We spoke to Devang, a Pune-based artist about his new EP titled 80, Portofino St, and his collaboration with ARSLAN, his creative process, and more. Here is the full interview with Devang.
First off, we are very glad that you chose to speak with us before your forthcoming EP “80, Portofino Street”. How would you describe yourself and your artistry to someone who is unaware of you?
I’m also glad to have a conversation regarding this EP and I appreciate y’all that you took out time to have a detailed discussion about this project. As far as I’m concerned (a mf who had a hello kitty pfp for a month post daag release), my art is just me blabbering shit about me that I faced and some things that I’m unable to convey in real life & ARSLAN paves a way for me so that I can the story in whichever way I want with the exact sound precision.
Your discography proves that whenever you and ARSLAN have collaborated, your audience has been treated with fresh and experimental pieces. What can we expect from this EP? What sort of newness have you curated?
So this EP was a 9 song mixtape that we made in one session where ARSLAN produced every instrumental in front of me and I recorded all the songs in the same night and we had a set theme regarding the vibe and the lyricism we wanted. But then we canned 3 songs and came up with the idea of this EP and ya I don’t really know about the newness we curated but there’s something for everyone in this project.
Adding to this ehtiyat was the first & BAHAANE BAAZ was the last song we made during the sesh.
Tell us something about “ehtiyat”, the first single of the EP. Does the music in it hint a lot about what’s in store for the audience?
ehtiyat was the first song that we recorded that night and as soon as we did the demo mix of that song, we knew that this is”I wanna die, let me kill myself but can you please play that one jazz song and light that J so I can die peacefully” for us.
How has the creative process been for you? What sort of artistic influences did you have while working on this project?
As I told you it was a project that we created in that one session where we sat for 14 hrs straight and made some decent songs. Adding to this, I used to listen to a lot of currency while we were working on this project so ya that’s it.
Other than that we don’t sit and ask ki oh kaisi beat banani hai. We just sit with a bunch of samples and see if this fits what we have in mind or not and then we go ahead with the specific thought.
The name of this EP is quite unique, “80, Portfonio Street ”; when searched on Maps shows a street somewhere in Lavasa. Is there any hidden meaning behind this name? How did this address find its way to be the title of your EP?
It was My Girl’s Home while she was doing her graduation.
It’s everything that I’ve wished for, just like E-603, it’s another home for me.
Photo Credit: Harman
What do you think about ARSLAN as a producer? His musicality is immaculate yet we fear only a few people are appreciative of him as compared to the fanbase of other producers, what do you think about this?
ARSLAN Bhai is the reason why I bought my mic and from “bc ye kya muddy vocals hai” to “kya crazy kar diye apun dono” it’s been a crazy ride(not sexually tho but I don’t mind)
He’s an inspiration and I don’t wanna say that he’s the greatest but to me, he’s like my big brother, and from taking some advice on music to 4 AM conversations about life, I’m just grateful that he exists”
and ya, ARSLAN is THE GREATEST.
Let’s talk about the alternate genre of Hip-Hop that you guys create. It is still underrated and less talked about than the other mainstream genres of Hip-Hop. Do you think this will change anytime soon?
As I say this is not underrated, it’s just under-appreciated and ya with time people might start appreciating it a lil bit more and tbh it’ll change in a few years par tab tak we can just sit, relax and chill for a while kyuki we don’t really know what is next in store for us (might be a house album?)
Nah JK.
We recently discovered that you work on a job during most of your day. Has it been tough for you to find enough time to practice your art? How do you manage to do both professionally?
It’s fun tbh and zyada bhook badh jata hai cause when you go to your office, sit & work for 9 hrs straight, you’re just frustrated and vo mic pe bahar niklane pe toh alag hi hit milta hai. My Nani uses to say this “Barbaad toh waise bhi sabki hona hai hi, par naukri karke jo insaan barbaad hua hai na vo 4 logon ko barbaad hone se bacha sakta hai”
So I’m just trying to save 4 more people here.
The majority of your listeners reside in Delhi, although you live in Pune. How do you feel about this? Do you feel the Delhi scene is more welcoming toward the alternate hip-hop subgenre?
I Love Delhi people for listening to my music and making sure ki mai jaldi se jaldi Dilli aa hi jau. And yes, the Delhi scene is more welcoming towards obscure rap but most Delhi guys won’t know who MC GAWTHI is, right?
Are you planning to appear in any future live shows post the release of this EP? What other future plans do you have?
We have made a crazy ARSLAN X Devang set list and I hope we perform it someday or the other. It’ll be fun. No future plans as of now.
Thank you for having me and having such a great conversation but I’m sorry for making it a lil fruity.
Follow and listen to Devang on Spotify
