Hear Nas Jump In with Divine and Naezy on ‘NY Se Mumbai’
The American rap legend is also revealed to be executive producer on upcoming hip-hop drama ‘Gully Boy’
Rapper Nas, Divine, Naezy and Ranveer Singh team up for JioSaavn's Artist Originals release 'NY Se Mumbai' (from left). Photos: Matt Salacuse (Nas); Courtesy of the artist (Divine); Courtesy of Bira 91 (Naezy and Ranveer Singh)
On Indian hip-hop’s biggest stars Divine and Naezy’s first collaboration since 2015’s “Mere Gully Mein,” they have a super special guest ”“ American rap titan Nas. JioSaavn’s new Artist Originals (AO) release “NY Se Mumbai” comes in association with the launch of Bollywood film Gully Boy, which Nasir Jones aka Nas has been listed as an executive producer for.
The song, produced by Grammy-winning Dwayne Shippy aka iLL Wayno (Nicki Minaj, Sting + Shaggy), is a call to roots featuring verses by Nas, Naezy and Divine, throwing down about their upbringing; Whether it’s Nas’ hustle through the Nineties, Naezy’s struggle through the streets to keep it together and Divine’s takedown of Internet trolls. The chorus also features the occasional shoutout from Gully Boy’s lead actor Ranveer Singh.
With Naezy, Divine (who counts Nas as a formative influence) and Singh recording out of Mumbai and Nas in Los Angeles, the record was developed with AO producers XD Pro in Toronto; iLL Wayno in New York. JioSaavn co-founder and CEOÂ Rishi Malhotra says, “When we first learned of Gully Boy and [director] Zoya [Akhtar]’s approach to telling this important generational story, we knew this was an important moment in music history. It was an opportunity to make history yet again with a global collaboration on a record that could be iconic.”
“NY Se Mumbai,” which comes a few weeks after the launch of Gully Boy’s soundtrack featuring Indian hip-hop’s latest and best talent across 18 tracks, is described in JioSaavn’s press release as “the musical counterpart to the film’s raw and poignant visual storytelling.”
ILL Wayno, who produced the title track off reggae/popstar Shaggy and pop-rock legend Sting’s 2018 album 44/876, said in a statement, “Working on ”˜NY Se Mumbai,’ for me, was an affirmation of my understanding that hip-hop has a global reach and cultures around the world are more similar than they are different. We all share similar experiences and this song was a collaborative effort to showcase that.”
Hear the song on JioSaavn. The song will be out on all platforms on February 19th.
