SISTERHOOD OF TAMIL RAP

Solisai Sistahs may have started as a one-woman army. But now, this all-women rap group from the city has four rappers who want to bring about a change in society through their meaningful lyrics and foot-tapping beats

-  SONU M KOTHARI

ON a lazy Sunday morning in 2021, as she was adjusting the camera's focus to capture a family who were evicted from what they call their home, their cries turned out to be a trigger for Abishaa.

Living in RA Puram for over a decade, this family built a home on the banks of a waterbody closer to a real estate property. Wanting to expand their resources, the realty firm approached the court with a PIL, and eviction was declared.

"I was approached to film a protest regarding the eviction.

Being there made me realise that we live in a society surrounded by injustice," says Abishaa (stage name: B-Shaa), cinematographer and the key person in the formation of Sollisai Sistahs, an all-women-rap group, a first in Tamil Nadu.

The protest became bigger when one of the family members died and there were media vans and mediapersons with mics mounting the apartment. "Before the death of Kannaiyan, there was nobody to question the injustice they were put through by the court eviction and the builders.

When a death is reported, all of a sudden, everybody is interested in the news. This incident was too heavy on me," she explains.

Trying to wrap her thoughts, Abishaa writes, "Nathi kara oro veedunu solli, erikarai oram kudukara veedu, theru peyaru la irukura jaathi a alikura, jaathi veri pudichu nee cheri a alikura (You say the house is on the banks of a river, and you give a house by the lakeside, you abolish the caste names from the names of the streets, in a frenzy of getting rid of castes you destroy the slum)". With this, she stepped into the world of rapping. She performed this at The Movement, a community representing Tamil Nadu Hip-Hop artistes. It is a crew that meets at Anna Nagar Tower Park regularly and performs.

Getting motivated by such groups, Abishaa started working on her raps day and night.