‘It’s more safe to be a lady rapper right now than it was 4 yrs ago’

Making a mark for herself in the city is our interviewee of the day, Pratishtha Patny, a psychology graduate and a rapper. This week for our special weekly column of Hyderabond, she shares her association with Hyderabad, her journey in the city as a rapper, and more.

Tejal Sinha

Over the years, Indian female rappers have become increasingly independent in their artistic expression.
Well, one amongst them is Hyderabad’s very own, Pratishtha Patny, who goes by the gender-neutral name “Storme” to express herself more authentically. A psychology graduate and a rapper, she dreams of becoming a famous personality with a positive influence on culture and currently working towards showcasing her creativity while raising awareness on mental health concerns.
Born in Pune, Maharashtra, she shares her association with Hyderabad, “Since my father was serving in the army, we’ve never stayed in the same city for more than 2 years. I’ve lived in around 10+ cities throughout my life and he wanted us to settle in Hyderabad once he retires. We’ve been here since 2011.”
Basically, her first encounter with rap was in 4th grade, when Rihanna and Eminem released Love The Way You Lie. She learnt Eminem’s part within days (and took weeks to perfect it), and that was so fun, she recalls. “I never knew it’d come to mean as much to me as it does right now, but here we are! When I rap, I feel relaxed and comfortable. It feels like “my thing”, you know?”
From trying out raps and doing covers, to making her own rap that went viral, Ghanta Na Hoga, calling the song a “feminism anthem” and rightly so because it speaks of the trials and tribulations of being a woman, menstruation and the taboos associated with it. The constant trouble that people have with women’s clothes and lifestyles, and a lot more!“You know honestly,” ecstatically gushes the lady rapper adding, “I was never expecting that song to go viral or have any response at all. But interestingly, it was pushed entirely by all the guys around me. It was the male rappers who helped me finalize the lyrics of the song, who taught me how to show aggression in my voice, who cheered and sang along with me whenever I performed it, and who pushed the song forward and shared it with all their friends. It was a really memorable experience of my life.”
On the rapping front, the city, she says, has been real fun, but it is mostly still treated like a hobby.  “It’s more comfortable and safe to be a woman rapper right now than it was 4 years ago when I started showing my talent at cyphers and events, but it’s definitely a long way from being taken seriously as a profession.  There are very few professional recording studios that allow us to record in our own style and professional labels are virtually non-existent in Hyderabad.”
The artist is currently working on a few collaborations that push her out of her comfort zone and allow her to say things she’s never said before. But what exactly is it gonna be? Let’s hear what she says: “I am contributing to an anthem for the hip-hop community in Hyderabad and working on 2 songs for other artists. It’s also really exciting to be chosen for another artist’s album. It’s really flattering to know that somebody would want my voice on their album.”
“I like that you have a little bit of everything here,” she says about what according to her makes Hyderabad different from other cities. “Hyderabad can be peaceful if you want it to be, a perfect place to party, culturally relevant, and have a lot of people traveling to perform here, but if you want to zone out completely you can isolate yourself and live in a resort with a pool for 2 days too. You can get sloshed out in a fancy club while listening to a really good live band, or you can go to meditation and yoga classes if that is what you enjoy. It’s crazy and I love it. I can be any version of myself here that I like, and that’s important to me. Just by going to a few events related to the topic of my interest, I can climb the social ladder very quickly and gain confidence here in Hyderabad.  There is a lot of potential here to be anything you want to be, especially among the younger crowds.”
But again, she wishes there were more labels and professional opportunities in Hyderabad, maybe it is just her who has not found the right people yet. Aside from that, it is calming to not have pressure or cameras or responsibilities to answer to anyone, here in the city, and also helps her take her own time to build herself from scratch! “The city has been more than open for rappers, especially women rappers,” she shares adding, “Even if I perform at a random cafe where no one knows me, they still respond really well the moment they know it’s a different voice (basically recognise that it’s a girl), you can get a lot of good attention really quickly and become popular if you really grab the opportunity.”
Yet there was a time in Hyderabad when she felt really uncomfortable walking into a club to perform as the only girl when she started in 2019! “I literally had to run away as fast as possible because of how uncomfortable I was with the boys. They were really narrow-minded and unwilling to take any other opinion apart from their own.  It feels a lot safer and cooler to be a lady rapper now. I can now finally focus on my performance rather than trying to constantly protect myself in Hyderabad.”
The city she says has a lot of potential but something that she dislikes is that they are nowhere close to achieving it or getting the kind of attention that they deserve as rappers. “It sucks to see some of your talented friends get completely ignored because no one is looking out for them at all,” she says as we head towards the end of the chat adding, “Hyderabad is my breeding ground. If I do achieve something tomorrow, I will always have this city to thank and to keep coming back to. It has been largely nice and supportive. For the most part, I have had really fulfilling and confidence-building experiences so I would never let go of this city no matter where I go.”