Our Q&A With Rising Chicago Artist ReB’L FiTi
What up FiTi, we really enjoyed your new mixtape, to be honest, when we heard it felt like a quality EP…LOL. How long have you been writing music. Also, what made you to become a creative intellectual conscious MC? Your lyrics are super dope!
I wouldn’t say I’m worthy to be called an MC just yet, hopefully one day I will get that title and be deserving of it. Right now I’d say I’m just aggressively doing “spoken word” and creating soundtracks to it haha. My cousin was getting in some trouble in the city and came to live with my family, this was around my middle school days. He would put me on to music, and would make me play rhyming games with him. Then I started writing poems to get girls attention and once that failed miserably I started spitting rhymes for my homies for practice. My friend Karl gave me an Eminem record to borrow, he said listen to a song called “solider” and once I heard it I kept digging for more that was in the 6th grade, I think.
What specific city do you rep, also how many of the locals are exposed to your music?
I’m from a city within the Chicago-land area, called Joliet, Illinois. I would say that a good amount of people have heard of what I’m doing or some of my music. I want to be the man of my city though, like on that “getting the key to the city” stuff. I want to be able to show them I made it and one day I they say I did something great and I am from there. Maybe I can invest some of that success into the city itself. Sometimes it gets a bad rep but I feel like it can be something even greater.
Who are your Hip Hop influences in the game?
I have a tattoo of the pill from the slim shady LP on my arm that should explain EVERYTHING, haha. I listen to music as an escape and connected to some of these artists cause they were picked on like me or dealt with the same issues like loss or depression. Cudi was a big “woah” moment for me when I heard his mixtape. I know it may seem random but Missy and Timbo was killing it with the tempo too, so them. Hip hop is still such a young genre of music that has went through so many new sounds, it a super influential genre of art overall, so the list could go on forever. I think Rick Rubin is a great influence in the culture too.
Other then Hip Hop, have you ever dabbled into other genres of music?
I made a few projects in the past where I went over rock, trap and even dubstep type instrumentals. I’ve never been hesitant to any actual noise or sound. I’ve always wanted my fans to say “I don’t know how to really describe his sound” when they present my music to someone else. K.A.A.M. was made for the simple fact that a lot of producers weren’t messing with me and possibly didn’t want me on their beats, so I got my homie Dewey and was like “Ay I know you can do this, with your help I can finally tailor a project solely around my concept and sound.”
Please breakdown the creative process of your latest mixtape “Super Senior”. Also tell us a bit about the dope mixtape cover?
I drew the title “Super Senior”, just sketched it up along with the creatures. The actual photos of me were taken by Sheila Castillo(@faithenhumanity), I love how they came out and sent all of it to my homie Jaime Padilla, who has done a lot of work with us in the past for our event flyers etc. I wanted it to look like a poster someone would put up on his or her wall. To be honest I always want my project to feel as though you’re involved in the concept with me. I opened up for Danny Brown, and we weren’t given a proper sound check so we ran into an issue on stage and some girl screamed out “go back to school”, so I did. At the same time Dewey showed me an interview with Sango where he said he felt like a super senior. I feel like things just come to you easier if you see the signs around you and incorporate it with what you’re dealing at the time. I brainstormed the title design one day around how I use to doodle in school. The concept ties in with me trying to debut my story over to a new audience and old but only this time it’s with a different POV, more aggressive and in your face.
Any music videos dropping supporting your new project release?
Actually, yes there is, I’m in the middle of planning this event where I’ll be showing the artwork made by artists that we reached out to. We asked them to make whatever the song made them feel. We’ll be presenting it at a cinema where in the next room we’ll show the visual for the track “K.A.A.M.”, I’m trying to find the best ways to present things to the audience, connect with them better. The video was shot by LeftRight(@shotbyleftright), he flew over from California for a week last year and we literally just shot visuals ALL day everyday. It was like I was on an adventure for that whole week because it was also while I was still trying to how to complete Super Senior; it was just creating all the time. In the mist of it all we were trying to figure out the visual for K.A.A.M. in order to perfect it. So much came from such a short period of time. That’s why with presenting this visual I want it to be on a grander scale with the audience and try to explore new ways to present art in its rawest form. It such an intense short visual and to think there’s so much other project in the works.
How often do you perform live and tour?
Honestly, I’ve only done a handful of performances, although I am working on ways to create my own events instead. I was always shy about my music and I think that made it harder for me to make the right relationships. I was worried if people wouldn’t “accept” my noise. I’m at point in my art where I am even more confident to show my passion to the rest of the world.
Where do see yourself in 5yrs time?
I just want to be cemented in the discussion. I want to be able to reach a level of relevancy where I can create music with some of my favorite artists and make a great soundtrack for an even greater movie or game. Who knows, possibly for one of my own? I love that in the process of chasing my dream, the cards may fall in your favor and you can meet some extremely talented people, and they might think the same about you. In 5 years, I want other creatives to be searching for me to get my advice on things. Dig in a cave and create with other talents, that would be so dope.
Here it is! Our most popular question! What is your definition of “underground hip hop”?
To me it’s that nasty funk you hear in a solid drum kit or bass line like the intro to “cool like that”, they mixed those sounds in so well on that record. I always hear a project and try to find the samples and see how they flipped them.
Where can people find you on the web? Drop all the vital links.
www.fitifam.com everything should always be available be there.
Everything else is just simply searching @reblfiti
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/reblfiti/
Twitter
https://twitter.com/reblfiti
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/reblfiti/
Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/rebl-fiti
I wonder when did they stop giving out their Myspace name. Random question.
Lastly, and shout out?
MOM, and then MOM again, like on some Kevin Durant shit.
Dewey for trusting in me with “KAAM”, the stories behind these songs man.
I want to thank Dave Allen for that smooth ass introduction to Yungin’ and allowing me to use his track Awareness in the skit. tiZ, for throwing one of the cleanest verses I’ve heard to help tie up Luckee BADD. Thank you LeftRight for making me look way cooler than I actually am, and NCXX and Donnie Mack aka Hi-tek for helping create the Senior Ditch Day skit. Thank you Drew Mantia for taking a chance with us on engineering this project, you were patience and always kept an open mind. Carlos Mojica you helped me find my way, you opened Pandora’s box. Thank you Jaime Padilla for helping solidify our presentation. Thank you Alva Falcone. Thank you to all my brothers, my real day one homies. Thank you to everyone who supported, from the Vol. 1 days to the new fans, forever grateful for you giving my legs to chase my dreams.
