Hip-hoppers and hip-hop lovers from the city had gathered at the Grand Ballroom in JW Marriott Kolkata as they played host to JW Marriott presents Divine Concert in association with t2.

Starting the night from 9pm, the sounds on March 27 were about heavy kicks, punchy snares and sizzling hi-hats with a vocalist rapping out his versus. The night was opened by Yush and Oh Arya who warmed up the audience just enough for J Trix to take centre stage. With his swag, he prepared the audience for MC Altaf from Mumbai who then cleared the stage for the much-awaited Divine. As the night proceeded with hip-hop beats and fire versus, the genre had taken a different turn for the after-hours scene that was hosted at Gold where Mr Bose, Arpan and Akshit Shetty took the console for a techno scene. Snapshots.

Music makers

The moment Divine was on stage, the audience cheered loud. Dressed like a rapper from the hood, Vivian Fernandes took centre stage to perform his originals like Kohinoor, a recent hit Mirchi and some favourites like Apna time ayega and Satya. Backing him up on the decks was JD, the official DJ of Gully Gang .

Our city’s own J Trix was second on the line-up. Dressed in a cap, a football jacket and pants, J Trix had the right attitude while performing. Backed by his producer SubSpace, the two performed their originals like Baap ko mat sikha, Heavy hai bhai and Bohot sahi. J Trix, who has been in the industry for four years, said: “The vibe was amazing, there were real hip-hop listeners at the venue and that too in such large numbers. They knew the lyrics of our tracks and were singing back to us and that got us really hyped.”

Our city’s own J Trix was second on the line-up. Dressed in a cap, a football jacket and pants, J Trix had the right attitude while performing. Backed by his producer SubSpace, the two performed their originals like Baap ko mat sikha, Heavy hai bhai and Bohot sahi. J Trix, who has been in the industry for four years, said: “The vibe was amazing, there were real hip-hop listeners at the venue and that too in such large numbers. They knew the lyrics of our tracks and were singing back to us and that got us really hyped.”

Oh Arya

Oh Arya and Yush (below) got things going for the evening. Oh Arya did a rap set, performing songs from his recent album and he also previewed some new music from his upcoming EP, Recession Proof. “It was a fantastic experience playing a set for a legend like Divine.

Yush

The audience was very supportive and, for a second, it felt like I was representing the local rap scene,” he said. Yush started his set with a feature track with UA Music along with some unreleased titles. His track, So Less Gooo, got it’s stage debut while the audience rocked with him during No Stress. “When the organisers contacted me I was more than pumped to open the show for the local and national legends. I was anxious about the reaction of Hindi rap listeners, but hip-hop was the common language,” he said.

Before Divine’s performance, MC Altaf had taken up the mic to perform his original tracks. The rapper from Dharavi, Mumbai, performed numbers like Soch and Cash do. The 19-year-old who’s real name is Altaf Shaikh had also rapped for Gully Boy, where he had lent his voice in the song India 91.

Before Divine’s performance, MC Altaf had taken up the mic to perform his original tracks. The rapper from Dharavi, Mumbai, performed numbers like Soch and Cash do. The 19-year-old who’s real name is Altaf Shaikh had also rapped for Gully Boy, where he had lent his voice in the song India 91.

Set up

How could one not enjoy a hip-hop gig when it is set up in such a grand manner? Visual jockey Philip Gordon was the man behind the visuals which were displayed on a LED screen. Keeping in mind that it was a hip-hop scene, Philip remembered to keep it in sync with the music, making the mood dark and bright according to what was necessary.