Krishna Kaul, known mononymously as Krishna, stylised now as KR$NA, is an Indian rapper. He was one of the earliest rappers to emerge in the Indian hip hop scene in the mid-2000s under the stage name Prozpekt. He is widely acknowledged within the desi hip-hop community for pioneering a lyrical revolution in the genre, infusing a new wave of poetic depth and lyrical complexity into hip-hop's narrative. He was also briefly featured in the 2019 Bollywood film Gully Boy as himself.

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Krishna Kaul, known mononymously as Krishna, stylised now as KR$NA, (previously known as Krsna, and formerly as YoungProzpekt) is an Indian rapper. He was one of the earliest rappers to emerge in the Indian hip hop scene in the mid-2000s under the stage name Prozpekt. He is widely acknowledged within the desi hip-hop community for pioneering a lyrical revolution in the genre, infusing a new wave of poetic depth and lyrical complexity into hip-hop's narrative. He was also briefly featured in the 2019 Bollywood film Gully Boy as himself.\n

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Early life and influences

Kaul was born into a Kashmiri Pandit family in Delhi. He spent a part of his childhood in South London, where he was raised and schooled for a few years. Kaul started rapping at the age of fourteen in an effort to blend in with other children at his school in London. He did his graduation from Hansraj College, where he formed a crew with his friends, titled Illicit Cash Mob. In 2008, Kaul moved to Mumbai to study public relations at the Xavier Institute of Communications.\n

He credits his uncle in Kashmir, for introducing him to hip-hop music, who played him the songs of MC Hammer and Public Enemy. When he started in the battle rap scene in India, he drew inspirations from the works of Lloyd Banks, Jadakiss, Fabolous, and Big L.\n

Career

2006-2011: Career beginnings and \"Kaisa Mera Desh\"

After releasing a few collaborations with rappers like Rabbit Sack C and Big T under the stage name Young Prozpekt, Kaul's first shot of success came with the release of the music video for \"Kaisa Mera Desh\" in 2010, becoming the first Indian hip-hop song on YouTube and earning a number 2 ranking as one of the most watched music videos in India overnight, following its release. His next success came with the song \"Lokpal Freestyle\", which shared the same theme of conscious hip-hop. He also released a song titled \"Vijay\" in collaboration with international NGO, Save The Children in 2013.\n

After sporadic underground releases including collaborations with artists such as Twisted Insane and Lost Stories, Kaul switched from Prozpekt to the stage name KR$NA after signing with Contrabands, a joint venture company between Universal Music India, VH1 and Hard Rock Cafe, in 2013. In May 2014, he released his debut studio album Sellout, an all-English effort on Universal Music with its lead single \"Last Night\" peaking at number 5 on the VH1 Music Charts in India. Kaul became the first hip-hop artist in India to do a five-city album tour with a band. Following this, the music video for the title song \"Sellout\" was released, but the project failed to make a large impact due to lacklustre marketing and shrinking label budgets.\n

2016-2021: Comeback and further successes

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After a two-year hiatus, Kaul made his return in 2016 with his Hindi release \"Vyanjan\". Following the success of the song, he signed to the artist management agency DNH Artists (now Kalamkaar) in 2017 and became a partner in 2018, with the likes of Ankit Khanna and Raftaar. \n

In 2019, Kaul released \"Freeverse Feast (Langar)\", produced by Raftaar, allegedly in response to rapper Emiway Bantai's \"Freeverse Feast (Daawat)\", where the latter boastfully claimed that \"he's the only rapper representing India worldwide\". This was the first track which sparked a feud between the two rappers, even though both had collaborated back in 2017. \n

In 2020, Kaul accused the IPL and Disney+ Hotstar of permitting the plagiarism of his 2017 song \"Dekh Kaun Aaya Wapas\" when creating the 2020 IPL anthem \"Ayenge Hum Wapas\", an allegation which was dismissed by composer Pranav Ajayrao Malpe. Kaul responded by stating that \"his team[...], will take the legal route and approach Disney+ Hotstar, which commissioned the song\". In the same year, he released the diss track, \"Makasam\", against rapper Muhfaad, which is widely regarded as one of the best diss tracks in Indian hip-hop. \n

In the month of January 2021, Kaul was featured on American rapper Hi-Rez's song \"Crossroads\" along with Royce da 5'9\". Later in July, another collaboration with Hi-Rez was released, titled \"Playground\" which also featured former Slaughterhouse member, KXNG Crooked. His collaboration in Hi-Rez's song \"Overdrive\", was released in November 2021, featuring A-F-R-O, Joell Ortiz, Bizzy Bone, Tech N9ne and Twista. The music videos were released on Hi-Rez's YouTube channel. In the same year, Kaul also released his sophomore studio album Still Here, his first full-length project to be released through Kalamkaar Records, the artist agency he had joined 3 years back. The album featured guest appearances from labelmates Raftaar, Rashmeet Kaur, and Karma, apart from fellow rappers Ikka, and Badshah.\n

2022-present: Collaborations, mainstream success and Yours Truly

In 2022, he featured on Karan Aujla's song \"Ykwim\", and also made an appearance in the music video. In the same year, also collaborated with British rapper French the Kid, on the song \"10 Pe 10\", which was released in November 2022, with an accompanying music video.\n

After the release of some tracks containing subliminal disses on each other, the beef between KR$NA and Emiway Bantai escalated in 2022, when Emiway released \"Chusamba\", in response to which KR$NA released \"Lil Bunty\". Emiway again responded with \"KR L$DA SIGN\", and KR$NA released \"Machayenge 4\", referring to Emiway's popular song series. Emiway retorted with his own version of \"MACHAYENGE 4\", and was met with widespread backlash, which prompted him to delete the track for a while after its original release.\n

Kaul with Brodha V won the Radio City Freedom Awards 2023 on 31 March 2023, for the Best Indie Collaboration. The two won the Freedom Awards 7 for the song \"Forever\", which was released in September 2022. Starting in 2023, Kaul released a series of EPs, which featured collaborations from fellow rappers, and producers in the desi hip-hop scene. His first EP, Time Will Tell, released in March 2023 and featured Pakistani rappers Talha Anjum, and Talhah Yunus, and production from their frequent collaborators, Umair and Jokhay. His second EP, FAR FROM OVER, released in August 2023, and featured the Indian hip-hop duo Seedhe Maut, musician AR Paisley and production from Bharg. His third EP, For The Day One$, which released in 2024, also featured production from Bharg, and guest appearances from rappers Faris Shafi, Karma, and singer Lisa Mishra.\n

In 2025, Kaul, along with 3 other rappers– Jay Park, MaSiWei, and Vannda, featured on Japanese hip-hop artist Awich's track \"Asian State of Mind\", which was released on 28 February, accompanied by a music video, which was shot in each of the featured rappers' home countries. In the same year, Kaul announced his first mixtape, Yours Truly, which was also his first project to be distributed via Mass Appeal India. The announcement coincided with American rapper Nas making his India debut on 19 April 2025 at Mass Appeal Presents: The World Reunion—A Charity Concert in Mumbai. Yours Truly eventually released on 22 May 2025, with a title announcement, made 4 days prior to its release. It featured guest appearances from Seedhe Maut, Raftaar, Aitch, Awich, Yashraj and Badshah. The mixtape used an episode of the 2015 podcast series, Voice of the People, as interludes. The project peaked at #1 on Apple Music within 12 hours of release and crossed over a million streams on Spotify within 24 hours. The music videos of the tracks, \"Who You Are\", \"Vibrate\" and \"Sensitive\" were released shortly after the album's release, with the music video for \"Sensitive\" featuring comedian Samay Raina. Kaul also featured on the cover of Rolling Stone India in October 2025.\n

In the same year, Kaul entered into a collaboration with boAt Lifestyle and was appointed as the brand ambassador, serving as the public face of the company. \n

In 2026, he released the track \"Dilli Re\", which served as the official anthem for the IPL team Delhi Capitals, and featured on the song \"Too Bait\", from the soundtrack of the web-series Bait, alongside AJ Tracey, Anik Khan, and Enny. He also released a collaboration with Haryana rapper Dhanda Nyoliwala, titled \"Boom Shaka\", accompanied by a music video, in April 2026. The track became a commercial hit, amassing over 74 million views on YouTube. Alongside Raftaar, he announced a reality show focusing on hip-hop, titled Legacy, produced by SVF Entertainment, which started airing on YouTube and further partnered with ZEE5 as well for streaming rights. In July 2026, he joined the 2026 Delhi Jantar Mantar protests, to show his solidarity with the protestors and their cause. \n

Discography

Albums

2014: Sellout
2021: Still Here

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EPs

2023: Time Will Tell

2023: Far from Over

2024: For the Day Ones

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Mixtapes

2025: Yours Truly

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Soundtracks

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Singles and collaborations

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References

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External links

Krsna at IMDb
KRSNA at YouTube

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KR$NA

Broadcast History