Exclusive Interview: Rittz Talks Working With Yelawolf, Relationship Woes, Seinfeld, and Canadian Whisky

There’s an ancient Greek proverb which goes something like, “Great deeds are usually wrought at great risk.” I believe Herodotus said that back in the 5th Century BC, although the saying still bears relevance today. In fact, Gwinnett County rapper and Slumerican (that’s Yelawolf‘s label) signee, Rittz, has been channeling Herodotus’s wise words ever since he quit his day job at a local BBQ to pursue a career in hip-hip.

Now, as we undulate into 2012, on the eve of global destruction, Rittz finds himself cheffing up new work, penning the followup to his highly-infectious White Jesus mixtape, which spawned such underground jams as, “Full of Shit”, “High Five”, as well as the title track. If you want to hear how Rittz can match a proven emcee like Yela, download their new record, “Growin’ up in the Gutter”, off Yela’s Radioactive. Heck, you might even think to buy that shit, convince us young punks that Greek mythology runs deeper than just sorority chicks and toga parties.

Read the complete interview after the jump, bruh.

Congratulations on your work with Yelawolf on the Radioactive project.

Yeah, man, thanks.

“Growin’ up in the Gutter” is a fucking incredible record.

You like it?

Yeah, of course. Is that Yela or you on the hook?

Naw, naw, that’s Yela on the hook.

It’s a pretty intense record. I wondered what you did to prepare for that verse? How did you channel the energy?

It’s crazy, I was in the studio with him and they were playing the beat. It’s a Will Power beat, super hot beat. Yela was like, “I think this is the record I want you to get on.” It’s not normally my style of record, but I’m not going to miss out on an opportunity to do anything. So once I heard him singing the hook, his vision for it, I started getting it. He had set me up with the line, “You don’t have to be from the projects to deal with this nonsense.” I went off that, because I’m the second verse. I could relate to what he was saying, so it just worked out good, man.

The beat almost has a cinematic vibe to it, like a Rob Zombie film.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was kind of like some Rob Zombie films, or it had a Nine Inch Nails-type sound to it. It was crazy. It definitely was something different. I don’t know how long ago- it’s been a while since we did it. When we did it he came back, because I didn’t see him for a minute. Yela went out of town, and he was like, “They’re really feeling the record at the label.” When I heard that I couldn’t be happier.

Did you work on anything else on that project, helping with other tracks?

Naw, I really didn’t, man. I think Yela did 90% of that in Vegas, if not 100%. He came back and was like, “Dawg, I got a new album.” I was like, “Wow, for real? In two weeks?” It was a real short amount of time, and he played me the songs and I was loving it. He did some here, like “Growin’ up in the Gutter” we did here, I think he did the intro here and stuff like that. But naw, that was all him. He’s so busy so when he’s in town and he calls, I make sure I show up and get the pen ready if he says “Fire!”. That way I don’t miss out on anything.

I wondered if you could tell us about future projects. I know you’re focused on touring right now with REHAB, right?

Yeah, we’re going on tour with REHAB January 12th through February 27th.

You working on any new music?

Yeah, I’m working on new music right now as we speak, getting tracks together. Getting out on the ‘Hard White Tour’ with Yelawolf showed me how many people knew of me already and knew the words, which was great, which was a lot more than I thought, but it also showed me there’s a lot of people who didn’t hear White Jesus yet. We’re going to push that for a little while and keep giving it some time, but I’m really focused on making the perfect project for me, so I want to make sure all the production’s right and everything’s good. I’m starting to write right now.

You probably exhausted a lot of inspiration on White Jesus. Was it tough to find new stuff to write about, or how do you find that inspiration?

It is, man, it is. Yelawolf is somebody who has inspired me too, because he’s rapped as long as I have, and he doesn’t run out of inspiration. He’s crazy with it. But I’m a little bit different. I started making mixtapes in 1995. Each one of those, I probably put out ten of them, had a lot of songs on them, so I’ve rapped about a lot of things. You get to a certain point you have to rewind back a little bit and try to come up with inspiration. But right now I’m really inspired, in the stage I’m in, I’m not quite there yet, but I’m on my way. I got a lot of shit to say.

What specifically are you looking to improve in your craft now, since White Jesus has been so successful?

There’s always room to get better. I look at it like, there’s some people- I’m a lyrical artist. When I hear other people’s songs I really listen to their lyrics. I always focus on that, but I think a lot of people go wrong in their track selection too. You could get some beats that really aren’t all that, and think they are, and they might not work. So really I’m looking for a certain sound. I want to take the laid-back country rap tunes I’ve been rapping and do that to the fullest degree, come hard. I want a nice, classic-sounding project. I want it to flow all the way. I’m looking for a certain sound and with me it starts with the production. Once I start getting the right beats, I can start rapping around them. I’ve got about five new songs right now, and I’ve got about ten tracks to possibly take in that direction but I’m still looking for more tracks. I got Burn One and Will Power working right now.

Speaking of that laid-back, country vibe, I can definitely hear the OutKast influence in your production, and it kind of contrasts with your rhyming style.

OutKast was definitely my number one influence when I was younger. It was the type of rap music I loved. It’s hard for me to describe the type of beats I like, so I tell them, “Man, I want some hard shit. I want some gangsta rap beats, like old school gangsta rap.” I’m not a gangsta rapper but I’ll put my own style of rapping overtop. I want some hard- with the mellow shit blended in of course.

Contrast works well.

Yeah, contrast, that’s exactly what I’m looking for.

I read that your parents were big Rock & Roll enthusiasts. Is that true?

Yeah, yeah, my dad was a guitar player. He played in bands when I was really young. Before we moved to Atlanta he stopped, but he did that for a living. All my uncles, he had four brothers, they all played in bands. When I was young my dad always had rehearsal space in the basement, reel-to-reel, four track tape recorders, stuff like that, so I was learning to mess with those in the 1980’s.

What records were your parents playing when you were growing up?

A little bit of everything, man. He liked a lot of ZZ Top, and I know my dad was a big Jeff Beck fan. Stevie Ray Vaughan, stuff like that. It was a wide variety, because they were a cover band. They played a lot of cover songs. They had original songs too, but they did a lot of covers. Not so much like Lynyrd Skynyrd, classic rock. He was on some other stuff. But it’s definitely an influence. We just sampled Vanilla Fudge in a new record I did. It turned out crazy, and I actually found that record digging through his albums that I had.

That’s pretty cool. Speaking of the tour, I wondered if you were coming to Toronto anytime soon, because I’m friends with Roshin from Notes to Self? You going to put something together?

Well, we did, I was up there. I forget what month it was. It was a few months ago. I came up there. They had me come up there. I’m really hoping to get back there. Toronto really showed love, man. Is that where you’re from?

Yeah, yeah, that’s where I live.

Oh, okay, cool. I didn’t know. I love Toronto. When I went to Toronto, and saw people knowing the words and songs, showing love, that was the first time I went somewhere else and headlined on my own, especially in another country. It was like, “Wow, this is big.” Yeah, I fuck with those dudes hard. They’re real cool dudes. Hopefully soon I’ll get back up there. We had talked about doing a little tour up there, but you know, just timing and different schedules conflicting.

That would be great. Speaking of your lyrics, they’re pretty honest. I know some artists are rather open with their lyrics, but then in interviews they find it awkward to back them up. Are you completely comfortable with everything you’ve rapped about, or have there been lyrics you’ve been nervous about, like, “Damn, should I really spit that? Am I comfortable saying that?”

Naw, I mean, the only lyrics I’m really not comfortable with- this sounds ridiculous. The only lyrics I really at all mess around with are when you talk about relationships. Those interviews come out and then I’ve got a nice argument after that comes out on the internet.

Joe Budden shit. [laughs]

[laughs] Yeah. Naw, mine are worse, just with having a girlfriend and being in a relationship, dealing with that is a touchy subject, talking about stuff like that. I get a lot of questions on sleep at night, you know, “Is this true from this situation?” But really I’m comfortable speaking about everything. It is what it is, I really wouldn’t rap about it if it wasn’t.

Speaking of girlfriends, I’ve talked to so many artists who are on the verge of really making it, and they’re always like, “Oh, man, my girl wants me to quit and find a ‘real job’.” How do you get past that, or are you looking to steer clear of those individuals?

Man, that’s the story of my life right there. Really at the point I’m at right now, because- My whole thing with rapping, when I was younger of course it was like, “I just want to make it big and be number one and do this and that.” As time goes by you really just want a career. I messed up when I was younger and didn’t really have anything to fall back on. I relied on it, so once I started thinking the rap shit wasn’t going to happen it started getting scary. Because at the end of the day I wanted to get married, have kids, and just be normal like everyone else, have some money in the bank and be comfortable. But, not having that, the only way to get that was to make it in rap, because I fucked up. If I were to go back to school right now, I would need to study math to go get a GED, then go back to school and do everything else. It’s frustrating because I like having a girlfriend, being in my relationship, but then music demands so much of your time away, and then all the other shit that comes along with a girl, it makes the relationship very difficult.

I guess it gives you material to rap about.

Yeah, I deal with that on a daily basis. I think it’s possible to make this shit work, to do it, it’s just rough, man. No chick wants their dude on the road, like “I’m gone,” but I think once they see some money or something happen from it, because me and my girl, we don’t have shit. It’s easy to complain about somebody being gone, but then you can’t go to the doctor, you can’t do anything, you can’t get a car, you’ve got no credit. Somebody’s got to go out and get it. It’s rough, man.

You’ve got to come to Canada for the free health care.

[laughs] Yeah, man, for real. Jesus, that’s a big problem.

Yeah, yeah, you’ve obviously demonstrated a lot of patience and persistence when it comes to your music, but how far were you really willing to go to make this music thing happen, because I read you did some illegal stuff? Were there any specific moments when you were like, “Okay, am I really doing this? Is it worth it? Will I be able to take this back?”

Oh, yeah, all the time. I think overall the life, period, was a big risk, because I didn’t do anything else but rely on it. That’s what I’m saying, I woke up one day and realized, “Wow, this shit might not happen.” The whole time was a big risk. I always knew in my head that I was going to make it once day, it’s going to happen, but one day I woke up and was like, “Man, I got to do something.” Not any specific thing was a big risk. I guess right now is a risk, because right now I’m definitely thinking I’m on the way. It’s not set in stone yet. I still have a lot of work to do. I still have nothing to fall back on. But I’m pretty positive about what’s happening right now. I’m building momentum and I like to think of things in a simple way. Not to dumb things down, or not to be ambitious, but the fact that I can say I want a real record that you can go get in the stores. Yelawolf did a lot of shit for me. Even if this shit were to stop right now, at least I know all the work I put in all those years got me somewhere. I definitely want more, but at least I got to this point. For a while I was worried about wasting fifteen years and not having nothing to show for it, you know what I mean, like, “I was a rapper one time, but there’s nothing to show for it. I was good, I promise.”

But anybody who listens to your music can tell you’re a talented lyricist.

Shit, thanks, man. It’s going good, man. I’m crossing my fingers. I’m in a real good space. I’ve been patient for a real long time. I’m just continuing to be patient, not being rushed to hop on whatever. Even as far as the new project goes, really a lot of it is about timing and everything else, so when the time’s right I just want to have something nice to drop.

Word. You mentioned Seinfeld theme music in an interview in New York.

[laughs]

Are you a fan? I’m a fanatic.

Yeah, yeah, I’m a fan. I didn’t watch it religiously every night, but there was a good couple years when it was like Friends and Seinfeld were on back-to-back. I studied it a good bit, man. Yeah, Seinfeld’s dope.

Which character would you compare yourself to most?

[laughs] I don’t know, man, I guess I’d probably be Jerry.

Okay, okay. [laughs]

What’s his buddy’s name, the bald-headed dude?

George.

I’m not George.

You can’t compare yourself to George.

Yeah, Seinfeld’s dope, but it did feel like that going through New York. You been to New York?

Yeah, I love New York.

It’s crazy.

Yeah, you get a greater appreciation for the show. I saw on your Twitter you had a picture of Canadian Club whisky. So I thought, really the inspiration is coming from Canada, you drink Canadian whisky then grab the pen and pad.

My girl, she’s a smart-ass, she goes, “You go to Canada one time and you think you’re fucking Canadian now.” I was a Crown drinker, so I was telling those dudes when I went up there, I was in the bars and nobody had Crown. It wasn’t around like that. Everyone was drinking Canadian Club so I started drinking that. I was like, “Damn, I kind of like this.” I’ve definitely got some alcohol problems, and it really stems from Canadian whisky. Canadian Club is my flavor of the month right now.

You got any plans for Christmas? You staying in Atlanta.

No, I’ll probably go see family in Pennsylvania. I haven’t been up there since 2009 maybe. I’ll probably go see them for a few days, and then I’m going to hop on a plane. I got to do Austin, Texas for New Years. I’ll probably go up there for a few days and do the family thing, then go to Texas.

– By @petermarrack