Vivian Wilson da Silva Fernandes (born 2 October 1990), known professionally as Divine (stylized as Divine), is an Indian rapper of Goan descent.
2011
Divine started his career as an underground rapper in 2011 after discovering hip hop on a T-shirt.
A friend of his wore a T-shirt of 50 Cent's first album Get Rich or Die Tryin' at school.
The same friend gave him his first MP3 CD with hip-hop music on it which inspired him to start rapping in English.
He was part of the hip hop crew Mumbai's Finest.
He often raps about his own life experiences, such as the life of the poor people in Mumbai and his upbringing with a single mother.
He cites American rappers such as Nas, Eminem, Big L, Tupac, 50 Cent, and Rakim as his influences.
2013
Born and raised in Andheri, Mumbai, Divine started gaining popularity after the release of his single "Yeh Mera Bombay" in 2013.
2014
Following the release of his song "Yeh Mera Bombay", Divine obtained the attention of Sony Music India while performing at the Blue Frog Festival 2014 in Mumbai, and shortly after signed a contract with them.
The song later won the Best Video of the Year award by Rolling Stone India that same year.
2015
He released his breakout single "Mere Gully Mein" featuring Naezy on 16 April 2015.
The song went viral and many Bollywood celebrities shared it on social media.
He collaborated with Indian DJ Nucleya on the track "Jungle Raja" from Nucleya's album Bass Rani, which helped him gain even more popularity.
2016
The song won Best EDM track of the Year at the GiMA Awards in 2016.
On 24 March 2016, his debut solo single "Jungli Sher" was released and it ruled the charts because of its raw depiction of the life of the poor in Mumbai.
He took the song to the Breakfast Show ahead of BBC Asian Network Live on 29 April 2016.
He appeared on the BBC Asian Network on the Charlie Sloth Show''; he was the first Hindi-speaking rapper to freestyle on the show and also the first to rap in Hindi with the name-giving host in attendance.
He was also featured on Brapp TV.
Divine also collaborated with Nucleya on another hit track, "Scene Kya Hai" off Nucleya's album Raja Baja.
2017
He was featured on "Daru Daru" with Deep Jandu and Gangis Khan, his first commercially oriented song, which came out on 10 January 2017.
His next solo single, "Farak", was released on 16 February 2017 and topped the Indipop charts on iTunes India.
He appeared as a feature on the record City Slums by Indian-American rapper/singer/songwriter Raja Kumari in May 2017.
City Slums was further certified triple platinum In India by IMI.
2018
In 2018, Divine terminated his contract with Sony Music India.
He released a remix to Lil Pump's "Gucci Gang" called "Gully Gang" independently on 18 January 2018.
The song was perceived well by both critics and fans and helped him garner more attention.
On 5 April 2018, he followed up with "One Side" produced by Byg Byrd.
The video was produced by Red Bull Media House and came out on the rapper's own YouTube channel.
His next single, "Teesri Manzil", earned him a copyright strike from Zee Music Company a few hours after its release and was deleted from his channel.
It was eventually re-released on 14 December 2018 with some changes in the lyrics.
He released "Junoon", the intro to his upcoming first full-length album, on 10 November 2018.
2019
He broke through with the release of "Mere Gully Mein" in 2019, which featured fellow Mumbai-based rapper Naezy.
The album's name, Kohinoor, was announced on 13 February 2019 on Apple Music's Beats 1 radio show hosted by Ebro Darden.
The album release was announced to be sometime in April 2019 but was finally released later.
In July 2019, Divine released a documentary film about his career so far entitled Gully Life - The Story of Divine.
It first aired on TV on channels such as the Discovery Channel and was released on Divine's YouTube channel a week later.
On 20 August 2019, Nas' Mass Appeal Records and Universal Music India launched Mass Appeal India and signed Divine.
2020
On 12 December 2020, Divine became the first Indian rapper to be featured on Spotify Times Square billboard in New York City for his album Punya Paap (2020), which had claimed the top spot on Apple Music India.
He made his debut at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards in 2022 becoming the first Indian hip-hop star to attend the Grammys.
His song Baazigar from his latest album Gunehgar got blow up on various social media platforms lately.
