Dubbed the “Secret Superstar of Karachi” (BBC), Eva B, Pakistan’s first-ever female rapper, debuts her new single “Rozi” on Episode 1 of Ms. Marvel, streaming exclusively on Disney+ starting June 8. The track is co-written and produced by musician, producer, and composer Gingger Shankar and is the first release on her new label Naughty Horses Records.
Ms. Marvel is the first Marvel series to star a Muslim teen superhero. The series had its origins in 2013 when Marvel Comics introduced Kamala Khan, a Pakistani American teenager from New Jersey who idolizes Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel.
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Eva B roared onto the Pakistani rap scene as the first-ever female rapper after the release of “Gully Girls,” a tribute to women oppressed by society. The anthem resonated across the region and was played at the end of Aurat March 2019 in Karachi on March 8th, International Women’s Day. Since then, she has become a sensation, racking up millions of Youtube views and performing the song “Kana Yaari” alongside Kaifi Khalil, Eva B, and Wahab Bugti for Coke Studios. Forbidden to rap in public by her family, Eva B covers her face to remain anonymous and follow her dream.
“The track is done in Urdu, which for a mainstream Marvel series to do is fantastic. I’ve always been a fan of Marvel, but if you had told me five years ago that we would be doing an Urdu hip hop track with Pakistani and Indian influences for a Pakistani female superhero, I wouldn’t have believed it! ‘Rozi’ is an anthem for women’s empowerment and Eva B delivers. Eva and I worked on it through the pandemic between Los Angeles and Pakistan and are thrilled for folks to see its debut on Ms. Marvel,” says Shankar.
Even in the 21st-century, many women around the world still need permission to make decisions in their own life – a story Eva B knows all too well. When Eva discovered her love of rap music at age 14, she knew she had to try it. But the first hurdle she’d have to overcome was her own family.
“When I told my family that I wanted to rap, my father and my brothers instantly said no. They told me that rapping would bring nothing but disgrace to the family. Demotivated, I gave in to them and decided not to pursue this passion. It was my cousin Meer who talked to my parents and my siblings. He actually persuaded my family to allow me to rap. However, I couldn’t use my real name nor could I reveal my identity,” said Eva.
With her family’s blessing, the next hurdle Eva faced was figuring out how to record a song. Eva B hails from Lyari, a borough of Karachi notorious for its gang wars, guns, and violence. But it is also known for producing an abundance of underground rap talent. With no recording studios or professional equipment available to her, she had to get creative. She recorded her first song on her phone sitting in her cupboard which she then played for Zari Faisal, head of Pakistan’s largest music streaming platform Patari, who loved it.
She is not just the first female rapper from Pakistan, she is the first veil-wearing female rapper from Pakistan’s Baloch minority, and chose her name to come from Eve, the first woman, and B for Baloch. Her decision to wear a veil to conceal her identity prompted a BBC reporter to dub her the “Secret Superstar of Karachi.” She writes in Urdu and Balochi, and, inspired by Eminem, addressed big and bold issues like unemployment, peace, child marriages, and education through her music.
About Gingger Shankar:
Gingger Shankar is a filmmaker, artist, activist, composer, and the only female double violinist in the world. A frequent speaker for TED, UNESCO, and Nobel Prize Summit championing girls’ education, empowerment, and the environment, she has worked with Michelle Obama, Ava Duvernay, Tara Houska, Stacey Abrams, AOC, and more. As a musician, she has worked with The Smashing Pumpkins, Trent Reznor, Katy Perry, and Meryl Streep, and has scored numerous film and television projects including The Passion of the Christ, Charlie Wilson’s War, And She Could Be Next, and the CNN film We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the World. As founder of Little Indian Girl Productions and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s ‘25 New Faces to Watch,’ she is committed to amplifying diverse voices and rarely-heard stories from across the world with upcoming projects Promises of Our Grandmothers (director/producer), a feature documentary which chronicles a women and queer-led indigenous resistance camp’s fight against the Line 3 pipeline, and Nari: The Women Behind A Music Revolution (director/producer), the unsung story of the women of the Shankar family – her mother and grandmother – two extraordinary artists who helped bring Indian music to the West in the 1970s with Ravi Shankar and George Harrison.
About Naughty Horses Records:
Naughty Horses Records is a female-owned record company releasing music by dynamic women artists from around the world. Rooted in hip hop, electronic, and traditions from around the world, our core mission lies in stories of resilience, resistance, beauty, and triumph, and will be a destination for new and unique voices, disruptive musicians, and female-driven storytelling.
