea music could sound like this.”

Rap attracted her because of the stories the artistes were singing about. “Rap is the medium if you want to talk about poverty, crime, violence, the things holding you back. After listening to Eminem and other artistes, I realised their masle masail (issues) were similar to what I saw in Lyari.”

Lyari in the early 2000s was counted among the most dangerous urban settlements in the world, where brutal gang wars meant shootouts and killings were common. The law and order situation has improved since 2013, after a brutal police crackdown.

“Growing up, knife fights and bomb blasts were common in my neighbourhood. In fact, we have seen people play football with a severed head (in 2013, gangsters Baba Ladla and Uzair Baloch kicked around the head of gangster Arshad Pappu after killing him). We would sleep hungry as grocery stores would be shut due to the frequent violence. My Nani lives close by, but we could not visit her as rival gangs would not let people from other areas enter ‘their’ areas,” Eva says.

Inside her house, there were other tensions. “My parents are separated. We would have to hear taunts about that. I have been expelled from two schools, in Class 5 and Class 9, for fighting with girls who made mean comments about my family.”

Growing up as a girl had its own challenges. “I once had to pay a household bill. As I put my hand inside the counter, the man at the other end grabbed it. I screamed, but no one spoke up for me. I just had all this raging inside me, but I was an introvert and had no friends to talk to. So I started writing everything out.”

Discovering rap gave her a medium to express herself. “I started making videos in 2014. I had no technical know-how, I would set my words to music beats I got off YouTube. In those days, two-three views would make me very happy. But my brother hated it. There would be endless fights about how what I was doing was inappropriate for a girl. Though my mother supported me, relatives and neighbours sided with my brother, who is younger than me. Tired of the fights, I gave up writing for almost four years,” Eva says.

However, as she writes in one of her songs, “Socha rap chhod dun, kalam tod dun, par kalam mein tou meri khoon ki siyahi hai (I thought I would give up rap, snap my pen, but the pen has the ink of my blood).”

In 2018, she came out with a song about all that had happened in the world and in Pakistan, such as the election of Donald Trump, “aur bhi tamam masle (the many other issues).” Her big break came right after. Patari, a Pakistan streaming platform, approached her, and she wrote Gully Girl, based on the Bollywood movie Gully Boy. Since then, there has been no stopping.

What kept her going in the face of all opposition? “I was livid, how dare they stop me! Zid thi ki ab tou kuch ban ke dikhana hai (I was determined I would become successful and show them. The same people now tell me they are proud of me. I just go ‘duh of course, I am a celebrity!’”

However, the fame has so far not made a big difference to her circumstances. She had to rush for the call with The Indian Express, because uni se aate hue sauda lena tha (had to wrap up some shopping on the way back from the university, where she is pursuing BA). During the call, roosters crow in the background. Her dreams include “a concert like Billie Eilish”, meeting Eminem and telling him “tu mera guru hai beta (You are my guru)”, but also a “stable job so I can help out my mum.”

Was she nervous when she got a call to perform in Coke Studio? “A little at first, but Coke Studio is a place where artistes are truly respected.”

Now that she has made a name for herself, have people extended helping hands? “My manager, Mudassar Qureshi, has been of great help. He is the one who looks after all the technical aspects of my songs, such as studio sessions, sound engineering, etc. But I really hope I get a scholarship to study music. Right now, my writing is inspired by the likes of Manto, Jaun Eliya. But I hope to be able to study music formally,” Eva says.

Qureshi, who runs a label called No Limit Muzik, is a rapper himself, and says self-taught artistes get little support in Pakistan. “When I started out around eight years ago, I faced many problems in getting my songs recorded in studios. So I started No Limit Muzik to help out other young artistes. We decided to sign Eva on because of the quality of her writings – she says things as they are, and writes in Urdu and Balochi, instead of the Punjabi that is dominant in Pakistan,” says Qureshi, who divides his time between Italy and Pakistan.

Qureshi believes the underprivileged sections in Pakistan have a lot of talent, and the music industry needs to pay them better to encourage them. “Our TV dramas are loved across countries. If they could start promoting young music artistes, it would be great for our industry. But at present, artistes who speak for the people get more haters than sponsors,” Qureshi says.

Eva, however, has learnt a way to deal with the haters. “When people criticise me saying music, especially for a woman, is haram, I ask them a simple question, ‘tum khud jannati ho (are you perfect yourself)’? Pulling down others won’t get you to heaven. Stop telling girls what to do or not do.”

What would she like to say to other girls facing challenges similar to hers? Eva is clear. “Suno hi mat kisiki (don’t listen to anyone). You don’t owe anyone anything. Write your own song to your own beat.”

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YasheeThe author is a journalist working with The Indian Express... read more