Camden, New Jersey’s own Rell Rock has created a reputation of being one of the most prolific and well-respected female Hip Hop artists to bless the mic. Since 2004, she has been releasing projects and mixtapes consistently. Her journey starts from a child having a Dad who owned a Record label in the late 80s to early 90s instilling the independent hustle. This would also lead to label aspirations for Rell.
Rell lists the legend, Queen Latifah, as one of her early inspirations as she is a great talent in music, and movies is business savvy, and also being from Jersey. Some of the other artists she gives credit to are Foxy Brown, Jay Z, Lauryn Hill, and Tupac. These influences reflect in her music as Rell brings lyricism, substance, and creativity while being able to make it digestible.
During her journey in the industry, she lists some pros & cons of being an indie artist. One of the biggest pros is the ability to release music at her discretion. While the cons are a male-dominated game and without a crew of dudes or co-sign you have to work twice as hard, also feeling women in rap are often very sexualized nowadays. She’d like to see it go back to the focus being the talent/music as opposed to the looks.
We spoke on the Jersey indie Hip Hop scene and for the most part, it isn’t really prevalent as Rell says she spent more time traveling to Philly. They have a more established scene and Camden is only a couple of miles away. While Jersey has legends like Redman, Naughty By Nature, Fugees, Artifacts, and Outsidaz she acknowledges most of the networking is done in New York or Philly.
When asked about the state of Hip Hop Rell says “State of Hip Hop I feel it’s in a much better state it’s like real hip hop is back all you need is a following and you can be successful without radio”. As far as her music when it comes to production there is no particular sounds she prefers just what sounds good. She feels her music has grown as she is more experienced and wiser. This enables her to put out unfiltered music more focused on her life rather than just clever lines and bars.
Currently, she’s working on a few projects to release in 2023, one project being “Diamond in the Rough”. She’ll also be releasing a single “Bobby Fischer” ft RJ Payne. Her current Hip hop taste ranges from Griselda, J Cole, and Kendrick, to Nas, Che Noir, Ransom and many more. Some of the producers she would like to work with in the future are Alchemist, Clinton Sparks, Hit Boy, Metro Boomin just some names from her list. Just expect Rell Rock to continue the quality & consistency in 2023.
