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Styling Divine · by R.H.S.
Please Listen To His Future Imeem.com Playlist
It was opening night for the delightful monster mash Cloverfield so my girlfriend and I drove to the local multiplex, hoping to catch the 8:00 showing. An hour-long wait only allowed us to purchase tickets for the latest slot at 11:00, which left us with ‘nuff time to kill. Shorty-wop wanted to dip back to her rest to perform some mysterious female cosmetic ritual or another, possibly involving curl activator, and I was never fond of loitering for the sport of it so we jetted towards the exit.
On our way out I caught, in the corner of my eye, what appeared to be a rhyme cipher forming out front. For a nanosecond I thought my subconscious invented this image because it had been years since I had seen any local kids doing anything of the sort. I stopped to listen, feeling a little out of place among teenagers but still curious to see if any of them were showing skills. Most of the rappers were mediocre as can be, but the beatboxing was above par so I stuck around even after my girl took the keys to the car and kept on walking.
It wasn’t belong before a Puerto Rican kid with one of those smooth but cold Mobb Deep type deliveries took the spotlight and proceeded to outrhyme everyone in attendance, flipping styles and an advanced vocabulary with ease and attracting the notice of more than a few jocking mallrat chicks. I was genuinely impressed that son was able to catch wreck without cursing or engaging in absurd gun talk and had whole verses dedicated to fairly heavy themes of life, death, damnation, and redemption and the like.
He noticed that I was nodding along to his rhymes and introduced himself as “Divine,” which he explained to be a nod to Dante’s Divine Comedy, which is a fairly impressive literary allusion for a seventeen year old. I kicked a few verses for him and explained that I made beats, owned a few pieces of basic recording equipment, and knew lots of producers and musicians who could help him in his quest to craft songs of quality and depth.
After meeting his parents and assuring them that I would encourage Divine to pursue admission to a four-year college while assisting his creative endeavors, I introduced him to my most trusted collaborators, Verge and Adam. Verge is an IAR-educated producer who rocks an MPC2000 to great effect but never worked extensively with any vocalists, and Adam is a guitarist and engineer who is patient and creative enough to craft riffs perfectly suitable for hip hop tracks.
Between us, our equipment stash is not extensive, but it’ll work for now – we have the MPC, an MXL-990 microphone, Rockit-8 studio monitors, a 10” subwoofer, an 808 groovebox, an Omega Lexicon audio interface for my (lol) Dell Inspiron B130, a few keyboards and mixers, and a few other gadgets and programs that should at least allow us to record and edit some songs to the point of being listenable. It’s a humble beginning, but we all agree that the collaboration will be productive. We stay in touch through laptops and cellphones, using voice recorder apps and MMS messaging to quickly communicate spontaneous ideas, Divine on his high-school-oriented Sidekick Slide while I represent with a Blackberry Curve.
Surely questions remain – will we succeed at creating songs that are profound and dope? If we do, will we be able to utilize the various avenues of promotion available to us effectively? Is there room for an artist like Divine in a crowded market; will we be able to locate his potential fanbase and secure live shows for him? Will we ever make back any of the money we invest into this, and if so is it ultimately worth it?
I’ll keep you posted.
Update: if you’d like to hear what Divine has accomplished on his own, you can visit his myspace page HERE
And if you want to hear some of Verge’s beats you can stream HERE
Comments for "Styling Divine"
sounds dope! Get me some tracks when they’re done!
Aidan
— aidan Feb 19, 01:47 PM
The kid sounds dope and clever
If he be open to collaborate hit me up…
— Jimmy Valentime Feb 19, 02:16 PM
Aidan, Jimmy and anyone else who is interested – I added a link to Divine’s myspace page to give people an idea of how he rhymes and show what he’s accomplished on his own. Although his current tracks are respectable for a high school effort, i do plan on upping the ante considerably in terms of recording and production quality and giving him the means to grow conceptually and vocally. And once we have some good audio completed, even rough drafts, I’ll be posting them. Stay tuned.
— R.H.S. Feb 19, 02:58 PM
I also added Verge’s myspace link.
— R.H.S. Feb 19, 03:16 PM
I think when you added Verge’s link, the link to Divine’s page was compromised.
— Jay B Feb 19, 03:58 PM
This is my boyy yoo, we just take out competition easily, so easily that no1 even raps with us anymore, and if they do, they get wrecked (not to sound cocky) but thats what happens, i was beatboxin for him since every1 was lyk afriad to beat box lol, but we are workin on an album now and a music videoo hollaaaa
— SLiCKK Feb 19, 03:58 PM
Okay, I fixed the links to Verge and Divine’s respective myspace pages. Good looking out, Jay B.
— R.H.S. Feb 19, 04:26 PM
Give this dude some walking around cash so he can get a real jersey.
— Josh Howard Feb 19, 05:16 PM
Yooo Its Dvine, goood looks on the support guys, it means alot to me. if u want to get in direct contact with me. message me on myspace or my aim screename. thaNx AlOTTt
— D*vine Feb 19, 05:26 PM
Josh – noted. Next time leave your real email address so we can be real and thank you for your real thoughtful suggestions. Be real and playa-participate!
In any event, does anyone have any auggestions for an addition to Divine’s moniker? So as to distinguish him further from Father Divine or Divine Styler? Something cool and easily abbreviated or truncated.
— R.H.S. Feb 19, 05:28 PM
MY DUDE DOING BIG THINGS, IM HIS MAIN INFLUENCE AND LOOK WHRE HE AT NOW HAHA...DO YA THING HOMIE
— DAF Feb 19, 05:29 PM
Divine Skillz?
Or Divine Right, maybe…
— Antonio Feb 19, 05:57 PM
“GET A REAL JERSEY”?????? Are you kidding me? Kids rocken a Wake Forrest Jerz. Prob. Duncan. Ura Retard. Thaat jerseys an ill ThrowbAck,
——————————->BNfIt
— Benifit Feb 19, 06:37 PM
Ha, Divine Right is kinda ill actually…
— R.H.S. Feb 19, 06:39 PM
DiViNe is a good friend of mine and I have always said that his style was hott. Being that I am a singer we have always found a common ground. I am so proud of him!!
— Priscilla M Feb 19, 07:03 PM
DIVINE is nastyyyy thats it plain and simple, came through to my crib and spits fire. Keep doin ya thing kid, its good to see some real talent get recognized.
— Siszy Feb 19, 07:13 PM
deammm papo u did a lot
— MO Feb 19, 07:21 PM
just keep doing ya thang papo
— MO Feb 19, 07:24 PM
yo kidd keep it up…shits nasty my dude- Haye$
— HaYE$ Feb 19, 11:24 PM
WAHT YUU TRYNA PULL GUY ?! hah .. iTs pacetti.. whadss good.. i remember havin a tlk wid yu about this kinda shit goin down last year.. lol this is tht once in a lifetime chance ta get BIG.. keep doin ya shit.. cuz rite b4 yu even kno it. yuu goin ta be outta jerzz ndd someplace high class. this is only the beginning my brother. keep it real. nd keep it fresh. haha yaa digg pCee guyy.
— pacetti Feb 20, 05:07 PM
yo waz gud cuz ur music iz sweet!...keep it up man…representin my cuzin “divine”
— eli Feb 20, 05:24 PM
Tha dude nasty nd thats it lyke ive sen him just shread ppl nd u send him a word nd hell kill it ..Deff need to be getitn up ..HIs shty fire
— Chris Feb 20, 05:32 PM
Watch out for this dude
— thA kiD Feb 20, 06:55 PM
YO DAT SHIT WAS FRESH SON YOU GON MAKE IT… YO YOU KNO YOU GOTTA HOOK MY SET UP RITE?
— J-WOOD Feb 20, 07:01 PM
Isn’t Divine the name of that dogshit eating cross-dresser down with John Waters? I’m jus sayin’.
— dante severe Feb 20, 09:47 PM
divine is so sexy i want to lick his weenie
— sexy Feb 21, 12:27 AM
hey Divine you are awesome I love your style and how you rhyme you rock my word. Love ya
— Carlita Feb 21, 12:32 AM
DIVINE is nastyyyy thats it plain and simple, comes to school and spits fire. Keep doin ya thing kid, its good to see some real talent get recognized. i want some tracks when there done
— PASSION....MS ELMO CHEEKZ Feb 21, 12:42 AM
Dante Severe – I’m not up on cross-dressers or John Waters so I cannot comment. Perhaps you should start a blog on the topic to keep us all updated if you haven’t already?
— R.H.S. Feb 21, 12:55 AM
You’re all invited to coprophelia.gov for further enlightenment.
— dante severe Feb 21, 09:45 AM
not to hate, but on sewage pipes..what’s with man’s kicking that copywrite shit. “i use your rhymes as an example of what not to write” – fuck soundcheck, i think.
same with that “if hip hop was sex your whole crew would be abstinent.”...copy had some line like “if rap was fuckin your whole crew would be celebate” or something like that.
not jockin, just curious.
— BIG Feb 21, 04:01 PM
BIG, I’m pretty sure nobody outside of Scandinavia or Iowa listens to Copywrite, so I’d chalk it up to coincidence.
— R.H.S. Feb 21, 04:15 PM
Copywrite is good, anyway…
As for the “original” Divine, yes, he is a transvestite with John Waters connections.
But I don’t think anyone in the hip hop community knows anything about him, so it should not be a problem…
— Antonio Feb 22, 10:48 AM
Dazz Wazzup ma Dude, Keep spittin firee, its nice to see an Ill Rapper get Recognized. Shreddinnn upp da freestyle’s at school n thaaa mall n shitt haha,
This Dudee gon make it BIG i knoo it
— REASONN Feb 22, 10:56 AM
Thats what hiphop is all about to me. I hope this thing evolves and all of your careers prosper due to this. Theres so many cats out there, constantly in the spit circles, with no place to shine except the front of malls, in back alleys and parks. I wrote about this is exactly what hiphop is missing these days, a while back, and its good to see that it may potentially be coming back with a vengeance. Good luck to devine, his family, and you and your friends on your endevours to be producers. I’d love to review some of your tracks and help promote you/him.
— Silvano Feb 22, 10:54 PM
Silvano – thanks for reading the post and for the wrds of encouragement. I’m going to keep posting on Divine and our quest to bless him with beats so stay tuned. And when we have some finalized songs I’ll let you know.
— R.H.S. Feb 22, 11:24 PM
No problem. Subscribed to your feed, I’m interested in following your progress, and also submitted this post to my other site, www.rap-it-up.net to help spread the word.
— Silvano Feb 23, 12:46 AM
remyy iss the best ever and nobodyy cann comparee too himm !
loveee youuu =]
- em
— Mommiee =] Feb 24, 09:57 PM
Checked out his tracks on his myspace page, and was thoroughly impressed. He seems to have some talent, and versatility. With a little help in the production, and song writing departments, I think you guys can mold the next Big Pun, mixed with a little bit of Big L. Really interested in seeing what you guys can do together, and its good to see you have his parents backing as well. Good luck, and keep us updated :D Anxiously awaiting hearing some tracks you guys are working on.
— Silvano Feb 24, 11:31 PM
i knoww thiss kidd and i agree hess madd good he raps differentlyy fromm everyonee elsee more inteligentt likee..
— adam Feb 24, 11:40 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEXwScbDBNs
^^^
Someone needs to sign that kid put something out quick.
— farsideoff Feb 25, 01:44 AM
@adam, thats not Divine is it?
— Silvano Feb 26, 04:46 AM
Silvano, no that’s not Divine.
— R.H.S. Feb 26, 12:10 PM
ohword’s been great for a minute, i’m looking forward to seeing you take it to the next level and taking us behind the scenes of the creative process.
best would be if you could post regular weekly updates with short grimey mp3s, or justblaze.tv-style video of you guys rehearsing and making songs, along with footage of live shows and cyphers.
good luck!
— london Feb 26, 01:59 PM
dude’s got skill and an ill throwback delivery…. a breath of fresh air
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— reef Feb 26, 11:49 PM
London – those are excellent suggestions and I’m pretty sure we’ll do all that and more.
— R.H.S. Feb 27, 02:27 PM
The story is ill…hope it plays out well.
— lou911 Feb 28, 03:42 PM
Checked out the myspace and My Final Heaven definitely feels like AIM’s Cold Water Music. Keep it coming.
— evan Feb 28, 08:16 PM
Sounds great RHS
Be sure to know that if your hard work and efforts results in an album, that we all will be ripping it up to rapidshare with mirrors on megaupload .. :)
— Copy fool Mar 1, 01:57 PM
no, this is ill hip-hop:
http://www.myspace.com/intellectualv10l3nc3
— simunic Mar 3, 01:42 AM
LOL@ Copy fool. We’ll try to sell t-shirts to make up for it.
— R.H.S. Mar 3, 04:32 AM
me and divine just did 2 tracks for “ohword” so they shud be up in another post soon
thanks
stay posted
— SLiCKK Mar 29, 09:38 PM
remmyy rhymess aree sickk and he is the bestt rapper ever and if u havnt heard his music u better start listenin.
i lovee my cookie monster lotss =]— Mommiee =] Apr 10, 09:08 PM