Divine Beats!

HIP-HOP STAR AND RAPPER-SINGER DIVINE CHATS UP WITH AAKANKSHA NAVAL-SHETYE ON PERFORMING IN ABU DHABI FOR THE FIRST TIME AND HIS JOURNEY SO FAR

One of the most popular rappers of Indie music scene, Divine has been a leading name in helping this genre of music spread its wings all across the country. Last year, the singer made his debut at the 64th Grammy Awards, making him the first Indian hip-hop talent to attend the prestigious event. Winning fans globally, he recently also performed at the first edition of the world renowned Wireless Music Festival in Abu Dhabi alongside international headliners Travis Scott, Lil Uzi, Wegz, Black Sherif, Ali Gatie, M.I.A. and more. There’s a lot of excitement in the air, as I catch up with the hip-hop star in Abu Dhabi. In between the prep ahead of his performance, DIVINE talks about his success and journey and reveals what keeps him going. Excerpts from our exclusive chat

You’ve come a long way, from Mumbai to enjoying global recognition, including at the Grammy’s, so what’s success to you, because you’re scaling that and adding onto that…

Yeah! It’s a good feeling. It’s been a while now and I’m grateful.

I think creating music on a regular basis is success for me… to keep making music. Just keep going. That’s it. Only upwards.

So do you have Bollywood on the mind?

No. It was never my plan to get into Bollywood for playback singing.

I love Bollywood but I do this and I still think that I have to release albums, release collaborations with other artistes who I love to play with. So that’s the way forward.

So, what are the big collabs that we are looking at right now?

There are a couple of artistes that I can’t name. There’re a lot of songs that’re going to drop this year for sure. For now, I have Jonita (Gandhi) here with me. I have a couple of songs with her.

So, from the time that you started, when the rap music scene in India especially was not that big to now. What do you see the biggest change has been, especially since you’ve been at the forefront of that?

That we are here.

It’s the biggest thing happening right now that we are playing on the same stage as Travis and all these guys are huge in the hip-hop scene and we’re here.

What’s been your strength throughout?

Actually, my team. My team is really solid, and they keep me going. And my fans. Always!