Climate change is often considered an elite issue, and many people don’t necessarily connect it with politics. When capitalism expands unchecked, it disproportionately affects minorities and marginalised communities. So, we felt it was important to talk about climate change through a political lens. That became the perspective we wanted to bring to the song, and we started writing from there.

Kranti Naari (Ashwini Lingaraj Hiremath), a rapper from Mumbai, was the first person to reach out to us. Rani akka, a folk singer, sang the folk portions of the song. She comes from a marginalised community, and I felt that her voice would make the song even more powerful. We travelled to her village, Alangudi, to shoot the song. The shoot took place over two days, but we had been working on the song for about one or two months before that. The Kannada portion was sung by Kavi, a beatboxer from Bengaluru. She wanted to bring her own perspective as someone from the city and speak about climate change from a Bengaluru perspective.

I used to work with Neelam (an organisation founded by filmmaker Pa Ranjith), where I met Kavi, the beatboxer, who regularly attended the events. Around that time, I had started rapping, and we performed on a few stages together. I met Veraa through Neelam as well. Raaga and I connected through Instagram. We had the idea of forming a team and approached the organisers for a performance slot at Makkalisai. As I was already associated with the event, they agreed to give us one, which became our first performance together.

They then asked us for a team name, so we came up with Sollisai Sistahs on the spot. We wanted the name to reflect the sense of sisterhood we hoped to build within the rap community.

Yes! We had seen a lot of underground spaces before, and they were largely male-dominated. When we approached them, they often wouldn’t let us in. They would say, “We’re all girls.” So, we decided to create our own space— one that was inclusive and, more importantly, a place where we could learn, grow and support one another.

Rehearsals depend on where the events are happening. We have a couple of shows coming up in Bengaluru, so we will rehearse there. Our plans usually depend on the event and the number of artistes involved and what works best for everyone.

If you look at the underground scene, it can be quite difficult. People would sometimes say that it was easier for us because we were all women. As the first all-women rap group, we often heard comments that we were given opportunities simply because we were women, and that we could get access to spaces more easily.

At first, we found those comments difficult to process, but over time, we began to understand the weight and significance of being an all-women rap group in the scene. At the same time, people in other spaces have been supportive of us, and things have gradually become easier.

I don’t usually think about specific topics beforehand. I didn’t always know how to articulate what I was feeling, but I found it easier to express myself through writing and singing. I was deeply affected by issues such as NEET and honour killings, and I wanted to speak about them. That was when I began writing more intentionally about specific subjects. That’s how I’ve approached rap ever since—writing about the issues and experiences that affect me and finding a way to express them through music.

We all want this to grow into a much larger crew. We hope to bring more women rappers into the collective and eventually take it to an international stage.

I don’t know whether our music can bring about change. If it can, I believe that would be incredibly powerful. But I would say that it has already had an impact. I want our music to create that space for questioning and encourage people to think about these issues differently.

We are planning to release an EP as a team, and I think that will be coming out soon. I have also been working on a song for Vettuvam called World of Vettuvam, for which I wrote the lyrics and the rap portion.