After making a shocking appearance at Chaar Diwaari’s massive live set in Delhi-NCR on Hip-Hop’s 50th birthday, Gravity linked up with Culture Haze for a brief yet impactful conversation.
During the exclusive interview, Gravity looks back at 50 years of rap music and takes us through his debut collaborative effort with Chaar Diwaari on his major label debut “Violence”.
Further, Gravity remembers MF Doom on Hip-Hop’s 50th birthday, talks about alternative rap music, JPEGMAFIA’s latest EP “Scaring The Hoes: DLC Pack” and reveals his favorite Pop Smoke record.
Notably, this was our second such conversation with Gravity. In May this year, the “Supervillain” spoke to Culture Haze ahead of his debut Hip-Hop LP.
Read our riveting conversation with Gravity below.
How’s everything, Grav? This is our second time speaking.
All good, bro. Great to be here.
You just got off the stage with Chaar Diwaari, you got a new single coming up?
Yeah, yeah definitely!
How does that feel? How did this collaboration come about?
Chaar Diwaari was following me for a while. Then, somebody put me on to his video and his music… and it was insane because this man is bringing something very fresh to the alt-rap genre in India. So, naturally, we struck up a conversation and he went like, “Here’s the beat”. So, I sent him a verse and he laid his verse… and that was it.
How was the energy in the studio while working with him?
Actually, we recorded in our own separate spaces. I recorded my verse in Bombay but during the video shoot, we got to meet, bond and chill… and it was a very nice vibe and overall, the way this video is gonna come out is something that people haven’t seen. It hasn’t happened before.
Let’s talk about one of the biggest reasons you’re here. Hip-Hop has just turned 50! How does it feel?
Feels insane knowing that a genre that we have just gotten infatuated with so recently has such a long life… such a long legacy and it’s just the start out here. So, I’m interested in the next 5 years of Indian Hip-Hop but yeah man, the genre that literally saved me is 50 years old and still at the top… at the absolute peak it’s crazy.
We are interested in the next 50 years of Gravity for sure.
Yeah, for sure. For sure. I’m interested in that too.
I know we’ve already talked about one of your biggest influences in rap music MF Doom. This is a big day for you. Do you miss him on Hip-Hop 50th?
Yeah. I mean the day he passed away, I kind of broke down because it was like the 31st of 2021 and we had partied or whatever and I had slept… and the next day I woke up… and I woke up to this news and everyone else was asleep and I was alone and I just couldn’t take it… the way the news came out of nowhere.
So, Rest in Peace, MF Doom. One of the greatest to ever do it and yeah man, it still feels like a spot is empty since Doom has gone away because we know that now, even though there are a lot of projects, he is not alive. There won’t be any new projects. Whatever’s there will come out so yeah.
While we talk about MF Doom, we’ve to talk about Danny Brown. You talked about JPEGMAFIA dropping “Scaring the Hoes” LP and recently, they came out with the DLC pack, how did you find that?
The DLC pack is crazy but I still like the album more. The album has some crazy bangers… “Burfict!”…. The title track, the first track… a lot of classic songs there. I’m still more of a fan of the LP than the DLC pack.
We’ve heard a lot of people telling you that you look like Pop Smoke but I guess, nobody has ever asked you what’s your favourite Pop Smoke song.
My favourite Pop Smoke song (would be) “44 BullDog”.
Why is it your favourite Pop Smoke song?
I mean it shows more of his raw 50 Cent influence… like the street shit and he was a street dude. I mean the way he was gunned down made it pretty obvious where his affiliations lay but that song is so raw, I can just relate to the energy.
Any last words for your fans?
To everybody who has been watching and supporting and appreciating the music… thank you so much. Even if you don’t support me, please support Hip-Hop. Please support the genre, the culture because the larger picture is what matters at the end of the day. So yeah, that’s what it is all about.
Watch our exclusive backstage interview with Gravity below.