Rich Hil

Photo by John Walder

Words by Nate Santos

It’s a fair assumption that many of your favorite artists are high on something when they step into the studio. A number of them won’t admit it, and even fewer have introduced that cloud-kicking persona into their musical experience . Rich Hil, on the other hand, is in touch with his inner hippie. His sound is what many characterize as trippy, while his personal description of his rap-rock collision is “Hippie Rebel Rock”. Although much of today’s hip-hop lacks that live band element that rock masters, Hil presents an almost Woodstock reincarnate growing up in a first Jay-Z and now Lil Wayne mentored generation. In fact, when citing his influences, it’s easy to see how his abstract style came to fruition. “Listening to old music like The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix and then combining that with Jay-Z and Biggie, Beanie Sigel and Philly’s Most Wanted, at the time just made me have to start writing.”

At first mention of who he looks up to in the industry, he goes straight for the legends that refuse to call it quits. “Look at Bob Dylan. He’s about to fall over ‘cause he’s so old, right? Same with Mick Jagger. So they’re still on tour killing it and they’re like [in their] ‘60s or ‘70s,” he says, adding, “’Cause that longevity in music is everything.” By the way the Connecticut native puts out music on an extremely consistent basis, longevity may very well be his end result.

Drenched in artistic ink to highlight his rebel side, Hil may be willing to overstep boundaries by any means in order to break into the game. After all, he’s fully aware that he has his own special set of obstacles to overcome on the road ahead. He may be the only one sparking serious buzz in the booth for the state of Connecticut. Now an L.A. transplant, Hil admits that there isn’t too vast of a music scene today in his home state. “When I was a kid there was. Battle rapping and shit like that and I was in that.” In response to the hurdle of being taken seriously due to a privileged upbringing as the son of globally recognized designer Tommy Hilfiger, he confesses “I feel like they’re gonna’ try and make it harder for me. And you know what? That’s better ‘cause I want a challenge. I feel like I’m ready for that.” Hil’s fully aware that his fortune has the potential to hinder how some will view him or on the flipside, enhance his image in the eyes of others. Expressing how his father’s line of work relates to his own ambitions he offers the following opinion, “to me it’s just my dad and I do a completely different profession than he does.” Not making a major deal of his famous pops, he says, “I just have a regular dad and he has a job that’s a lil’ different from normal and that’s it.” Despite what some may think Hil clears up his dad’s role in his career. “Everything is independent,” he specifies “I reach out to him for personal help. Everything musically I did on my own.” In spite of his drastically different career path his household name father encourages his boy to pursue his passion. Rich adamantly states, “He has supported from the beginning.”

Hil develops his unique material in a rather traditional way. “I put a beat on and listen to it for about 30 seconds,” he says. “If I like it then I go right in the booth and do it. I don’t write it down or nothing, I just do it off the top of my head.” His best friend Marcus is a big fan of southern hip-hop and often handpicks instrumentals for Rich to spit on. One such track he picked out was “Cookies & Apple Juice,” the far-from-serious anthem by Cam’ron who happens to be one of Hil’s favorite rappers. “Doing that was just funny to me,” Hil recalls. He’s become known for redoing some popular underground and even mainstream songs such as Eminem’s “Mosh” and Weezy’s “Drop the World.” The one-time limo aficionado reveals, “When I get the instrumentals, I’ve never really heard the original songs, except maybe ‘Drop the World.’ If I haven’t heard it, it’s gonna sound completely different.”

In regards to his label situation, the emcee was previously on super producer Swizz Beatz’s Full Surface roster. “It was like a verbal agreement and we went on tour with him.” Since then, he has branched out and established his own imprint Limo Life Music Group, which is not under the umbrella of any prior label. “Limo stands for ‘Living is Musically Outrageous.’ It’s also a metaphor. Limos were cool in the ‘90s. We’re saying fuck limos, limos are wack. Because in the ‘90s, when we were nerds in school, limos, we were cool as shit. Everybody wanted to be in a limo.”

In his library of mixtapes, Rich Hil delivers what could be the hip-hop account of the cult flick Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. While being the son of a wealthy fashion mogul certainly doesn’t place the rapper in any socio-economic woes, his journey has had its share of uppers and downers like the drugs in Hunter S. Thompson’s work. “I just want them to know that it’s real and to hear the pain. ‘Cause if they can’t hear the pain then they can’t hear me.” He further explains, “There’s a lot of pain in my music. I have a lonely background. I try to get that off in my music and let people really feel that so that people can relate to me, really relate to me.”

His upcoming projects include the mixtape Misfit, which features his frequent collaborator Boo Bonic, Limosa Nostra II and Lost Limos V. Rich will also put out an EP When Limos Were Cool, which is comprised of the best cuts off his Don Cannon-hosted mixtapes. He is also working on an album with producer Boi1da, the producer behind Drake’s smash hit “Best I Ever Had.” Furthermore, his first official LP, Limo Tints, will serve as a refreshing surprise – a debut release where all tracks are backed by a live band. In his opinion, however, Hil’s true debut will be The Black Limo, which he has yet to commence recording. The two latter projects are being shopped to majors and will be released on iTunes.

With the intention of bringing back “that stoner element” to hip-hop, Hil’s weekly unleashing of music serves as an ambitious means for the budding artist. To date, Hil has released more than 500 tracks via mixtapes and his website nolimos.com. In doing so, he acknowledges the importance of making a connection with his listener before they ever even purchase any of his music. “My goal putting out that much music is to just have people know me as an artist,” he states. “Before I even put out an album, I want to have number one fans who will buy my albums no matter what, even before I put out a first album.”