Homegrown rapper Divine has an important appeal to make to the youth of the country who are passionate about music - if you are passionate about music, do not restrict yourself to just rap.
“It is not just about rap all the time. You don’t have to restrict yourself to become a rapper or a producer. There is a behind the scene as well. There is a management team behind me, a drummer on stage with me, people doing the lights and visuals… So, if you are going to enter the music scene, there are many ways to contribute because at the end of the day, we are making music and rapping is a part of it,” states Divine at VH1 Supersonic in Pune.
The first day of the three-day music festival, VH1 Supersonic in Pune, saw ‘apnabantai’ Divine taking over the stage and performing some of his biggest hits, including Azaadi from Gully Boy.
“It was my first time at VH1 Supersonic and I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to wrap the scene. The response was crazy and since it is Pune, which is very close to Mumbai, it is like playing at home,” he said minutes after his performance, which sent the crowd into a frenzy as he performed Vibe Hai, Chal Bombay and Kohinoor from his album, Kohinoor. “People like to jump and party when they are at the concert but today we had a different set. We were not going to do as many jumping songs but we had to because the crowd was so into the ‘concert vibe’,” he adds.
Talking about his album, Kohinoor, Divine says that he is happy that people have responded well to an album. “All the tracks are doing well and I am very thankful that we can now put out albums into the scene as opposed to only singles which we were putting out earlier,” he says and immediately adds about the growing independent music scene in India. “Now, there is a whole crowd to hear us, see us and are buying tickets to watch us perform. The fact that Prateek Kuhad and I are headlining the first day of the festival and so many people have come to watch us perform is a big win for the community,” concludes Divine.
Alongside Divine, headlining the first day of the festival was heartthrob Prateek Kuhad, whose performance on ‘Cold/Mess’ witnessed everyone in the crowd humming along. The evening also saw a heartfelt performance by Ankur Tewari, who alongside his band The Ghalat Family, dedicated his latest song, ‘Woh Hum Nahin’, to the dadis (grandmothers) of Shaheen Bagh, a region in Delhi that has become the nucleus of anti-CAA protests.