Exclusive Stream: School Friends Turned Musicians V3K and Vipin Reunite on Wavy Hip-Hop Track ‘What Has It Come To’

If one function of social media platforms was reconnecting forgotten friends, it went to a different level when Missouri-based hip-hop artist Vipin and Bengaluru-based producer V3K aka Vivek Radhakrishnan realized they were also musicians who could turn the opportunity into a collaboration.

The heartfelt, pop-leaning hip-hop track “What Has It Come To” was born after Vipin (previously performing under the moniker Deevee VIP when he was Doha-based) messaged his school junior Radhakrishnan (DJ-producer for multi-lingual hip-hop crew Street Academics) on Instagram. The duo caught up after 12 years. Radhakrishnan says, “We barely knew each other at the time, but he [Vipin] told me he’s been following my music and releases from my label [Glitch Collective] for a while […] We decided to go ahead and make a track that made sense to whatever our lives are going through at the moment. Corona or not, the show must go on.”

Vipin for his part says that he was a keen observer about the “current surge in indie hip-hop and fusion music in India” and that played a part in his interest for a collaboration. Just under three minutes, the producer employs laidback, tropical-sounding elements for Vipin’s introspective hooks. The rapper says about the song, “It’s to convey to musicians, artists and hustlers that we are in this battle together and we clearly face our downs and inadvertently have our wins too.”

While there was a recent V3K release just earlier this month in the form of his single “Feel You,” Radhakrishnan says they’re working on a music video as well, edited by Kerala filmmaker and photographer Art of Shambu. Radhakrishnan says, “He [Vipin] shot his clips from the U.S. and I shot mine here in Bangalore. It’s going to be a visual treat.”

Listen to “What Has It Come To” below. 

https://soundcloud.com/djvv/v3k-feat-vipin-what-has-it-come-to/s-yiPfb9Ve92I