DIVINE is the stage name of Vivian Wilson Fernandes, a rapper and songwriter born in 1990 in Mumbai. Much of his writing draws on growing up in the city's chawls, and his best work keeps returning to the same few subjects: where he grew up, what it cost to get out, and what it means to stay honest once you have. If you are new to Indian hip-hop, his catalogue is one of the clearest ways in. If you already know the hits, this guide is a way to hear the records in order.
This is a listening guide built from released work only. Album titles, dates, tracklists and featured artists come from Apple Music India, checked on 28 October 2026; career facts come from our DIVINE artist page, which cites Wikipedia and Wikidata. We don't quote stream counts, because they change daily and are easy to get wrong.
How DIVINE's catalogue is laid out
Before the albums there was a long run of singles. "Yeh Mera Bombay" in 2013 built his early audience; it isn't listed on Apple Music India, so we date it from public sources. "Mere Gully Mein", released on 16 April 2015 with fellow Mumbai rapper Naezy, is the record that changed things, for him and for how the rest of the country heard Mumbai street rap. "Jungli Sher" followed on 18 March 2016.
Then come five full-length records:
- Kohinoor — 9 Oct 2019 — 8 — Debut; ℗ Mass Appeal India / Gully Gang
- Punya Paap — 3 Dec 2020 — 11 — Topped Apple Music India, per our artist page
- Gunehgar — 10 Nov 2022 — 12 — Preceded by "Baazigar" with Armani White
- Street Dreams — 16 Feb 2024 — 7 — Joint album with Karan Aujla
- Walking on Water — 18 Dec 2025 — 16 — ℗ Gully Gang Records; includes one bonus version
Apple Music India also lists several 2026 "mixtape" compilations that put DIVINE alongside other artists. They aren't studio albums, so we leave them out.
Played in order, the albums follow a narrator who keeps getting older. Kohinoor is a statement of arrival. Punya Paap is about the guilt and pressure that come with it. Gunehgar looks back at the street years without romanticising them. Street Dreams is a two-man record, and Walking on Water is about legacy and how long a career can last.
12 essential DIVINE songs
1. Yeh Mera Bombay (2013)
The early single that first gave DIVINE a voice outside the cyphers. It's a portrait of a city rather than a boast, and you can already hear the documentary eye that runs through his later records. You'll find it on video platforms rather than in the Apple Music India catalogue.
2. Mere Gully Mein (2015), with Naezy
If you know one DIVINE song, it is probably this one. Two Mumbai rappers each describe their own neighbourhood. The production is spare and the delivery plain. The song and the "gully rap" wave around it are publicly linked to the 2019 film Gully Boy, whose soundtrack credits DIVINE alongside Naezy, Dub Sharma, Ankur Tewari, Midival Punditz, Karsh Kale and others. For the wider history, see Indian hip-hop pioneers.
3. Jungli Sher (2016)
Here DIVINE's swagger turns physical. It's a short, punchy song about holding his ground, released as a standalone single in March 2016.
4. Kohinoor (2019)
The title track and opener of the debut album, and the clearest statement of what he thinks he's worth. The album is only eight tracks, including an interlude credited to Nas, and features Shah Rule, Dave East, Sid Sriram and others. In 2019 a full-length major-scale record from an Indian street rapper, released partly through his own label, was a big deal.
5. Chal Bombay (2019)
Track six on Kohinoor. At under three minutes it works as a city anthem, and it shows how much his hooks had sharpened since the early singles.
6. Mirchi (2020)
Released as a single on 16 October 2020 with MC Altaf, Stylo G and Phenom, then included on Punya Paap. It's a crossover record that keeps his accent and his subject matter.
7. 3:59 AM (2020)
The opener of Punya Paap and one of the most confessional songs in the catalogue. It's the place where DIVINE drops the persona and writes about doubt. The same album includes "Walking Miracle" with Nas and Cocoa Sarai, the clearest sign of his international reach at that point.
8. Punya Paap (2020)
The title track closes the album and sums up its theme: the moral bookkeeping of someone who got out. In December 2020, according to our artist page, he became the first Indian rapper featured on Spotify's Times Square billboard in New York.
9. Baazigar (2022), with Armani White
The lead-in to Gunehgar, pairing a Mumbai rapper with a Philadelphia one. In 2022 he also attended the 64th Grammy Awards, which our artist page records as a first for an Indian hip-hop artist.
10. Gunehgar (2022)
The title track and opener of the third album. It's darker and more reflective, about the street years and what they leave behind. The album's guest list (Jadakiss, Russ, Jonita Gandhi, Wazir Patar) shows how widely he was working by then.
11. Top Class / Overseas (2024), with Karan Aujla
Street Dreams is a seven-track joint album with Punjabi singer-rapper Karan Aujla, so treat it as a conversation rather than a solo statement. "Top Class / Overseas" is the longest track at 4:48 and the best place to hear the two styles meet. "Yaad", featuring Jonita Gandhi, is the softer side.
12. Walking on Water (2025)
The title track opens his most recent album, a sixteen-track record released on 18 December 2025. It sounds like a victory lap at first, but its best moments are again about responsibility. From the same album, try "Doordarshan" for nostalgia and "Tequila Dance" with Hanumankind for a cross-generational pairing.
Where to start
- New listener: Mere Gully Mein → Kohinoor (album) → Punya Paap (title track).
- Album listener: play Kohinoor and Punya Paap back to back. They came out fourteen months apart and work as a pair.
- Collaborations first: Mirchi → Walking Miracle → Top Class / Overseas.
- Context first: read Indian hip-hop pioneers and Best Indian rappers in 2026, then come back.
Gully Gang and the label question
DIVINE runs his own label, Gully Gang. Apple Music's copyright lines show how that has changed over time: Kohinoor and Punya Paap carry "Mass Appeal India / Gully Gang", Gunehgar reads "Gully Gang / Mass Appeal", Street Dreams is marketed and distributed by Mass Appeal, and Walking on Water carries "Gully Gang Records" alone. Read in order, that's a rapper moving toward owning his own releases.
That matters as much as any single song. It's part of why "independent" in Indian hip-hop now often means owning the label, not just releasing outside the film system. Our guide to Indian independent record labels covers how imprints like this sit next to distributor-backed releases. Our artist page also lists Sony Music India and Universal among his label associations; we report credits as they appear on release metadata and don't speculate beyond that.
Collaborators worth following from here
DIVINE has worked with Nas, Pusha T, Nucleya and Raja Kumari, among others. For Indian follow-ups:
- Naezy: the other half of "Mere Gully Mein"
- Karan Aujla: his partner on Street Dreams
- MC Stan and Emiway Bantai: the generation that came up after the gully wave
- Seedhe Maut: Delhi's answer, with a very different writing style
- Prabh Deep: another inward, neighbourhood-rooted rap writer
How this list was made
We started from the albums as listed on Apple Music India, then picked songs that mark turning points: the first audience, the breakthrough, each album's central idea, and the international crossover. We left out remixes, compilations and soundtrack placements except where they shaped the story. Where a release isn't on the catalogue, we say so.
FAQ
What is DIVINE's real name? Vivian Wilson Fernandes. He was born in 1990 in Mumbai.
What is DIVINE's most famous song? "Mere Gully Mein" with Naezy (2015) is the record most often credited with breaking Mumbai street rap to a national audience.
How many albums has DIVINE released? Five full-length records: Kohinoor (2019), Punya Paap (2020), Gunehgar (2022), Street Dreams with Karan Aujla (2024) and Walking on Water (2025).
Is Street Dreams a DIVINE solo album? No. It's a joint album credited to DIVINE & Karan Aujla.
Is DIVINE independent? He runs his own label, Gully Gang, and has worked with Mass Appeal and other partners on releases. His latest album carries only the Gully Gang Records credit.
Was Gully Boy based on DIVINE? Public reporting connects the film's story to DIVINE and Naezy's rise. The film is fiction, and DIVINE is credited on its soundtrack.
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