<p>March has been a breakthrough month for Wild Wild Women, an all-female hip hop collective from Mumbai, believed to be India’s first. They made their international debut with a tour in Germany, marked Women’s History Month with a show at a Bengaluru museum, and performed five rap songs as part of legendary composer M M Keeravani’s 50-member orchestra.</p>.<p>“We’ve left behind all the backlash we faced from men — we’re moving onward and upward,” says Preeti N Sutar, co-founder of the four-year-old collective of rappers, B-girls, graffiti artists, and skateboarders.</p>.<p>Preeti (HashtagPreeti) and her co-rappers — Ashwini Hiremath (Krantinaari), Shruti Raut (MC Mahila), Jacquilin Lucas (JQueen), and Pratika E Prabhune (Pratika) — aren’t just breaking hip hop’s glass ceiling; they are rewriting its rules. Taking to the stage in saris, they deliver hard-hitting verses in a fusion of their native languages (Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi) and English.</p>.<p>The sari was Ashwini’s idea, and now, the team — aged 23 to 31 — says it gives them an undeniable sense of power. Their sari collection keeps growing, with no repeats on stage. Often, they borrow from their mothers.</p>.<p>Hailing from Belagavi, Karnataka, Ashwini and Preeti founded Wild Wild Women to address the glaring absence of female talent at cyphers. The few women in the existing hip hop crews were treated as side acts. The fight for equality echoes in their songs and they are “lucky” to be the voice for other women — be it the assertive ‘Hip hop was a dream, now my bars don’t let me chill’ in ‘I Do It For Hip Hop’, the defiant ‘Only males in our sight, but we’re nowhere near fear’ in ‘Game Flip’ or the fearless ‘Breaker of barriers, every breath, stormier’ in their self-titled anthem. The latter, with its old-school beats and new-age verses, always earns the loudest demands for an encore.</p>.<p>But their music refuses to be boxed in. Their discography offers something for everyone — both in stories and sound, Preeti states. They are experimenting with electronic, retro, Afro beats, and R&B. Some members are even training in konnakol, the rhythmic vocal art of Karnatik percussion.</p>.<p>They’ve released five singles and two collaborations, and their 2025 calendar is quickly filling up. A song and video with Tamil hip hop group, Madurai Souljour, is set for release soon. An electronic music collaboration with a women-led collective is in the pipeline. Their track ‘Bomb Hai’, “about what it feels like to be girls in Bombay”, is 90% complete.</p>.<p>Their Germany tour was <br>validation for the path they’ve chosen — and they have no plans of slowing down. “We were representing our country, culture, and language. We were celebrated for who we are, not who we could be,” Preeti says.</p>
<p>March has been a breakthrough month for Wild Wild Women, an all-female hip hop collective from Mumbai, believed to be India’s first. They made their international debut with a tour in Germany, marked Women’s History Month with a show at a Bengaluru museum, and performed five rap songs as part of legendary composer M M Keeravani’s 50-member orchestra.</p>.<p>“We’ve left behind all the backlash we faced from men — we’re moving onward and upward,” says Preeti N Sutar, co-founder of the four-year-old collective of rappers, B-girls, graffiti artists, and skateboarders.</p>.<p>Preeti (HashtagPreeti) and her co-rappers — Ashwini Hiremath (Krantinaari), Shruti Raut (MC Mahila), Jacquilin Lucas (JQueen), and Pratika E Prabhune (Pratika) — aren’t just breaking hip hop’s glass ceiling; they are rewriting its rules. Taking to the stage in saris, they deliver hard-hitting verses in a fusion of their native languages (Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi) and English.</p>.<p>The sari was Ashwini’s idea, and now, the team — aged 23 to 31 — says it gives them an undeniable sense of power. Their sari collection keeps growing, with no repeats on stage. Often, they borrow from their mothers.</p>.<p>Hailing from Belagavi, Karnataka, Ashwini and Preeti founded Wild Wild Women to address the glaring absence of female talent at cyphers. The few women in the existing hip hop crews were treated as side acts. The fight for equality echoes in their songs and they are “lucky” to be the voice for other women — be it the assertive ‘Hip hop was a dream, now my bars don’t let me chill’ in ‘I Do It For Hip Hop’, the defiant ‘Only males in our sight, but we’re nowhere near fear’ in ‘Game Flip’ or the fearless ‘Breaker of barriers, every breath, stormier’ in their self-titled anthem. The latter, with its old-school beats and new-age verses, always earns the loudest demands for an encore.</p>.<p>But their music refuses to be boxed in. Their discography offers something for everyone — both in stories and sound, Preeti states. They are experimenting with electronic, retro, Afro beats, and R&B. Some members are even training in konnakol, the rhythmic vocal art of Karnatik percussion.</p>.<p>They’ve released five singles and two collaborations, and their 2025 calendar is quickly filling up. A song and video with Tamil hip hop group, Madurai Souljour, is set for release soon. An electronic music collaboration with a women-led collective is in the pipeline. Their track ‘Bomb Hai’, “about what it feels like to be girls in Bombay”, is 90% complete.</p>.<p>Their Germany tour was <br>validation for the path they’ve chosen — and they have no plans of slowing down. “We were representing our country, culture, and language. We were celebrated for who we are, not who we could be,” Preeti says.</p>