RESPECT. Interview: Ripp Flamez on Cleveland and Dream Collab with Cudi and Owl City

Ripp Flamez is an up and coming artist from Cleveland. He is extremely down to earth and has a vibe that will be sure to catch on in his hometown and beyond. I am looking forward to seeing what’s next for this young star and you should be too. This conversation took place just after the Cavaliers had won the championship.

RESPECT.: Hey, Mr. LeBron Flamez! First off congrats on the victory in Cleveland. Long awaited!

Yeah man, (laughs) thank you!

RESPECT.: Did you think the boys were gonna come back when they were down 3 -1 in the finals?

The reality part of me didn’t, but in the city we have this sense of false hope. Well it’s not falsity, but we always just have that. Even if we’re down. Like even with the Browns. People know the Browns aren’t gonna win, but people still go to every single game, every year, until the last game. Even when they know they aren’t going to the playoffs.

RESPECT.: Do you think Johnny Manziel can ever make a comeback? (laughs)

I dunno at this point (laughs).

RESPECT.: (Laughs) The guy likes to party!

Man yes he does bro. But you try living somewhere in Cleveland… That’s the truth.

RESPECT.: So what was it like growing up in the city?

There are so many ways to describe how it is growing up here, you know?

RESPECT.: What did you learn that you took with you from the beginning?

Help is just not coming. If you waiting on somebody to come help you, it is not coming. I learned that at an early age.

RESPECT.: Rely on yourself?

Yeah the city is tough. Even just getting to other cities, I didn’t realize how much homeless people are overlooked here.

RESPECT.: Everybody probably feels like, “no one’s helping me out, I’m not gonna help anybody else out.”

Yourself first. Yourself first. Except for when it comes to sports. That’s when everyone comes together.

RESPECT.: It unifies. So when did you start rapping?

At like 8 years-old.

RESPECT.: Just rapping in your bedroom, like writing raps?

Nah, so thing is I’ve never actually wrote a rap down. Maybe my first one ever. And I wrote it down after I recorded it (laughs). But I just could never write it down.

RESPECT.: Do you write now?

Nah I still don’t.

RESPECT.: Wow. That’s crazy. So it’s all just based on a feeling?

Just like pre-thoughts. I could just be one the phone or interviewing and think of something dope to talk about.

RESPECT.: So how would you describe your style of music and what do you want people to take from it?

I wanna be almost like an activist like a “Pac,” but like an entertainer like Chris Brown. I want those mixed together. That’s what I want people to get from me. I want you to know that I come from a hard place and I’m definitely woke with society and everything that’s going on, but at the same time, I’m able to turn that negative into something positive and make you feel good and have hope. Just to give the silver lining in a grey cloud.

RESPECT.: That’s a hell of a mixture too. Chris Brown and Tupac, I like that. What kind of artists inspired you when you first started out and who inspires you now?

When I first started, I can’t really pinpoint the point that I actually started cause I never didn’t take music seriously, I just didn’t take it as serious as I do at this part of my life. So it came with the levels. I think when I started actually investing like, “this is me. We not getting no jobs.” You know what I’m saying? We were listening to Wiz, we were listening to Machine Gun Kelly, Big Sean. Those were the people that we watched make videos and we just lit up like, “yo f**k that! We want THIS!” This is what we tryna do. I remember when Big Sean dropped, what was that song? (hums “My Last”)

RESPECT.: With Chris Brown right? Off Finally Famous? “My Last”

Yeah, yeah! Around that time I was on him. You know, Wiz had just started off. Cudi. We listened to Cudi definitely.

RESPECT.: So like that internet age where the mixtapes just started becoming big? Cudi, Drake, Wiz, Sean, all those guys. That really kinda showed you that it was “real” to make it off the internet?

Yup, yup. And you know, every single one of them came with a story. You had Wiz, and I know how he came up. I was talking about Sean, and I know how he came up in interviews and stuff. It was so much of them just explaining it and it was just so much. Like how vividly they painted it in the music. They definitely helped me get to the point that I’m at.

RESPECT.: Word. So if you could work with any of those guys, or actually anyone, what would be your dream collaboration? So you can choose someone on the hook, someone on the verses and you get a verse, what would be your dream collaboration?

Out of anyone in general? Oh man! I would get Owl City on the hook. I would wanna do the backs. Let Owl City do like the lead and I’ll do the backs. I’d probably put Cudi on the verse and I’d do a verse. That would probably be my dream collab. I don’t care if it’s a single or anything. You know that Wu-Tang album they made for one person? That’s something I want to do. I don’t care if I never release it, if anybody heard it, that dream collab is something I wanna do. Owl City, Cudi and me.

RESPECT.: What’s crazy about Cudi is, yes he is from your city but even for me, I’m from Canada and I think it’s the story that relates to everyone. He is just so different and he is so unapologetically himself. He didn’t worry about a flow or a rhyme scheme and he just did himself, is that what kind of drew you to him? Just how comfortable he was with himself?

Yeah definitely. And just that he didn’t vibe with shit. The first thing that really drew me was that he acknowledged other artists in the streets. And I hadn’t even met him. At the time, I wasn’t big enough, but the people that I was looking up to, he acknowledged them and man I listened to his music and I related to him. I was the weird kid from the projects. Where he was from, him being weird didn’t matter. Where I was at, I was like, I understand his “Solo Dolo” all of that. “Heaven at Night.”

RESPECT.: Yeah! Man on the Moon. Pillow Talk. That album was crazy. It’s still my favorite album of all time. Did you ever meet him?

Never. Never. And I want to.

RESPECT.: You will one day. I feel it. And it’ll be a big moment. Who has been one person, other than him, it could be him I guess, but who has been the one person in your life who has influenced you the most?

My grandmother man. I used to call her anytime, anything. That’s how I kind of make my music. Like my grandmother, it wouldn’t matter how bad things were, because she would always tell me to look up and make it look good for my brothers and cousins.

RESPECT.: What’s the best piece of advice she ever gave you?

Ah man, so many quotes. I think she just taught me to thank God at a young age. Something bad happening, something good was happening. She said to thank God. During the day time, at night time. Thank God. Just be grateful.

RESPECT.: Word. What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve ever given or that you would give if someone asked you for one piece of life advice based on your experience?

Do what you do even if you never got paid for it.

RESPECT.: So you would be making music even if you weren’t getting paid for it?

Regardless, regardless. And LeBron would be playing basketball.

RESPECT.: I definitely think that. I think at the end of the day if you end up doing things for ulterior motives, or even for other people, you’re only cheating yourself. And that’s when you lose the heart of what you do and the passion for it.

Yup!

RESPECT.: So when did you start using auto-tune? was that always something in your music or did you kind of pick up on the trend that was going on and think, “oh that would sound good!?”

I always wanted to sing. Like I could never actually sing but I could kind of train my own vocals. But when I was rapping I was trying to harmonize. At the time when I wanted to start using auto-tune it wasn’t as popular so even when I didn’t really know how to use it, my engineer just knew what he was doing. He was just so good at what he did that I had a song that I had never shown anybody. So he just put some auto-tune on it. And it sounded really good. And from there I was like, “I’m gonna make songs that sound like this!”

RESPECT.: Yeah, it’s dope! It’s also just fun when you first start playing around with it and you’re like, “Oh s**t I can hit that note now!” Because especially if you have the melody in your head and you’re like, “all I need is to be able to hit it!”

Yeah!

RESPECT.: What would you say is one trend in hip-hop that you would want to stop?

One trend? The f*****g lean drinking man. I hate that s**t. It’s like a necessity. You’ve gotta have a big wad of money, a big gun, and some lean with some double cups. A backwood and some styrofoam. Like aight.

RESPECT.: Yeah I dunno, I agree with you man. It just looks corny. Especially when you see the effects it actually has and you see people dying off of that s**t. I dunno.

Yeah, like I know I’m not a saint, but kids look up to me. And kids wanna do what I do. You know what I’m saying? And I know I got videos riding round with the 40, but I’ve got a license. 

RESPECT.: Yeah cause you do have videos with guns and stuff. What are your thoughts on that and how do you feel it influences people looking up to you?

I look at that and I don’t like that. I know that’s not a good look. I know what’s good so I’m able to come out here and do stuff like go to schools and talk to them about what I do in my videos. You know, I pull up to the hood and they want to ride around with the 40. I just let ‘em know the real. This is real. It’s not like the kids these days don’t know what’s going on with guns. I wish I had never seen a gun you know? I’m from the projects and I was always around it you know? I just don’t put too much into it now because it’s just so common.

RESPECT.: Do you think the world is kind of just numb to all of it?

Thing is, I think it just is the Internet. It made everything desensitized for real.

 

RESPECT.: Last couple questions, these are just gonna be rapid fire so answer whatever. Favorite kid’s cartoon?

It has to be between Hey Arnold and SpongeBob.

 

RESPECT.: Favorite movie growing up?

Oh my god. I’m a movie head. So it’s going to be tough. Give me a minute or two to go through my movie files!

RESPECT.: You can go through the top 5  (laughs).

Alright, top 5, top 5, top 5

Growing up, I watched Temptations back to back to back to back . Temptations is definitely one of them, Set It Off, The Butterfly Effect, House Party 1.. or 2…one of them.

RESPECT.: What about favorite album of all time?

Nellyville, Ja Rule album, The Black Album – the first album I had full knowledge to analyze every song and Carter 3.

RESPECT.: Where did you get your name from by the way?

I was little Rippa, then I got a little older and they called me Young Ripp. Then I got a little older and I dropped the Young. And then I thought Flamez sounds ill. Nobody’s name is Flamez. And I stuck with it.

If you want to follow Ripp’s journey you can connect with him on Twitter here.

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