BENGALURU: When rapper Vivian Fernandes more popularly known by his stage name, Divine, utters the lines, “Chhota sa main ladka, chhoti cheezo pe main bhadka mere daal me nahi tha tadka,” in his hit single Jungli Sher, people seem to relate to the rapper’s angst and anger growing up in the slums of Mumbai.
City Express caught up with the rapper ahead of his gig with Indian-America rapper Svetha Rao a.k.a Raja Kumari, in Bengaluru at The Humming Tree on Friday.
Since 2011, when he burst into the underground music scene, Vivian has gone on to totally upend the genre of hip-hop music and rap in India. At a time when hip hop and rap were and still are primarily dominated by the likes of the Honey Singhs and the Badshahs, the Mumbai rapper has created a niche that is fast resonating with the young who seem to be sick and tired of the same old themes of parties, sex and alcohol in mainstream Indian/Hindi rap and hiphop.
As one avid fan puts in the comment section of one of Vivian’s videos on Youtube, “Real rap comes from streets not from rich production houses! Keep up! Here is a brief interaction with the rapper.
Bengaluru is a place where metal and rock are relatively more popular than hiphop and rap. Do you intend to change all that and frequent the city more often?
I think Bangalore as a city is open to all kinds of music as I saw in my last gig here (He was in the city around two years ago). Yes, Bengaluru will be a regular fixture on my tour calendar.
Can you describe how your collaboration with Svetha Rao (Raja Kumari) for the single, City Slums, took place and what the experience was like?
We worked on this track more than a year before it came out. This was our first collaboration and It’s great to see the track doing well.
Who are your favourite rappers ?
I’ve been a big fan of Nas (from USA) for a long time now.
What are some of the things you keep in mind while writing your songs?
In terms of writing, I always try to draw inspiration from my own experiences
After the success of songs like Mere Gully Mein, Jungli Sher and others, a gig to UK, what does the road ahead look like?
I have a lot more new music that I’m working on and hope to share with everyone