MTV Hustle is an Indian rap and hip-hop reality show. Aspiring rappers battle it out to become India's biggest hip-hop star. The show airs on MTV India.
The first season premiered on 10 August 2019, and was judged by Raftaar, Nucleya and Raja Kumari, accompanied by host Gaelyn Mendonca.
The second season premiered on 3 September 2022. Hosted by Krissann Barretto, the show was judged by Badshah along with four squad bosses - EPR Iyer, Dino James, Dee MC and King Rocco.
The third season premiered on 21 October 2023. Hosted by Wicked Sunny and Super Mannik, the show was judged by Badshah for the second time consecutively, along with four squad bosses - EPR Iyer, Dino James, Dee MC and Ikka.
The fourth season premiered on 19 October 2024. Hosted by MC Talha and MC Jizzy, the show was judged by Raftaar and Ikka, along with four squad bosses - EPR Iyer, Dino James, Dee MC and Raga.
On 10 December 2023, during episode 16 of season 3, Samantha Ruth Prabhu announced the Tamil edition of MTV Hustle Namma Pettai.
As of 2024, there have been 4 seasons of the show.
MTV Hustle 1 premiered on 10 August 2019. M-Zee Bella was declared winner.
⢠Judges<br>Raftaar<br>Nucleya<br>Raja Kumari
⢠Host<br>Gaelyn Mendonca
Special Performance by the first two finalists EPR & M-Zee-Bella along with Raftaar & Brodha V in Episode 18.
After Top 5 Finalists performed, Judges had to decide two of them to the Final Battle Round for the Title.
Badshah replaced the entire judge panel of season 1, along with four squad bosses Dino James, Dee MC, EPR and King, out of which, the latter two competed as contestants in the previous season. Krissann Barretto hosted the show. MC Square was declared as the winner.
For week 1 & 2, after each contestant performed Badshah decides which squad to be assigned to. But, the Squad Bosses can sound the horn and ask the contestant to join their squad.
The bottom 6 contestant compete one vs one in the Battleground. Only 2 moved-on to the next round.
After 3 battles, the two squads EPR Rebels & King Slayers had to choose one contestant to join their squad. UNB was not chosen and was eliminated.
In this battle the squad bosses compete against each other for a contestant.
From this week, the squad bosses scored after each performance.
Also the public voting were open, with the votes effecting the next week's elimination.
Last week's squad of the week, Dee MC had to choose one of the two random cards (Immunity Card: to save one Rapper from elimination & Danger Card: to put one Rapper up for elimination from other squad). She got the Danger Zone and chose Lxsh.
Last week's squad of the week, EPR had to choose one of the two random envelops (Power to eliminate & Power to save). He got Power to save and chose GD 47.
Theme: Lyrical
Last week's squad of the week, EPR had a special power "Judge 2.0", to judge the elimination battles. But he decided not to eliminate anyone.
Theme: Shout-out
Last week's squad of the week, Dino James had a special power "Score + 2.0", where he could add 2 points to any rapper. He choose GD 47 to add 2 points.
Theme #1: Collaboration - Squad Bosses' paired-up the rappers.
Theme #2: Badshah's Industry Ready Challenges:
Last week's squad of the week, Dino James had a special power "Danger Zone 2.0", where he could another Collab pair in Danger Zone. He choose Spectra and Panther.
Theme: Battleground 2.0
Top 10 contestants competed in one-on-one Battles to earn the Ticket to Finale. Only 5 contestants advanced to the Finale.
Top 5 Finalists performed for the public and the public voting were open for final time, with the votes deciding the winner next week.
After Top 5 Finalists performed, based on Public Votes three moved-on to TOP 3.
Badshah and squad bosses EPR, Dino James and Dee MC returned to judge. Ikka Singh joined season 3 as the new squad boss. Super Manikk and Wicked Sunny were the hosts for this season. On 24 December 2023, Uday was declared as the winner.
For week 1 & 2, after each contestant performed Badshah decides which squad to be assigned to. But, the Squad Bosses can mic drop and ask the contestant to join their squad.
The bottom 6 contestant compete three-way battle in the Battleground. Only 2 moved-on to the next round.
After 2 battles, Badshah had to choose two contestant to join Dee MC Dynamites squad.
From this week, the squad bosses scored out of 3 after each performance.
Also the public voting were open, with the votes effecting the next week's elimination.
This week's squad of the week, Dee MC had to choose to save one of the four Rappers in Danger Zone. She chose Shen B.
This week's squad of the week, Dee MC had to choose to save one of the four Rappers in Danger Zone. She chose 100 RBH.
This week's squad of the week, Dino had to choose to save one of the three Rappers in Danger Zone. He chose Poet Shaf.
Mrunal Shankar won the ticket to Finale. This week's squad of the week, Ikka Gangstar had to choose to save one of the five Rappers in Danger Zone. He chose Kayden.
This week contestants collaborated and performed in pairs. As Mrunal Shankar won the Ticket to Finale, she collabed with her Squad Boss EPR.
Also each squad performed a group Ad Jingle for the sponsors of the show.
Vijay Dada won the ticket to Finale. This week's squad of the week was Dee MC Dynamites. This week there was only bottom 2, no-one was saved by squad boss power or public vote.
8 contestants from Top 10 competed in one-on-one Battles to move on to the Finale. Only 4 contestants advanced to the Finale. Mrunal Shankar and Vijay Dada didn't compete as they had ticket to Finale
Top 6 Finalists performed for the public and the public voting were open for final time, with the votes deciding the winner next week.
The winner wins â¹10,00,000 cash prize, POCO Made of Mad gifts worth â¹2.5 lakhs and GOVO soundbar.
100 RBH won the OG Hustler Award and received a cash prize of â¹5,00,000.
After Top 6 Finalists performed, based on Judges choice three moved-on to TOP 3. And the winner was crowned based on Public Votes.
This season, also known as MTV Hustle 4: âÂÂHIP HOP, DONâÂÂT STOPâÂÂ, premiered on 19 October 2024.
Raftaar returned as the judge after his absence from two seasons, accompanied by Ikka Singh on the panel. EPR, Dino James and Dee MC returned to judge and were joined by Raga as the newest addition to squad bosses. Jizzy and Talha Siddiqui hosted the season. Lashcurry was declared as the winner.
For week 1 & 2, during each contestant's performance squad bosses had 90 seconds to add them to their playlist, each contestant required at least three squad bosses vote to be assign to a squad. But the contestants who gets Radio Ready from either Raftaar or Ikka, they decide which squad to be assigned to.
Six contestants from Huddle Room battled it out in the Battleground, with only three making it to the next round.
From this week, the squad bosses scored out of 10 after each performance. Also the public voting were open, with the votes effecting the next week's elimination. No elimination this week.
From this week, based on public votes and squad bosses scores elimination begins. This week's squad of the week, EPR had to choose to save one of the three Rappers in Danger Zone. He chose Rajjo.
This week's squad of the week, Raga had to choose to save one of the four Rappers in Danger Zone. He chose Mad Trip.
This week's squad of the week, Dee MC had to choose to save one of the six Rappers in Danger Zone. She chose Pho. There was no Battle this week, two rappers with the least votes were eliminated.
99side was the Rap Royalty and moved directly to the Finale. No elimination this week, this week's public votes and score were moved forward to next week.
This week rappers had to collab with other rappers and perform a number. As last week's Rap Royalty, 99side collabed with former contestant Gravity.
Also each squad performed a group Ad collab for the sponsors of the show.
Dharmik was the Rap Royalty and moved directly to the Finale.
Eight rappers battled it out in the Ultimate BattleVerse, with only four making it to the Finale.
Top 6 Finalists performed for the public and the public voting were open for final time, with the votes deciding the winner next week.
MTV Hustle season 1 winner M-Zee Bella supported Lashcurry. MTV Hustle season 2 winner MC Square supported NAAM SUJAL. MTV Hustle season 3 winner UDAY PANDHI supported Dharmik. Thus, Whom winner of Season 1 supported occupied 1st position, similarly whom winner of Season 2 supported occupied 2nd position and lastly whom winner of Season3 supported occupied 3rd position. Appreciative arrangement for maintaining the winners' legacy.
During the fourth season of MTV Hustle, internet personality Rohan Cariappa, who rose to fame for his content covering the Indian hip-hop scene, shared a video on November 30, 2025 on his YouTube channel, which pointed out that judge Ikka, was wearing a Harley-Davidson jacket on the Royal Enfield sponsored show. Cariappa was soon met with at least fifty copyright strikes on his videos covering the show, which led to YouTube issuing a warning of his channel being shut down on December 7. Soon, the show was met with widespread backlash by netizens and the hashtag #ShameOnMTVHUSTLE started trending on Twitter to support Cariappa. Indian rappers like Yashraj, Encore ABJ, Badshah, Raja Kumari, and YouTubers like Samay Raina, Arpit Bala, RAPBOT, Prakhar Gupta spoke out against the injustice. Raftaar, who was a judge on the show, told the audience to be patient and requested the show makers, to "meet in the middle and letâÂÂs make it happen", while boAt, one of the sponsors of the show, also expressed their dissent regarding the action. Cariappa eventually issued a written apology on Twitter, on December 6 and shared an apology video, a day after, where he thanked the audience, content creators and rappers who supported him.