In a world where women are constantly breaking barriers and overcoming oppression, there is a crew of women who have become the embodiment of this movement, using hip-hop to raise their voices against the evils of today's world, fulfilling the purpose and essence of what hip-hop is all about. Wild Wild Women, India's first female hip-hop collective, serves as a voice for all the talented women in the community. The group consists of rappers, graffiti artists, and B-girls. The founding rap crew, consisting of Pratika, Hashtag Preeti, Jqueen, Krantinaari, and MC Mahila, come from diverse backgrounds, individually representing different parts of the country and collectively leading Wild Wild Women into a new era of Indian female hip-hop.
Formation
Q: "Wild Wild Women" - Who came up with this name and what is the ideology behind it?
"Before the crew was formed, Krantinaari & Hashtag Preeti had curated an all-women Cypher at Marol Art Village, Andheri. They invited all the femcees from around the town and all those they knew personally. The name of that event was 'Wild Wild Women Cypher.' That day, around 10 girls showed up, and 5 girls from those are Wild Wild Women today. Krantinaari came up with this name, and we had no idea how far this was going to come."
Q: You guys are one big influence for women in hip-hop, but who was yours when you started?
"Everybody comes from very different musical backgrounds, having one love in common, and that's hip-hop. All the 5 rappers come in with very different tastes and inspirations, from Metal to Pop, Afro, Bollywood, and Traditional tastes."
Dreams
Q: What's one thing you guys dream of doing as a band that is not related to music?
"We aim to create a community that focuses on women empowerment, educating women on basic rights, and promoting menstrual hygiene. We've done a few drives in different areas and in the slums, distributing plastic-free sanitary pads and educating women about menstruation and hygiene. We have more plans than this; our vision is beyond just creating music. We see Wild Wild Women as one strong woman who rises and speaks for all the women with no voice and choice."
Best Memory
Q: "2023 has obviously been one heck of a year for you guys! What has been the best memory till now?"
"Oh, it absolutely has been a great year. We've played some of the best shows and traveled to places. I think the best memory we made till now is the Covelong Surf Point Festival. It's special to us in a lot of ways. Firstly, because we took our first flight together, and one of us experienced her overall first flight journey. There we performed for a crowd of 10,000 people and totally smashed it in a lineup of some really great artists who we've looked up to."
Balance
Q:Together you have formed a flourishing entity in Wild Wild Women, but how do you manage progressing your individual careers as well?
"It's a beautiful kind of juggle between our individual lives and the Wild Wild Women life. We all have our individual sounds and music which is very different from our collective sound. From having day jobs to managing family affairs, we have our ups and downs, but keeping progression as our top priority, everyone puts in great efforts and is evolving at their own paces."
Drive
Q: What is the one thing that drives you guys to keep going in this male-dominated sector?
"The fact that it's a male-dominated sector is what keeps us motivated. Turning weaknesses into strengths is what we practice. We aim to change the number of female rappers in the country and help out young emerging female rappers. Our track 'Game Flip' speaks about this exact topic and how we want to change the game of this system and how society sees female rappers on stage. We aim to make music for the women first. At the end of the day, only a woman could relate to what we want to convey.
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