HUSTLE NO HASSLE

Wild Wild Women on their struggle to break into India’s male-dominated hip-hop scene

- NIRMAL JOVIAL

In early 2021, a group of women gathered at a park in Mumbai’s Andheri East for a cypher—a gathering of rappers and beat-boxers to spontaneously make music. The cypher was coordinated over WhatsApp by rappers HashtagPreeti (Preeti N. Sutar) and Krantinaari (Ashwini Hiremath), who were frustrated over the lack of recognition and space for female rappers in India. The cypher led to the formation of Wild Wild Women, India’s first all-female hiphop collective.

Over the last two years, Wild Wild Women have carved out a space for themselves in the country’s flourishing hip-hop scene with their hard-hitting lyrics and brilliant flow, use of multiple languages, and themes exploring a range of issues from mental health to women empowerment and prejudices in a patriarchal society.

The collective currently has five rappers—HashtagPreeti, Krantinaari, MC Mahila (Shruti Raut), JQueen (Jacqulin Lucas) and Pratika (Pratika E. Prabhune). Two break-dancers, FlowRaw (Deepa Singh) and MGK (Mugdha Dabholkar), and an artist, Gauri Dabholkar, who does graffiti and live art during shows, complete the ensemble.

Along with their hip-hop avatars via Wild Wild Women, some of them have other jobs, too. HashtagPreeti is a jewellery designer and Krantinaari, a former Microsoft employee, is a consultant and also does mural designs.

“We come from different backgrounds and have different music [preferences],” says Pratika. “So, the kind of stuff that we write also differs. But, the beauty [of our crew] is the diversity. All of us bring something to the table.”