Directly from the war torn streets of the South Bronx, the birthplace of Hip Hop, comes Divine aka Don Divino. Born R. Torres, Jr. in turbulent 1980's, Divine came of age in the crack-plagued 1980's and early 1990's. Experiencing the same negativity that Grandmaster Flash rapped about on
"The Message", Divine still managed to keep focused, dodging both jail and death. This was no small feat considering Divine's own father, a political prisoner currently serving 15 to life, fell victim to the arbitrary law enforcement that plagues the hood.
With such experiences fueling his ambition and music, Divine infiltrated the music industry to sing (rap) his songs of survival. Drawing from musical inspirations like Afro Latinos Ismael Rivera and Cortijo Y Su Combo, Divino started constructing clever, gritty rhymes in Spanish as well as English. Divine envisions himself as the bridge that will close the gap between Black and Brown cultures.
Making moves in regards to his vision, he became one of the original members of the People's Army Collective, fitting right in with the Revolutionary But Gangsta (RBG) mindset of the collective, whose membership ranges from everyday working people to everyday Hip Hop acts like Dead Prez and Saigon.
In fact, in Divine, that line that separates "rapper" from "everyday guy" is blurred. He'd much rather be referred to as an organizer in his community than some ego trippng MC. That's not to say that the kid doesn't have talent. Divine helped pen the music to the grammy nominated "Guajira ( I love You Too Much)" with the band, Yerba Buena and just wrote the theme song to UPN's new series "South Beach". Divine was also responsible for the inflexibly hard "Babyface", a solo track on "VOL II: Get Free Or Die Trying", the second installment of the Dead Prez mixtape series.
Hitting the stage is also on the resume. With venues and events like Black August, Madison Square Garden, Lincoln Center, SOB's, Central Park Summer Stage (where he opened for Celia Cruz), Bowery Ballroom and even an ACLU all notched on his belt, Divine has more than his fair share of experience performing live.
That coupled with his other attributes, especially the bilingal factor, make for an interesting package to say the least and a diamond in the rough to say the most.
Oct 30 - Divine
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