D₹V’s Towering Album ‘Nakshatra’ Swerves Between Spiritual Journeys and Hedonism

Among the highlights on New Delhi hip-hop artist D₹V aka Dhruv Rajpal’s second album Nakshatra is “Sapne,” which appears towards the end of the journeying record as a stomping rap song that’s aspiring for arenas. Rajpal confirms just that to us.

He says about the song, “It’s like a rock song, really. It didn’t have to do much on that. I thought I’d re-record my vocals for a smoother take but the raspy-ness of it is what makes it. The verses are from my time in Chicago and San Francisco last year, that’s when I wrote it. It just felt like a dreamscape.”

Pounding drums, distorted guitars, D₹V’s hook about how his dreams have been fulfilled after a long arduous journey all make for an emphatic listen, over the beat co-produced by Smoxe Dawg and Rajpal himself. “A good guitar beat is quintessential D₹V,” the rapper-producer says and points to songs like “Ranikhet” also featuring his guitar work.

The rapper-producer has been playing guitar for about 15 years now and started in school, ripping out solos and riffs from prog bands like Dream Theater and Porcupine Tree in a covers band. “Like, terribly, of course… so bad,” he says with a laugh. In 2016, upon hearing Kanye West’s album The Life of Pablo, the hip-hop ambitions took shape. “It was the first album I heard front to back and I was immediately engulfed in it,” he says.

From then to now, Rajpal name-checks everyone from Gunna to Future to Travis Scott, but also Latin artist Rosalia and Led Zeppelin as influences on Nakshatra. In addition to Smoxe Dawg, production assists come from Mohit, Aakash, Memax, Venoz, Certibeats, Aryay, A Dawg, TheSkyBeats, Monks, Lil Help and Sick Music. Collaborations include Bombay The Artist, Boyblanck, Darcy (known for prior team-ups with D₹V) and Uday Bakshi.

Another known producer is Stunnah Beatz from Guwahati, who samples Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Californication” guitar riff on “Chadhai,” which is certainly one way to get a listener hooked. Rajpal says he heard the sample and was immediately down to work on it. “There was just so much depth attached to it,” he adds.

With Nakshatra, D₹V is two albums old now, with his debut album Dhruv Rajpal in 2020 introducing the artist as a frontrunner for all things mumble rap in India. For the 13-track Nakshatra, Rajpal takes influence from the ideas of a spiritual journey, self-destruction and self-preservation alike. Sonically, he knew after composing the title track “Nakshatra” that this was going to be the prominent sound of the album. “Heavy synths, lots of distortion. And, like just grit and beat switches,” he says.

Although the song “Zaaya” was out as a single, everything else was intended to be heard in one go. “Every everybody in the industry told me don’t do an album, that I have to do singles first or it wouldn’t be as impactful. In my head. It was supposed to be an album that comes out all at once. I knew that the songs that I make, I need to stack them,” the artist says about his plan to release Nakshatra in one go.

Among the rapper’s favorite moments on the record is when the album transitions from the debauched club vibes of “MCB” to the lightheaded “Ajmal.” “It’s a detox after ‘MCB.’ Like a reawakening, the morning is about to hit, the sun is about to come up again. It’s a new day now. Clean slate,” he says.

Listen to ‘Nakshatra’ below. Stream on more platforms here.