Exclusive Premiere: Hip-Hop Artist D₹V and Producer Kreon Turn Up with Mysterious and Chill Sounds on ‘Mahal’

When New Delhi hip-hop artist D₹V aka Dhruv Rajpal read up about his city’s Malcha Mahal and the infamously reclusive Oudh royal family history tied to it, he worked in a piece of the story into his latest song “Mahal.”

The guitar-aided, lounge-y new track is produced by Kreon aka Rabhaya Chopra, who’d previously worked with Rajpal on the song “Savera” on the former’s self-titled album in 2020. Rajpal says, “We got in the studio, recorded some guitar samples over which he did his magic and we had the song. I wanted to release it independently, my childhood friend and collaborator Aavrit [Bagga, filmmaker] came through in a big way for the music video.” Kreon says his motive has often been to bring “new age rap artists to experiment on electronic influences sonics to create a unique listening experience” which works for venues as well as playlists.

The music video for “Mahal” by Bagga mirrors Rajpal’s distinctively chill rap as well as Kreon’s fluid production, featuring interpretive dancers as well as shots of a sunset on the beach. Rajpal adds that the making of the video ran into a spot of trouble and led them to hold off on releasing it until now. “We had shot the video but unfortunately the footage data was attacked by ransomware, leaving it inaccessible. We recovered what we could, re-shot some parts until we could have this perfect visual,” the artist says.

Bagga adds about the video, “[It] stands for diversity in a minimal environment and is an homage to performing arts and art forms. Realism plays a big role in our visual style. With this video we’re trying to set a benchmark for better visuals and poetic narratives.“

Watch the video for “Mahal” below. Stream the song here.