Music
How DIVINE’s latest album Punya Paap took shape in post-lockdown India
The famous Mumbai-based rapper talks his desire to cut an album in a tight post-lockdown schedule and all the collaborations that made it possible.
Even though February 2020 might seem like a lifetime ago, it was at Vh1 Supersonic festival in Pune that DIVINE aka Vivian Fernandes played one of his last big-stage shows. Complete with pyrotechnics, guest appearances and a live band, DIVINE was in full flow on the back of releasing Kohinoor in 2019, that too via hip-hop titan Nas and Universal Music’s new glocal label Mass Appeal India.
What was evident at that show – and pretty much every DIVINE performance – is that touring and playing live is his lifeblood. As he points out over a phone call, it’s important that fans are part of that experience, which is why he doesn’t see himself doing a digital concert just yet. “I don’t feel that, man. I’m a guy who feeds off energy of people,” he says.
But as the pandemic situation taught him, he can’t depend on live shows. He calls it a reality check that self-made artists like himself can’t depend on “show money” alone. Admittedly, he misses being on the road.
“I love being in the studio as much as I love being on stage. I think that it’s a chin-check also, because I was always on the road and plus, most of our revenue for artists like us, the independent artists, are shows. So I think we got a chin-check that we shouldn’t depend on show money. We should have some source of other income, we should never depend on show money. I don’t think this hit so much for me, but a lot of independent guys got it. I think I learned that being on stage is a blessing and never take it for granted.”
Nevertheless, between June and July 2020, when lockdown restrictions eased in India, the one thing on DIVINE’s mind was putting out Punya Paap.
A title he had already picked from before – he says that he could have named his first album Punya Paap but decided against it – there’s vibes of virtue and sin across 11 slickly-produced tracks. There’s darker introspections on songs like the title track, ‘3:59 AM’ and ‘Mera Bhai’, as well as an eerie note of gratitude in ‘Top 5 D.O.A.’ But then there’s also break-free celebrations like ‘Walking Miracle’ (featuring a verse from Nas himself and American R&B singer Cocoa Sarai), ‘Shehnai’ and ‘Rider’. The party starts for DIVINE on songs like ‘Satya’ (which takes its chorus from ‘Goli Maar’ off the soundtrack for 1998 cult film Satya) and levels up instantly with the tropical club-ready banger ‘Mirchi’ and a buoyant, cheeky collab called ‘Disco Rap’ with Mumbai rapper friends D’Evil and MC Altaf.
All this executed during quarantine meant that DIVINE was keen to pull off something he’d spent time focusing on through the better part of this year. He says about making a record during the pandemic, “I felt like I had a lot of time to think, sit back and relax and work on my music. No phone calls, no shows and no traveling. I think it was the best way for me to express myself, because I had nothing else in my vision except the album. I was very clear that I will take this to the next level and I think I’ve done justice to what I wanted.”
One by one, everything fell into place even if it required a bit of navigating. Working with ace Indian producers such as Stunnah Beatz aka Rajdeep Sinha, Karan Kanchan and Phenom aka Pinaki Rattan, Shah Rule and more, including young part-time beatsmith Kanch aka Unmesh Walwatkar on ‘Rider’. DIVINE says, “Kanch works in a call centre from Monday to Friday. I didn’t even know this until I met him. And on Saturdays and Sundays, he makes beats. He sent this beat to Shah Rule and Shah Rule played me this sample. It was a sample so the first proper song he’s released is ‘Rider’ and I think that’s big.”
With Nas on ‘Walking Miracle’, DIVINE tells us that the American rap mogul was unwell when he recorded his verses and was perfect for the track. “He sent me the verse in November. It was a very tight timeline that way, because I wasn’t sure his verse would go through and thought about doing another verse on the track myself. But he came through,” DIVINE says with a hint of glee in his voice.
With ‘Drill Karte’, which plays up a new lexicon and also offers a drill-type beat from Stunnah, DIVINE got in rapper Dutchavelli, an East London rapper who had previously featured the Mumbai artist on a remix of his track ‘Bando Diaries’. DIVINE says, “He loved my flow and my movement. He connected with me and said he’d send me the verse. They all know that this part of the world listens to their music. His sister is Stefflon Don, who did a song with Sidhu Moose Wala. They know they’re connected on this side.”
With songs like ‘Disco Rap’ and ‘Mirchi’, DIVINE makes it clear that pandemic or not, he’s “a guy who goes out”. He explains, “I’m not a guy who sits at home and is on the computer all day. I’m a guy who has fun also, and that’s why it shows in my music too. ‘Disco Rap’ shows that. I’m not always grumpy or aggressive on my songs. I wanted to make some fun tunes too, that’s why these songs came onto the album.”
In terms of putting the album together, ‘3:59 AM’ was perhaps chronologically first, considering it was written in 2013. He recalls, “I came across a French choir and used the YouTube beat on my computer and rapped on it. It felt very catchy and an energy I would rap on. I wanted to bring this back for ‘Punya Paap’ and I told Stunnah that we should use this. There were a total of six or seven revisions of the beat and I think 20 versions of changing parts. We did a lot of work on that song.”
Even with all this rap firepower packed into Punya Paap, DIVINE is not nearly done. He says his prolific streak continues. “The best part of the album was when the lockdown started, I was in the studio every day and making like 25 scratches for tracks and about 30 samples for this album. First we shortlisted 15 and then we had about 12 or 13. I made it 11 because I wanted to make it tight. Maybe I’ll release one or two more songs on the deluxe version of the album, if everything is in place. I have two songs I really want to put out,” he says.
