Above is our premiere of the new music video for “For Real” by the rapper Rittz. You might recall him from his breakout White Jesus mixtape, or before that his stunning guest verse on Yelawolf’s “Box Chevy,” which served for many as an introduction to the 32 year-old Georgia MC. Life hasn't been easy for Rittz: he'd been rapping for nearly 20 years before he got his break, and was working in a kitchen when he turned heads with his "Box Chevy" verse. His recent success has found him linked up with Tech N9ne’s indie rap staple Strange Music, an alliance which should supply Rittz with the expanded audience he deserves. What’s so great about Rittz? Well, he marries the southern-fried hip-hop of guys like OutKast and Geto Boys with a tongue worthy of comparison to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Busta Rhymes, and his label boss Tech N9ne himself.His Strange debut The Life and Times of Johnny Valiant drops on April 30th, and you should buy it if you know what’s good for you.Noisey: How are you liking being on Strange Music? I was talking with a friend the other day and we decided that if we rapped we’d want to be signed to Strange.
Rittz: It’s a great label, man. I don’t think anybody else in the music industry does it like Strange. Everyting’s so organized and it’s like a family feel. There’s no pressure to be a certain way or do a certain thing. The fans… it’s almost like the fans accept you. They have a cult following, and it’s like, “Welcome to the family.” They accept you by default. There’s no Hollywood shit going on. It’s so nicely structured and on time and on point. It runs like a well-oiled machine. I’m extremely happy with Strange, especially in terms of making the new album. I didn’t have to make it have a certain type of sound or anything like that. I’ve got a lot of creative freedom to do what I want to do.I’ve heard there’s a Strange Music rulebook.
There’s a huge rulebook for the tour. We all sat down and had the tour meeting and we went over the rulebook. It’s crazy, maybe fifteen pages long. I like it though; I was coming off of my own tour this summer and when I first went with Strange and saw the rules, I could understand why they were in place because I was dealing with those types of problems on my own tour. They’re all in place for a reason.What are some of them?
There’s a lot of them. No drugs on the bus; you can’t just go walking around cities; you can’t have a laundry bag on the bus; there’s a certain number of family members you can have; what time people have to get off the bus. And there’s fines, too—we recently had to deal with somebody smoking a cigarette in a hotel room. So now, they narrowed it down to our bus and we no longer have any shower rooms. And if we shower in any of the other crew rooms, we get fined. At the end of the day, a motherfucker shouldn’t be smoking in their room because the label’s having to pay money. It is crazy, man.To me, you linking up with Tech seemed to be a pretty natural union. You were building a movement on your own, and Tech has an audience that you could really appeal to.
My manager had that vision before I did. Will Power of SupaHot Beats who’d worked with Tech before was in the studio with Yelawolf and Tech one night, and I came up to the studio and met ‘em. Yelawolf had already been ampin’ my music up to him, and when I met him we just clicked. I was thinkin’ it was because Tech’s just a super cool dude. I think since that night Yelawolf kinda set it up, and we’ve all had that vision of me going in that direction.Walk me through your process when writing a verse.
It really just depends on the beat. Sometimes I get a beat and I know what it’s for. Basically, when I was writing the album I was in the process of collecting beats. I already knew what kind of sound I wanted it to have, and I had about eight tracks that had that sound. I’ll get a beat and I’ll just hum things out to it. I’ll hum a melody to a hook, or I’ll know what type of subject I wanna write about. I never get a beat and start writing immediately to it. I always get it and fuck off with it for weeks, keep stacking ‘em. And then one day I’ll say, “Today I’m gonna write.” And then I pick what beat to write to and remember what I was humming to it and just go. That first line is the hardest. But once I get that first line, the trick is matching syllables and making sure I’m saying something cool and not just matching syllables to match, making sure I’m matching syllables to whatever topic I’m on.Tell me a bit about the new album.
I’ve got Suga Free on it, Yelawolf, Tech N9ne, Big K.R.I.T., and Mike Posner’s on two records. I’m really happy with it. When it was time for me to write the album I was on the Slumerican Tour with Yelawolf. I’ve been rapping for a lot of time, and there was a lot of pressure because it was my debut album. And I literally had to write the shit in like a month. I literally never write that fast, ever. I was worried about it being sloppy. It came out the exact opposite.What do you do when you’re not touring or recording?
My living situation’s so fucked up, man. I actually live in a bedroom in my girl’s mom’s house. It’s like a couch and a bed and that’s it. Her mom pays the rent, we pay the bills. We’re really just trying to get the fuck outta there, man. It’s weird when you got all this shit going on and people think you’re making paper, but shit’s what it is. They don’t get it at all. Most of my time is spent trying to get as much time in at home with my girlfriend before I gotta leave for these long stints. Life is pretty calm at home unless I gotta do some rapper shit. I’m 32 years old, I party and drink and stuff like that, but none of that is like it used to be. I’m really focused on trying to get my living situation right. Most people my age have houses and careers and automobiles and things that normal people should have, and I’m just getting a real late start in life. It really sucks. I’ll be honest with you, I’m in a fucking bedroom, man. The goal for this year is: Get. The fuck. Out.Let’s talk about your hair. Would you ever cut it?
I would love to cut my fuckin’ hair, man, but it doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen any time soon. I’ve had my hair like this for so long that it’s become a staple of how I look, especially right now with my career getting started. If I fuck around and cut this shit motherfuckers might stop liking my music. It’s kinda crazy. It is what it is, man. I grew it out at a time when Bubba Sparxxx and Eminem and Paul Wall were the only white rappers, and I was trying to look different and it became part of my look. The years went by so fast, so now I’m known as the guy with the crazy long hair. It’s a pain in the fuckin’ ass in the summertime and shit like that. I can’t go to a goddamn wedding without looking like a fuckin’ madman. But it is what it is. It’s my trademark. I don’t hate the way it looks or anything, but I think it plays a bit too much of a factor in whether or not people like my music sometimes.What would you be doing if it weren’t for rap? Would you still be working in a kitchen?
I guess so. I probably would have had to take that route or gone to get my GED. The more I was working in that kitchen, the more I was like, “I’ve got to strive for something better. I have to go to school.” I actually had an ex-girlfriend who was pressuring me to get my GED; she was giving me ultimatums and shit. I had all the parts of it done except for the math; my math sucks. I probably would have gone to culinary school.When did you switch from working to rapping?
I didn’t ever have a job. I never had any job I took seriously. I had teenage jobs: I worked at Citgo, I washed dishes. I was still trying to rap back then, but I was a kid. So once I got around like 23, I just sold weed and shit and didn’t really work. And then I started cooking part time, and got to quit my job around 24 because the guys I was working with had some money to put behind me. When I actually made “Box Chevy” with Yelawolf, at the first listening party, that was when I finally decided to quit rapping and really take a job seriously. The day I went to see Yelawolf, I was like, “Dogg, I start work at Cracker Barrel tomorrow.” We were clownin’ like, “I hope this shit does something.” I worked at Cracker Barrel for a minute, but that shit didn’t work out, and then I worked at a barbeque place. I busted ass there until everything took off. I finally got to quit my job when I was touring and making a bit more money then I was at work.That’s really inspiring.
It’s crazy. Everything happened on the day of. I did the song with Yelawolf that helped me out the same day I decided to quit. Everything worked out.Drew Millard raps slowly. He's on Twitter - @drewmillard
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Rittz: It’s a great label, man. I don’t think anybody else in the music industry does it like Strange. Everyting’s so organized and it’s like a family feel. There’s no pressure to be a certain way or do a certain thing. The fans… it’s almost like the fans accept you. They have a cult following, and it’s like, “Welcome to the family.” They accept you by default. There’s no Hollywood shit going on. It’s so nicely structured and on time and on point. It runs like a well-oiled machine. I’m extremely happy with Strange, especially in terms of making the new album. I didn’t have to make it have a certain type of sound or anything like that. I’ve got a lot of creative freedom to do what I want to do.I’ve heard there’s a Strange Music rulebook.
There’s a huge rulebook for the tour. We all sat down and had the tour meeting and we went over the rulebook. It’s crazy, maybe fifteen pages long. I like it though; I was coming off of my own tour this summer and when I first went with Strange and saw the rules, I could understand why they were in place because I was dealing with those types of problems on my own tour. They’re all in place for a reason.
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There’s a lot of them. No drugs on the bus; you can’t just go walking around cities; you can’t have a laundry bag on the bus; there’s a certain number of family members you can have; what time people have to get off the bus. And there’s fines, too—we recently had to deal with somebody smoking a cigarette in a hotel room. So now, they narrowed it down to our bus and we no longer have any shower rooms. And if we shower in any of the other crew rooms, we get fined. At the end of the day, a motherfucker shouldn’t be smoking in their room because the label’s having to pay money. It is crazy, man.To me, you linking up with Tech seemed to be a pretty natural union. You were building a movement on your own, and Tech has an audience that you could really appeal to.
My manager had that vision before I did. Will Power of SupaHot Beats who’d worked with Tech before was in the studio with Yelawolf and Tech one night, and I came up to the studio and met ‘em. Yelawolf had already been ampin’ my music up to him, and when I met him we just clicked. I was thinkin’ it was because Tech’s just a super cool dude. I think since that night Yelawolf kinda set it up, and we’ve all had that vision of me going in that direction.Walk me through your process when writing a verse.
It really just depends on the beat. Sometimes I get a beat and I know what it’s for. Basically, when I was writing the album I was in the process of collecting beats. I already knew what kind of sound I wanted it to have, and I had about eight tracks that had that sound. I’ll get a beat and I’ll just hum things out to it. I’ll hum a melody to a hook, or I’ll know what type of subject I wanna write about. I never get a beat and start writing immediately to it. I always get it and fuck off with it for weeks, keep stacking ‘em. And then one day I’ll say, “Today I’m gonna write.” And then I pick what beat to write to and remember what I was humming to it and just go. That first line is the hardest. But once I get that first line, the trick is matching syllables and making sure I’m saying something cool and not just matching syllables to match, making sure I’m matching syllables to whatever topic I’m on.
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I’ve got Suga Free on it, Yelawolf, Tech N9ne, Big K.R.I.T., and Mike Posner’s on two records. I’m really happy with it. When it was time for me to write the album I was on the Slumerican Tour with Yelawolf. I’ve been rapping for a lot of time, and there was a lot of pressure because it was my debut album. And I literally had to write the shit in like a month. I literally never write that fast, ever. I was worried about it being sloppy. It came out the exact opposite.What do you do when you’re not touring or recording?
My living situation’s so fucked up, man. I actually live in a bedroom in my girl’s mom’s house. It’s like a couch and a bed and that’s it. Her mom pays the rent, we pay the bills. We’re really just trying to get the fuck outta there, man. It’s weird when you got all this shit going on and people think you’re making paper, but shit’s what it is. They don’t get it at all. Most of my time is spent trying to get as much time in at home with my girlfriend before I gotta leave for these long stints. Life is pretty calm at home unless I gotta do some rapper shit. I’m 32 years old, I party and drink and stuff like that, but none of that is like it used to be. I’m really focused on trying to get my living situation right. Most people my age have houses and careers and automobiles and things that normal people should have, and I’m just getting a real late start in life. It really sucks. I’ll be honest with you, I’m in a fucking bedroom, man. The goal for this year is: Get. The fuck. Out.
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I would love to cut my fuckin’ hair, man, but it doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen any time soon. I’ve had my hair like this for so long that it’s become a staple of how I look, especially right now with my career getting started. If I fuck around and cut this shit motherfuckers might stop liking my music. It’s kinda crazy. It is what it is, man. I grew it out at a time when Bubba Sparxxx and Eminem and Paul Wall were the only white rappers, and I was trying to look different and it became part of my look. The years went by so fast, so now I’m known as the guy with the crazy long hair. It’s a pain in the fuckin’ ass in the summertime and shit like that. I can’t go to a goddamn wedding without looking like a fuckin’ madman. But it is what it is. It’s my trademark. I don’t hate the way it looks or anything, but I think it plays a bit too much of a factor in whether or not people like my music sometimes.What would you be doing if it weren’t for rap? Would you still be working in a kitchen?
I guess so. I probably would have had to take that route or gone to get my GED. The more I was working in that kitchen, the more I was like, “I’ve got to strive for something better. I have to go to school.” I actually had an ex-girlfriend who was pressuring me to get my GED; she was giving me ultimatums and shit. I had all the parts of it done except for the math; my math sucks. I probably would have gone to culinary school.When did you switch from working to rapping?
I didn’t ever have a job. I never had any job I took seriously. I had teenage jobs: I worked at Citgo, I washed dishes. I was still trying to rap back then, but I was a kid. So once I got around like 23, I just sold weed and shit and didn’t really work. And then I started cooking part time, and got to quit my job around 24 because the guys I was working with had some money to put behind me. When I actually made “Box Chevy” with Yelawolf, at the first listening party, that was when I finally decided to quit rapping and really take a job seriously. The day I went to see Yelawolf, I was like, “Dogg, I start work at Cracker Barrel tomorrow.” We were clownin’ like, “I hope this shit does something.” I worked at Cracker Barrel for a minute, but that shit didn’t work out, and then I worked at a barbeque place. I busted ass there until everything took off. I finally got to quit my job when I was touring and making a bit more money then I was at work.That’s really inspiring.
It’s crazy. Everything happened on the day of. I did the song with Yelawolf that helped me out the same day I decided to quit. Everything worked out.Drew Millard raps slowly. He's on Twitter - @drewmillard