William R.I.C.E. & COBAIN – “All I Wanna Do” Ft. H.B (Official Video)
Imagine a city not known for music. Now, imagine that same city being world renowned for amusement parks, resorts, and retirement. Beautiful golf courses and sparkling beaches are always within reach. Little attention is given to the real picture. Homelessness, unemployment, and poverty are also staples of this same city. It is in this “real picture” in which William Hamberg a.k.a William R.I.C.E perfected his craft and derived the stories so vividly expressed in his rhymes.
R.I.C.E penned his first bar in the fourth grade, but it wasn’t until he heard the street induced, jazz influenced tracks on Nas’s Illmatic that he fell in love with Hip Hop. At that point, he decided it was time to take his craft serious, and shed light on what it truly meant to be at the bottom. Born in Brooklyn Ny, R.I.C.E would move to Orlando Fl, with his mom at the age of three. Although, he would retain close ties with his northern roots throughout his life, it is his central Florida home and the unique circumstanced faced there that shaped his view of the world. R.I.C.E stands for Reports. Interests. Commands. Experiences. These are the four cornerstones to ideology. Ideology is the way in which an individual or group of individuals view the world. William R.I.C.E. or William’s (view of the world) is seen throughout all of his musical bodies of work.
Throughout middle school and high school R.I.C.E. experienced his fair share of ups and downs that are synonymous with the music game. Never one to stay down for long, R.I.C.E landed his first deal during his Freshman year at Florida A&M University. That deal would shape his approach to music politics forever. Due to creative differences with the label, he broke ties and decided to promote his music independently. Throughout his time in college he continued to create music, but had to take a year long hiatus in 2008 to focus on completing his Master’s degree requirements.
In 2011, R.I.C.E enlisted in the U.S. Navy. It was in the Navy in which he met his brother and lifelong collaborator Cobain. R.I.C.E and Cobain went on to release five monumental Mixtapes. Now, with their global appeal alive and growing R.I.C.E won’t rest until the ATinHut movement is felt and Hip Hop once again returns to the golden era roots in which it once thrived.
