Exclusive Premiere: Hip-Hop Artist Krantinaari’s Hard Hitting Debut Song

Whether it’s in her work as a graphic designer and illustrator or her recently-established hip-hop moniker Krantinaari, Mumbai’s Ashwini Hiremath wants to be as female-centric as possible through her art. Her debut single “Krantinaari” is a strong opening statement on exactly those things, in which she raps about equality and unity for women, documenting their daily struggles.

Krantinaari — who’s worked on the track with multilingual hip-hop crew Swadesi’s producer RaaKshaS aka Abhishek Shindolkar — says it’s been nearly a year of planning, recording, revisiting and reworking her debut. As an outgoing, “talkative, people person” Krantinaari got into hip-hop subconsciously at first, whilst watching pro basketball videos in eighth grade and then in college, squaring up to b-boys right after her National Cadet Corps regiment. While studying in Coimbatore in 2012 and subsequently working with women florists near Hubballi, she got to understand the issues of the common Indian woman in depth. “They faced a lot of domestic problems and they would often only open up about it when they were working with other women in a group,” she says.

In her bid to create a song that captured problems of patriarchy, misogyny and more, “Krantinaari” also addresses how women want justice, equality and unity. She adds, “The track aims at motivating and bringing all the women together to create a harmony between the genders.” In the video animated Shreshth Vyas featuring artwork by Boomranng Studio, there’s an air of strong conviction, enhanced by RaaKshaS’ bellowing production.

With the debut single out of the way, Krantinaari says she’s also writing about sustainable lifestyles and soon enough, her interest in design and music will also be bridged. She says, “I’m a person who wants to understand systems, I’m curious about why things are the way they are.”

Watch the lyric video for “Krantinaari” below. The track releases on all streaming platforms tomorrow.