Not competing with any rapper; everyone is important: Divine
Rapper Divine has come a long way — from rapping in the gullies of Mumbai to now being the inspiration behind actor Ranveer Singh’s character in the film Gully Boy, which is being helmed by filmmaker Zoya Akhtar. Divine tells us that the journey to fame hasn’t been easy.
“When I started making songs, it was about my surroundings, my city. People around me thought I was nothing special. I was just one kid from Mumbai who had a mic in his hand. Every parent, of course, wants that their kid should become an engineer. But the place that I am coming from, you have to break through television or some major show like Indian Idol. [Also] there’s no consistent music since it takes time to learn things,” says Divine, whose songs include Jungli Sher (2016) and Farak (2017).
Sharing how people reacted to his decision to venture into rapping in Hindi, he says, “A lot of people make fun, even your friends, but you have to be brave. What made it possible for me is the love that I got from people. It has still not sunk in how a spark became a fire.”
Divine, who debuted in Bollywood music with Paintra in the 2017 film, Mukkabaaz, adds, “This is my lane, and I am not trying to compete with any other rappers. I feel every rapper is important, whether he’s talking about cars or the streets, it was always a part of hip-hop. We will sound boring agar woh part hip-hop ka nahi hoga toh. They are co-related to each other, and I love the whole scene, it’s beautiful right now. I have nothing to complain about.”