American Rapper Redveil in India: ‘I Wanna Bring That Chaotic Energy to Every Room I Play’

With American hip-hop artist Redveil aka Marcus Morton performing at the SAUCE Festival and pre-parties in New Delhi, Bengaluru (both last week) and Mumbai (March 25th and 26th), in a rare instance, India is arguably getting to experience the birth of a new-age rap star in real-time.

Not only is the 18-year-old rapper from Maryland a prolific, shapeshifting voice in the U.S., he’s also received support from the likes of Denzel Curry and JID. Redveil’s India shows coincide with the release of his new single “Giftbag,” a fiery song that sums up anxieties and dreams in rage-filled bars. He says in an email interview about releasing the song whilst in India, “It’ll be 9:30 in the morning instead of midnight for the first time, so hopefully I’ll have my feet up eating some bomb ass Indian breakfast or something while the song comes out.”

He knows Indian audiences will like it as well. While the country might just be getting introduced to the prolific artist – Redveil has released three albums in four years and another project out in the coming months – he’s going to be on a North America tour in April and May. Outside of those, he’s got a verse on rap experimentalists JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown’s collaborative album Scaring the Hoes, on a track called “Kingdom Hearts Key.”

In an interview with Rolling Stone India, Redveil talks about coming down for his first shows outside of North America, performing at clubs and festivals and the hip-hop community. Excerpts:

What is it like making your way down to India for the first time? This is your first-ever international show outside of the U.S. and Canada, is that right? 

It’s been a life-changing experience for sure. Not only is it my first international show but it’s my first time overseas and it’s been so cool seeing how hip-hop is so popular here and how much we have in common with the people. The people are super hospitable too and the food is so fire. It’s been such an exciting experience so far.

That said, how did it come about? It feels like either you’ve heard something about the crowd for hip-hop in India.

There was just a really good booking offer sent to my agent that blessed me with the opportunity to come out here. Also, I really had no clue what to expect in terms of hip-hop in India. I really pulled up just knowing that music is universal so not stressing, but still hoping that I could get them to feel me as much as they feel me back home. This show will definitely be the first show of this kind that I play, in the sense that most of the crowd probably won’t even understand me. it’s just as nerve-racking as exciting.

There are three shows here, including a club show. Are you going to be switching it up from when you’re on a festival stage compared to the club experience? 

My goal is to turn the club into a festival. I wanna bring that chaotic energy to every room I play. It’s more fun that way. doesn’t matter the space we’re in, people know how to go crazy when you make them comfortable enough. That’s also just how I want people to remember my shows, so with that being said, I’m not really switching it up that much. I get to do the slower songs in a more intimate manner which is cool, but besides that I’ll be the same old me.

You’ve got a whole week out here in India with the shows. What’s on the agenda outside of performing? Any recordings or collabs you’re planning? 

For the few extra days that we have planned to basically just sit around, we’ll probably just explore the cities we’re in and be tourists. That’s also a change from how we usually are on tour. 99 percent of the time we are either in the hotel, sleeping, or on stage. This will be too good of an opportunity to not see some stuff though. Also, no recording or collabs planned out here yet. I have everything to learn about the hip-hop scene out here and who to collaborate with. That’s hopefully something I’ll get to learn more about on this trip.

As someone who’s got support from the likes of Denzel Curry, JID and got to tour with Freddie Gibbs, what has it been like for you to understand how much the hip-hop community out there is welcoming (or maybe at other times, hostile)? 

The hip-hop community has been massively welcoming to me. It is a super huge blessing, to say the least. However, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know that this is what hip-hop was about. It’s competition, sure, but it’s also community and companionship. So a lot of bigger artists have been extending their hand in support, which has definitely been a battery in my back to keep all this going. Receiving their support was definitely something I would have considered a dream of mine, so for it to begin has made my heart full.

What kind of direction do you see your music heading in, production-wise and even lyrics-wise right now? 

I see it heading in an explosive direction. Everything is getting more loud and more explosive, and mainly because of the tour I’m about to go on. I am mainly leaning into doing even more upbeat production and having more melody in my vocals, as that’s something I’ve just had a ton of fun doing already. and with the lyrics, I’m focusing on fun as well. I’ll have some more serious stuff to talk about in the coming years, but at this moment, I just want everything to be super fun.

There was a solid word going around about you featuring on JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown’s record, on one of the songs. What’s it like being part of it and what’s coming up through 2023?

It’s an honor to be a part of it. I was listening to both of those dudes in high school. There’s also definitely a mysterious element to working with them, as I haven’t even heard the album or the song I’m on outside my verse. It’s exciting though.

I’m excited alongside everyone else to see how this project will sound, and those guys have been nothing but great to me. I got to meet Danny when I opened for him at Bruiser Thanksgiving in 2021. He was super kind. I also got to kick it with Jpeg a few times, who has been super down to earth and given me some solid advice. So I’m super happy to be a part of this record. Besides “giftbag,” I have my own small project coming out this Spring. The only thing I’ll say about that –  every song on there will be extremely fun to perform.

Watch the video for “Giftbag” below. Redveil performs at SAUCE Festival in Mumbai on March 25th at 6pm. Get tickets here.