Street Smart

A wild city deserves a roaring soundtrack. And DIVINE’s made it his mission to score one for Mumbai

- Nidhi Gupta

At his first GQ photoshoot, DIVINE’s screaming his guts out. “Raargh!” he goes into the unplugged mic, facial muscles twisting into a sneer. “Gimme my check, put some respeck on my check…” he mouths the words to “Apeshit”, The Carters’ massive summer hit blasting from the studio’s speakers, as the hair guy fusses over his quiff. The Mumbai-based rapper is obediently following instructions from all directions: Loosen up, jump, twirl, kick the air, laugh, cross your arms, uncross your legs. Sing.

“This is the first time my fans will see me without my hat,” DIVINE comments as we leave the studio and wait on the street for an Uber. His black hat is back on, as is the gold tiger-embroidered Gucci fanny pack that he bought on a recent trip to Canada and is thrilled to be showing off. “I’ve never spiked my hair, followed any trends.” A fan jogs over from across the road, grinning widely. “Bhai, I thought it was you!” They take a selfie, DIVINE envelops him in a bearhug and gets into the car. “The hat and hip-hop are synonymous to me. In hip-hop, you’re nothing if not yourself.”

DIVINE’s story, as anyone with an internet connection and an Indian pin code will tell you, is an atypical rags-to-riches parable for the 21st century. A determined pursuit of “cool” in a country opening up to the world in the Noughties. In 2004, “I discovered hip-hop on a T-shirt,” Vivian Fernandes recalls. “A friend was wearing a 50 Cent tee. He then gave me a CD, the kind with 300 songs on it. I was hooked.”