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{{short description|Indian rapper and singer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2018}}
'''Sofia Ashraf''' (born 1987) is an Indian rapper and singer. Her songs address the negligence of corporations that fail to clean up industrial disasters. Her 2008 song ''Don't Work for Dow'' criticizes [[Dow Chemical Company|Dow]]'s failure to compensate victims of the 1984 [[Bhopal disaster|Bhopal gas tragedy]] in India. In 2015, she released ''Kodaikanal Won't'', a music video addressing mercury pollution in [[Kodaikanal]] from a thermometer factory owned by [[Unilever]], a [[multinational corporation|multinational]] [[Fast moving consumer goods|consumer goods]] company.

In June 2016, she released "Dow vs. Bhopal: a Toxic Rap Battle".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/07/10/world/asia/ap-as-india-activist-rapper.html|title=Indian Rapper Targets US Chemical Giant in Bid for Damages|date=10 July 2016|work=[[Associated Press|AP]]|accessdate=10 July 2016|via=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

==Early life==
In 1987, Sofia Ashraf was born and brought up in an orthodox Malayali Muslim household in [[Chennai]], [[Tamil Nadu]]. Sofia was part of a Muslim youth group in Chennai, and studied Islamic History and Philosophy ardently. She studied graphic design in [[Stella Maris College, Chennai]], where she used to zealously participate in extracurricular activities. She began rapping on stage during a college festival, where she donned a [[Hijab]] and rapped to her own lyrics in which she questioned the people's attitude towards Muslims after [[September 11 attacks]]. The press referred to her as "The Burqa Rapper" after the incident.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Meet firebrand rapper Sofia Ashraf who is all set for her maiden performance in Mumbai|work=[[Daily News & Analysis]]}}</ref> Despite this she now identifies as [[atheist]] and has several tattoos.<ref>{{cite web|title=bpb's Book of Tattoos: Sofia Ashraf, Copywriter, O&M|url=http://brownpaperbag.in/mumbai/intel/tattoo-story|publisher=Brown Paper Bag|date=19 February 2015}}</ref>

==Career==
Ashraf worked as a creative supervisor for [[Ogilvy & Mather]], a global advertising firm that counts [[Unilever]] as one of its clients. She quit the firm in 2015, a few months before making the hit single "Kodaikanal Won't". O&M executive chairman Piyush Pandey said the firm had wanted Ashraf to stay on, but that she left to pursue a new career path in 2015.<ref name=ET>{{cite news|last1=Balakrishnan|first1=Ravi|title=O&M ex-employee Sofia Ashraf takes on Unilever's Kodaikanal plant for alleged "environment pollution"|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/advertising/om-ex-employee-sofia-ashraf-takes-on-unilevers-kodaikanal-plant-for-alleged-environment-pollution/articleshow/48337436.cms|accessdate=4 August 2015|work=The Economic Times|date=4 August 2015}}</ref>

In 2008, she sang "Don't Work for Dow" while wearing a [[hijab]] to criticize [[Dow Chemical Company|Dow]] for its response to the [[Bhopal disaster]] in 1984.<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|author1=Mackey, Robert|title=Indian Rapper Calls Out Unilever to a Nicki Minaj Beat|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/01/world/asia/indian-rapper-calls-out-unilever-to-a-nicki-minaj-beat.html?_r=0|accessdate=9 August 2015|work=The New York Times|date=31 July 2015}}</ref>

In July 2015, she released the single "Kodaikanal Won't" to protest the pollution of a river in [[Kodaikanal]].<ref name=Dot>{{cite news|last1=Larson|first1=Selena|title=Indian rapper protests corporation's toxic waste dump with "Anaconda" remix|url=http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/anaconda-india-kodaikanal-sofia-ashraf-unilever/?tw=dd|accessdate=4 August 2015|work=Daily Dot|date=1 August 2015}}</ref> In the song she appeals to Unilever to help former workers in Kodaikanal, [[Kodaikanal mercury poisoning|whose river was contaminated]] 14 years before with mercury from a thermometer plant owned by Unilever. Ashraf released a [[YouTube]] video of the song to campaign against the mercury poisoning. Ashraf used the [[Nicki Minaj]] tune "[[Anaconda (Nicki Minaj song)|Anaconda]]" as the beat for "Kodaikanal Won't."<ref name=nyt/><ref name="business-standard1">{{cite web|url=http://justnowindia.com/thats-some-toxic-shitunilever-ceorapper-sofia-ashraf/ |title=Unilever poisoning Kodaikanal with Mercury |work=[[Business Standard]] |date=13 January 2013 |accessdate=14 July 2013}}</ref> In 2015, she collaborated with Chennai based singer Maalavika Manoj and Sapta on the song Deen. The song was written by Ashraf to combat moral policing and insist the faith must be a choice, not an imposition.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/society/sapta-and-sofia-ashraf-create-a-tuneful-conversation/article7900042.ece | title=Sapta and Sofia Ashraf create a tuneful conversation | date=20 November 2015 | first=Hafsa | last=Fathima | newspaper=The Hindu | accessdate=20 August 2018 }}</ref>

Ashraf has recorded a song each in the Bollywood movie ''[[Jab Tak Hai Jaan]]'' and the Tamil movie [[Maryan (film)]], for music director [[A. R. Rahman]],<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ayub|first1=Jamal|title=Sofia Ashraf: Rapping for a cause|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/Sofia-Ashraf-Rapping-for-a-cause/articleshow/17457148.cms|work=The Times of India|date=3 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = 'Burqa rapper' Sofia Ashraf is face of viral Nicky Minaj parody video|url = http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/burqa-rapper-sofia-ashraf-is-face-of-viral-nicky-minaj-parody-video/|website = The Indian Express|date = 2015-08-07|accessdate = 2015-10-25}}</ref> and also for Santhosh Kumar in his [[Tamil cinema|Tamil]] film ''[[Inimey Ippadithan]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Srinivasan|first1=Karthik|title=Hitman|url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/cinema/for-all-music-lover/article7239085.ece|work=The Hindu|date=23 May 2015}}</ref>

==References==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashraf, Sofia}}
[[Category:1987 births]]
[[Category:Indian female rappers]]
[[Category:Indian atheists]]
[[Category:Indian former Muslims]]
[[Category:Women musicians from Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian rappers]]
[[Category:University of Madras alumni]]
[[Category:Singers from Chennai]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian women singers]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian singers]]

Sofia Ashraf - Revision history

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