Born and raised from in the G (Gary, Indiana),
Young Rilla is an underground rapper with vivid flow and microphone swagger of a east coast rapper. With aka's Rilla or Young or Jones.. he crafts each bar without waste, sure to keep you paying attention to his lyrics. He's been "at it since "Since" and He ain't stopping for nobody or nothing. REAL RECOGNIZE REAL STAND UP!
FLOSS: First of all let me say this interview is long overdue. If anyone deserves this, its you...How's it been going Young Rilla?
RILLA: Ha...word? That's how you feel huh? That's what's up family. Preciate it man... Shit has been cool though man. Real cool actually. We (Real Recognize Real Records) dropped Steel City Music Vol 4. a second ago and that's been doing real well so I'm happy with that. Me and Nonsense have been doing some shows and the CEO Billboard B is all over the place with the movement right now so I think it's looking real positive for the G right now. Gary, Indiana is definitely making moves bro. Steel City Music Vol 5. is RIGHT around the corner and I got some crazy shit on there so look out for that. It's gonna be a real nice summer family.
FLOSS: Can you tell the readers where your from and how you got started in
the music industry?
RILLA: No doubt. I'm proud to say I'm from Gary-Fucking-Indiana. We call it the Steel City... or Gangsta Island... or just the G. It's been my home since birth man. BottomSide, we out here baby!! But as far as this rap stuff, I like to say I started in middle school but the more I think about it, the more I realize I been doing this as long as I can remember... I guess rapping Andre's verse on Playas Ball don't really count but that's what made me love this artform so it counts to me. I started writing my own stuff in 6th grade but the shit was garbo until Novacane started teaching me and showing me how to "flip syllables" and ride the track and stuff like that. I learned a lot from that man and that's my nigga for that. We did the Foundation thing and dropped a few legit mixtapes but that group shit is dead. Ain't no love lost tho. We did "You don't Want It" on Vol. 4 over this mean ass beat from that nigga T.I.M.E.... Preciate it family! But shiiiiiiiiiiiit...... I've been working with Triple R since..what.. like 05 ish and Billboard B has really been holding ya boi down. He put me on. You gotta respect the man's grind.
FLOSS: Now when I first took notice of your talent it was through Niketalk keystyle (rapping in text-form over a message board), How did that prepare you for the studio?
RILLA: It didn't. I go into the studio 100% focused. I think I did most of the stuff on my first mixtape in 1 take just because I had been SITTING on those verses for so long that I knew em in and out. I had my adlibs where I wanted them.. you know.. all the touchy stuff. I've grown a lot since then as an artist though. With the keystyle thing, when I do that it's like an exercise. It keeps me witty I guess.. plus it's a little different, ya know? It's like.. I dunno.. it's different when you can read a guy's lyrics and pick up the flow. But yeah.. I get bored.. so I write. Sometimes I write on NT.. I love that place.. lol. I don't like to use pen and paper. My handwriting is ass for one. I got a hardrive full of lyrics. Why kill all those trees? Technology is a bitch.. It's 2008...We're supposed to have robot maids and flying cars and shit anyway... lol
FLOSS: As you know once you receive any praise the hate comes naturally...Did you experience other rappers wanting to battle you more whether keystyle or in person?
RILLA: I mean.. EVERYBODY is a rapper anyway, right? I meet two new rappers every time I take a piss in a public bathroom. "MC this and that" or " Lil such and such". I ain't knocking nobody but damn.. lol. I don't even do battles though man. On the net it's all fun and games cause it's just a time killer type thing. Nothing is at stake. I can't even see the person I'm dissing. It's just a sparring thing.. who's doper than who or whatever. That's fun. But battles in real life don't seem worth it to me. Niggas rarely get further than up the block with that shit. I mean, my niggas already know I got bars so I ain't gotta go through the hood wasting rhymes trying to prove something. That shit cool, but I guess..
Hold up, R.I.P. Nod G. That nigga had spit. I ain't never met a sicker battle rapper/freestyler.. dude had a shot..
Anyway... yeah... career wise, that shit is dead in my opinion. Niggas need to be about making complete albums and compilations. That's like all for one and one for all, you feel me? That mixtape shit is dead too for the record.
FLOSS: How many songs or verses do you write a day?
RILLA: Depends.. on a bad day, none. I'm human. On a good day, I might write 10 to 20 verses or a few songs or whatever. Sometimes I just write some hooks or bridges. More often than not, I'm driving in the car thinking up a verse and memorizing it for later. I've done that a couple times on some Jay-Z shit I guess. Sometimes I'll just do a pair of 64s or do like... I dunno... one of those "marathon" type joints that Wayne does. Dude just takes the whole beat for a ride with no hook. That's dope as hell.. I've written some really long verses if you wanna call em that. It's really no telling. I usually spend more time thinking than actually writing. When I write, the words just spill out so it doesn't take long to fill up a beat. I like trying to think of something creative though. I spend the most time trying to come up with something innovative. Hip-hop needs more originality anyway
FLOSS: In the past you've openly mentioned your mother as a source of inspiration, Is that still what keeps you motivated? What about other rappers on NT or in your hometown?
RILLA: Oh snaps, the mom question!! LOL..........ok so all I really gotta say about that is that if you've seen me around NT then you will like a certain song on Steel City Music Vol 5. Do NOT sleep ya'll. It's on my mysapce...
Hometown rappers? That's easy... First off, Novacane is the name of the man you should know. Secondly, one time for the homies Nonsense and Sani G. Also, I 'preciate the love from Ric Jilla. Ya'll should know by now, I fucks with the homie T.I.M.E. and Wize is my lil bruva. Shout out to E2! That's what's up family
FLOSS: You have a big chance to introduce your area, Indiana, to the world...How would you liked it to be displayed?
RILLA: Honestly. That's all I ask. We get a lot of bad press cause shit... well aight, so Gary is pretty gutter, who am I shitting? But real talk, it's more than that. This is a beautiful place with beautiful people man. These people deserve a chance to have something. It's educated, hardworking people here too man. Niggas got us fucked up, but not as bad as we got ourselves fucked up. Half of the citizens don't even know their own potential. That's bad fam. This shit is like Gotham bro. SOMEBODY has got to do it for the G, cause shit Michael didn't. Janet didn't. Glenn is trying so I ain't mad at fam.. besides, he got a ring......so it's kinda like fuck it... kinda.. but it ain't cause he had to be on the Spurs to get one. Go Lakers! Wait...what was the question again? Oh yeah..
FLOSS: What label / affiliates do you work with and what are your future plans and projects?
RILLA: Triple R aka Real Recognize Real Records is the label man. Billboard B is the CEO.. and I guess that makes me the front man, huh? Like I said I fucks with Nonsense and Sani G and every other nigga that's a part of Triple R and the Triple R movement. This compilation thing is what it do right now but ya'll can expect a solo project from Young soon enough. Steel City Music 5 is almost here ya'll.. Anything else you need to know, Billboard ain't that hard to get in touch with. IF you're around the G, you should be listening to 88.7FM @ 4PM every Thursday if you wanna hear that Steel City sound.
FLOSS: Anything you want to get off your chess...misconceptions, pet
peeves, beef?
RILLA: What's beef? I'd rather chill, but if you want to play chess I guess that's cool too. Check. Pet peeves.. I got a few I guess but nothing special. I hate ignorant hoes like everybody else. I hate being pigeonholed into certain genres like I'm not versatile or something. I hate myspace. I wrote a few facebook notes full of this "I hate" type stuff lol.. Ummmmm... I hate lazy rappers. I hate that somebody that's reading this will find me kinda interesting but won't check for my team. I hate Bush. Shit like that.. I'm normal man, I really am. Umm.. yeah...I dunno man..
FLOSS: Studio or Stage and why?
RILLA: Damn... that's the best question so far. I think I like the studio more. It's like conception, you know? I get to go in the booth... usually twisted.. and take my time creating something...dope. (That's like adjective of the day I guess...). I take care of all the little stuff. I'm a perfectionist low key. I used to just one-take shit thinking that was cool or whatever. Now I like to be picky and go over shit. Plus the ambiance is real chill. You can just disappear off into the lab, away from everybody. Or even better, with ya niggas and some tree or with some breezies and a bottle. It's like a mini vacation to me.
FLOSS FIVE
1. Cassidy or Joe Budden - Budden... landslide.. not even close. Yeah, I'm one of those Joe Budden people..
2. Pacers or Hoosiers - Ha, neither.Uggh.... fuggouttahere.... Lakers and Purdue FTW.
3. Fave Gun - 12 guage mossberg.
On some real life Rainbow Six shit though, AA-12s are ridiculous bro.. You'll know I'm on if you ever see me with one of them lol
4. Fave Niketalk Producer - This IS Musical Excellence. One time for Plan!
5. Fave Cereal - Fruity Pebbles... no Cam'ron
There you have it, Young Rilla reppin Gary, Indiana hiphop all day everyday...Thanks again for the great interview and here is where you can sample some tracks of Young Rilla -
myspace.com/foundation_Rilla
&
http://www.myspace.com/REALrecognizeREALrecord
