Divine: Need to keep putting out music despite the limitations we have at the moment

Mumbai-based rapper Divine talks about the importance of musicians adapting to the situation created by the lockdown, and feels that as a musician it’s his responsibility to keep people’s anxiety and stress at bay

The current Lockdown situation because of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis has led many musicians, including Mumbai based rapper Vivian Fernandes aka Divine, and his fellow rappers at Gully Gang, to “innovate and adapt” by focussing on releasing more music, and accepting the fact that live shows will not be possible in the near future.

Divine and his fellow Gully Gang rappers have released an eight-track EP, titled Shutdown.

“The music industry like most industries that were dependent on travel has suffered and the live business will take some time to go back to what it was, and that’s not an easy thing for most musicians, performers and live entertainment companies,” he says.

“However it is a situation where we need to perhaps innovate and adapt while we wait for the normalcy to resume and focus on putting out more music – which forms the foundation of our entire industry. In terms of recording, I had to prepare a makeshift recording studio at my residence since access to studios was not possible, it’s something that we’ve tried to do across the Gully Gang roster, in order to ensure we keep putting out music despite the limitations we have at the moment,” adds Divine who recently released an eight track long EP, titled Shutdown.

Yogesh Kurme, Siddhesh Jammi, Davis Klyton, Adtiya Vhatkar, Nitesh Patel and Nishant Mohite of the hip hop outfit 7 Bantaiz .

The EP, Divine informs, was not planned until the Lockdown was enforced. “The idea behind Shutdown came during the start of the lockdown. Me and the artists at Gully Gang had individual projects releasing this year but a lot of plans got delayed with the advent of COVID-19. We decided to put together a bunch of tracks which otherwise would have released as singles and also invited some collaborators like KRSNA, Sikander Kahlon, 7Bantaiz to be a part of the ensuing compilation,” he says, adding that as a musician, he wanted to keep the fans engaged, which was the also one of the intentions, behind releasing the EP.

“We wanted to give the fans something to cheer about despite the situation everyone’s facing – it’s something that happened despite the lockdown rather than because of it. Originally we’d intended for it to have 5-6 tracks which grew to be 8 – the name EP just stuck with it. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter if we call it an EP or an Album – as long as the fans enjoy it,” he says.

Rappers Shahrule, Frenzzy, Sammohit, Aavruti and Saifan.

“Considering there are more people on social media right now that ever before, as artists it’s important that we focus on adding value to peoples experiences and wherever possible – alleviate anxiety and stress. Art has been a source of strength for a lot of people including myself, that should continue,” he signs off.

Interact with the author on Twitter/@sammysamarth