Divine

Vivian Fernandes, better known by his stage name Divine, is an Indian rapper from Mumbai, India. He studied at St. John's Evangelist High School, Marol and RD National College. He started gaining popularity after the release of his single "Yeh Mera Bombay". He had success with Mumbai rapper Naezy after the release of his song "Meri Gully Mein". His life-based documentary 'Gully Life' was released on the Discovery Network on July and later on July 15 digitally on Red Bull TV and YouTube.

Early years

Like most of Mumbai's rappers in the mid-eighties, he started singing in English. He tried his hand at gospel or Christian rap — he also got the name Divine from that time. For a few years, he was part of the long-running crew Mumbai's Finest. His first Hindi track "Yeh Mera Bombay" was released in November 2013 as soon as it was released its views increased five times compared to his English songs. But he had to wait two more years, when he and Naezy joined the list of highly successful people, with the "Meri Gali Mein" viral in April 2015. In a concert held at the now-closed venue Blue Frog in Mumbai, director Akhtar and Sushil Chhugani of Sony Music India got their eye on his work. On the other hand, the idea of making Akhtar a "Gully Boy" was conceived and here Chugani signed a contract with Divine.

"We saw a kind of reality and honesty in him," says Chhugani. Chugani is no longer a manager of Divine but he has close friends and continues to guide him unofficially. Bass music producer Udayan Sagar aka Nucleia, who took Divine as a guest artist on his last two albums, agrees with Chhugani. He says, "There is a deep faith in his voice which cannot be artificial."

Career

On March 24, 2016, he released his debut single Wild Lion and topped the charts due to his crude portrayal of the lives of the poor in Mumbai. He took the song to a breakfast show before BBC Asian Network Live on 29 April 2016. He appeared on the BBC Asian Network in the Charlie Sloth Show and was the first Hindi-speaking rapper to freestyle on the show and the first to rap with a host in Hindi. He also appeared on Burp TV.

The street rap part has received praise as well as criticism — and even mockery. But Devine was never bitten by the parody that comedians like Mumbai's comedy group Tadpatri Talkies do. His supporting band includes guitarist Randolph Correa from Pentagram, Jai Rove Kavi, drummer from Indus Creed and Krishna Zaveri, a bassist from Skyharbour. Along with Gully Boy, Divine has also recorded tracks for other filmmakers who were looking for a certain type of gritty.

His contributions to Bollywood include a song sung by Nuclea in Anurag Kashyap's "Mukkabaaz" movie based on boxing and a tune composed by Amit Trivedi for Abhinay Deol's film "Blackmail".

Marketers also love their street style. He had Sued Gully recorded for Puma, and the Hero Company took him to record a song for the new bike launch.

His greatest success was that he could persuade his mother to leave her job and return to India. He insists that he will never go to any posh colony except JB Nagar of Andheri.