Mehak Ashraf is just 17 and already known as Kashmir’s first female rapper. Her Facebook bio says she’s a lyricist, composer and “Hip Hop Queen of Kashmir”. Inspired by American rapper Eminem, hip-hop singing has been her passion since she was 12.

Now a 12^th standard student from Srinagar, Mehak identifies herself with her chosen stage name, Menime – Eminem in reverse. She says the hip-hop singing genre allows her to express her feelings and thoughts the way she wants. She raps about the reality of Kashmir, she explains, and the things she sees around her.

When she was 12, she would listen to Emimen’s songs. She wanted to do something similar by rapping about Kashmir. “Then I started writing my own stuff,” she says. “And I would then rap on my own lyrics.”

Initially, she says her parents were apprehensive of her singing and not much support was forthcoming. “They knew that if I choose rap, it will be difficult for me to become a rapper in Kashmir,” she says, “because in this state women are expected to be seen working in conventional professions.”

But she didn’t give up on her passion. She had faith in what she was pursuing. She wanted her parents to trust her. “I made my parents and relatives understand that if boys can rap, girls like me can also rap in Kashmir,” she says, confidently. “Now they are supporting me… they are cool with whatever I’m doing.”

In one of her video profiles on YouTube, she says she is a proud Kashmiri who’s trying her best to make music and rap about what’s happening in the state. “We are politically oppressed here… and in pain,” she asserts. “But we are all doing our music… doing our best to make our people proud.”

“The loved ones are no more…,” she raps on her own lyrics in one of her hip-hop songs, pointing out the plight of survivor families. “…and now they are in depression…”

“Asks a devastated father, Mehmood-ul- Hassan, whose two sons were killed on spot… it’s full of oppression,” she raps. “Cries mother father n sister, they’re living in repression… In Kashmir it’s a policy of alienation and deprivation.  And if it continues, there will be anger and destruction…”

“23 years of delay in punishing the killers of two teen sons puts a question mark on whole judicial system, “ she goes on to sing. “It’s a shame on the part of upholders of democracy…”

In another video which is online, she says that when she has to rap about the current political situation in Kashmir, she first reads about the political events or some tragedy or victims in the news, all of which affects her.

Then she writes the lyrics and goes on to sing in her own hip-hop style. “If I touch political rap, I’m doing it for my own people because I’m a Kashmiri citizen,” she emphasises. “Recently many of our people were martyred and blinded in Kashmir and I rapped about it as well.”

Recently, after a few videos of her hip-hop performances were uploaded and shared online and on social media, she received a lot of encouraging response but some people didn’t like it.

“I will keep rapping regardless of what some people say,” she says, undeterred by some negative comments her videos. “It’s okay. Not everyone will like what you do.”

Mehak says she wants to work hard and keep rapping about the state and reflecting on what the people are going through. “I hope to become a successful rapper one day,” she adds, with optimism. “I’m doing it for my people.”

In the future, Mehak would also like to rap about social evils, women empowerment, and issues like domestic violence facing women in Kashmir.

For now, she’s trying to stay positive, given the encouraging response she has got and “not give a damn to haters”, as she says, and to those who oppose her choice to make a career in hip-hop music.

“I have to move forward,” she says with a smile, sounding determined. “Like they say… haters make me famous!”