We know it’s been a minute, but we wouldn’t dream of leaving you high and dry over the holidays without a fresh dose of sonic treats. This time, we have Divine Council making some “SpottieOttieDopalicious” selections for youl to vibe to during your (hopefully) time off.
It’s been a huge year Divine Council. The collective comprised of Richmond, Virginia residents Lord Linco, $ilk Money, Cyrax!, and Chicago based producer ICYTWAT initially gained lavish attention thanks to their viral hit single “P. Sherman (PS42WW$)” back in May. Since then, they've gone on to having Andre 3000 unexpectedly hop on the “Decemba” (Remix), signed to Epic Records, and dropped their debut EP Council World in August.
We asked Divine Council to pick some tracks, as well as answer a few questions about smoking, their music, as well as their plans for the near future; they were more than happy to oblige.
Check out the interview below the playlist, and let’s all collectively wish Divine Council a bangin’ 20017.
Merry Jane: What is your most memorable smoking experience?
$ilk Money: Probably when I did brownies for the first time. I made a pan of brownies probably like the day after Christmas. I had got a lot of money from my mom for Christmas and shit, so I went and bought a couple of ounces of weed. I went and matched on a quarter with my nigga and we put a half of weed into some brownies. We made a whole pan. We were gonna eat half the pan and sell the rest but we ended up eating the whole pan. It felt like I was on LSD, I thought I was gonna die! I couldn't move. My body just couldn't move. You know those old-ass Mickey Mouse cartoons–black and white, with them playing a bunch of instruments and they're just moving so fast? Every time I closed my eyes I saw that shit, so I just kept trying not to close my eyes because I didn't wanna see that shit. It wouldn't allow me to sleep. I couldn't sleep off that shit because I hear the music and see the images. I was about to quit smoking off that shit.
ICYTWAT: I wouldn't say it was bad but the craziest experience was when I was first got high. I didn't think it was gonna happen, I didn't feel it, I was smoking the whole time in my friend's basement. When I got outside, I was on his porch and remember blinking and as soon as I blinked, I was at the bus stop, which was around the corner. I don't remember how I got there, how I even walked there, nothing. I was just high as hell the first time I smoked some weed.
If you were a boxer, what song would you come out to?
$ilk Money: Probably the original Pokémon theme song. Probably that.
Cyrax!: I’d come out to Michael Jackson’s “Don't Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.”
If you were going to go out guns blazing, what song would you choose to do it to?
ICYTWAT: I would say Roy Ayers’ "Brand New Feeling."
Cyrax!: Hell yeah Ima go with 'Twat on that. The shoot out has to be in slow motion. Either that or Roy Ayers’ "Gotta Find A Lover." I can just see those joints in slow motion on some Four Brothers shit.
What songs remind you most of your childhood?
Lord Linco: Shaggy’s “It Wasn't Me,” Michael Jackson's “Human Nature,” and “Outkast’s “So Fresh, So Clean.”
Who are your guilty pleasure artists?
$ilk Money: I know who 'Twat's is, that cupcake shorty from Chicago. One of my favorite songs is joint that says "closing the goddamn door." I think it's Panic at the Disco.
Cyrax!: Marques Houston and Immature's music. I really like that R&B shit from the '90's.
What songs that you guys have released mean the most to you?
$ilk Money: Me personally, the song that I care about the most was this song called "Thugaboo." When I go back and listen to it today, I can hear the mind state and position I was at in my life. I can hear how fucked up my life was at the time when I hear the song. With a lot of my songs, I hear exactly what I was going through at the time. With that song, I just re-lived it.
ICYTWAT: The most important song I made was probably "Lil Shorty 2." That time period was a weird time for me. It's some real nostalgic shit.
Cyrax!: For me, it was this song I made called "True." That was first love song I made, and it sounds way different from the rest of my music.
Lord Linco: “Lavender,” “Lateisha,” “Always Friends,” “Rolie Polie Olie.”
Who has been your favorite artist to work with, and what is your dream collaboration?
$ilk Money: My favorite artists to work with are my niggas. And I'm gonna throw Andre [3000] in there as well because he's my nigga. My dream collab though, Andre was one of them, but I have to say Erykah Badu.
ICYTWAT: My favorite person to work with was obviously Andre, and my dream collab would probably be Tyler, the Creator. Without him, I probably wouldn't be making music.
Cyrax!: My people to collab with would probably be Silk and 'Twat. My dream collab would probably be to work with that nigga Devante Swing from Jodeci. We'd bring back that "New Jack Swing" sound.
Lord Linco: Travis $cott, Young Thug, Popcaan
What plans do you have in the near future? What projects are you currently working on right now?
Cyrax!: Me and 'Twat are working on my project right. I actually produced a song with 'Twat, it's my first time ever doing production and me and 'Twat did it together. I'm working on a project called I Hate My Life and I Really Wish People Would Stop Telling Me Not To. It's a collection of stories from my life and I'm trying to tell the truth about my life. Everything isn't all sweet. From the outside looking in, you may think everything is all great and peachy keen and shit, but I just wanna tell of my life and how we got up to this point. I wanna be brutally honest about myself, my flaws, and shit like that.
ICYTWAT: What I'm working on is actually dropping very soon, it's called Milk, which features Silk, and Cyrax and a bunch of other people. It's fully produced by myself. This is the first I’m dropping something that is fully produced by me and it's coming really really soon.
Lord Linco: Fatherhood and plenty of new music.
How did the Andre 3000 feature come to be?
$ilk Money: I remember I had wrote this song and recorded it. I originally recorded on a beat but I didn't fuck with it anymore so I took the original files from my verse and sent it to 'Twat. He asked me what I wanted the sound to be, and I told him some mosh pit house music and he was like “bet.” He instantly started working on the sound and like a day or two later he had it done. Now that the song is done, we got it mixed it, we got a commercial made, we dropped the song. We did all of that in the same day. That was the first time we had ever done anything like that. We usually have a blueprint to how we do things, but with that we just did it. The song was only out for like 16 hours on SoundCloud, and our manager hit us saying Andre 3000 heard "Decemba" one time and to send the instrumental so he can get started on it. I'm on the phone with my manager like "nigga you lying," and he's like "Nah, I'm not hurry the fuck up!!!" I'm calling Cyrax and shit, telling him and 'Twat to send the instrumental to get going. Later on that night, me and Cyrax were smoking dope and Andre sent the song back, so we started listening to it. I was crying and shit, it was mad emotional. I called my whole family out into the hallway like "y'all gotta listen to this shit." It was amazing. He directed the video and was on-site doing his thing. Out there for hours everyday we shot footage for that shit too. He told us we inspired him and he wouldn't have got on the song if he didn't like it.
What is the inspiration behind the Divine Council name?
$ilk Money: Honestly, I'm gonna let Linco answer that because he answers it very well every single time.
Lord Linco: As Divine Council we are the leaders of all of our own destinies, meaning that we manifest everything in the lives we live; the good and bad because it's all for a greater purpose.
Pusha T or (No) Malice?
$ilk Money: Ima say Pusha T. I'm saying Pusha T because of his verse alone on "Grindin'." When "Grindin'" dropped that was Virginia's theme song. It was a monumental song and I like how he came off on that joint. 'Twat and Cyrax said Pusha too. Pusha and Malice had their own different styles though, and you can't not appreciate that shit.
