Rebel the Great
October 20, 2011
Rebel the Great
by Jason Pollak
Rebel The Great is a 24 year old rapper from Greenburgh, NY. Although a relative newcomer to the game, Rebel has been writing and spitting since he was a teenager. It wasn’t until 2007 though, until Rebel started taking his rapping skills seriously. Together with his hot new label, Greenleaf Media, they are getting ready to stomp through your airways. Be sure to check out his latest mixtape “Back To Basics” and follow him on Twitter @RebelTheGreat.
Jason When and where you born?
Rebel I was born in Mt. Vernon, NY on June 18, 1987. I was then brought up in Greenburgh, NY.
Jason How did you begin rapping? Did anyone inspire you to rap?
Rebel Yea, it was basically due to my surroundings. As a teenager I used to chill with my cousins. You know, I’d spit some bars and we’d have little rap offs. May main passion was always writing though. At first I didn’t like the spotlight, I just wanted to be the writer. After years of being around it, I began to grasp rap a bit more. It was around 2007, that I really began to rap.
Jason What would you define as your moment that signified the beginning of your rap career?
Rebel The first thing I’d say was a mixtape I did with a couple of my peers. We released this Halloween mixtape. We didn’t really know what it was going to be at first. We just came together with a bunch of ideas we had. We got a lot of great feedback from that. People were saying that I should keep doing it, so I basically just kept writing and rapping from there.
Jason How do you think you have improved over the last couple of years since the release of your first material?
Rebel I feel like I have improved a lot. My vocabulary has grown, my story telling has gotten a lot better. I just think I’ve improved overall in every aspect. It feels a lot easier now.
Jason How do you combine so many different styles in your rap?
Rebel I don’t know, I just kinda make it happen. (laughs) I just try to be different and try not to make the same thing over and over again. I like to listen to a lot of the older artists. I’m not too into all of the new music. There are just a select few I listen to, new or old. I like to listen to their ideas and see how they approached a certain subject. So, I’ll listen to that and figure out a way to make it my own. My style is, I’ll be the person that says the stuff other people won’t. That’s just me. I like to say what’s on my mind. That’s sorta how I got the name Rebel. I’m doing what I want to do regardless of what people tell me to do or what everyone else is doing.
Jason What is Greenleaf Media?
Rebel Yea, Greenleaf was started with the same bunch of guys I did the Halloween mixtape with. We were just brainstorming and came up with this idea. We’re starting from the ground up, but things are looking good. We are a multimedia company. I’m also part owner as well as a recording artist for us.
Jason Do you find it hard to get your music out due to you being further away from the city?
Rebel It’s not really that hard because the internet makes it so much easier these days. It’s not like the old days where you had to go do everything by foot. There still is a lot of footwork involved, but the internet makes it much easier. It’s not bad being upstate instead of the city. It’s nice and relaxing.
Jason How do you think you have benefited from starting out in the rap game a bit later life? Most kids start when they are so young and are barely grown yet.
Rebel I think it enabled my music to reach a broader audience. Being older, I need everyone to hear me and not just one group of people. The community has loved my music and they are waiting for the next one. It’s great being a bit of a hometown celebrity, but I want more than that. I got the town behind me and they are with the movement, but I want the world to hear me because I got a lot to say. The internet has made it easier…you can promote yourself for free. You never know who is watching. I would also really like to do a lot more shows. I work on my rhymes every day. When I’m amongst my peers, I’m ready to go. It’s a lot of hard work.
Jason So who are you in the studio with? Who else can we expect to hear from Greenleaf?
Rebel Right now I got several tracks with NightHawk. I also did some tracks with International Gem. He also has a mixtape coming out. We just try to keep things moving. There’s 4 artists under Greenleaf. We’re working hard. We have a lot of videos coming through from my mixtape “Back 2 Basics”. Right now we are planning on doing “Feels Like Heaven”, “Rebel is Back” and “Hometown”.
Jason Can you tell me a little bit about your latest mixtape “Back 2 Basics”?
Rebel It was a long process. I was in the studio constantly, working hard. I was trying not to do too many collaborations. I wanted people to hear me. I did get some good collabo’s on there though. It was mostly just a good learning experience. It was my first official mixtape and I learned a lot from it. I learned how to relax, flow and how to be in between the beat. I even learned how to mix the vocals and how to use editing programs. I also got to work on my delivery and how to change up my flow. Most importantly, it showed me how to be better next time. It helped me grow as an artist.
Jason Anything else we can expect from you and Greenleaf media?
Rebel Yea I have a few tracks coming out on International Gem’s “All Gold” mixtape. We are shooting the videos from my mixtape. My goal is to shoot video’s for the whole entire mixtape and really bring it to life. It would almost be like releasing a whole other mixtape. I’m also trying to release another mixtape before the New Year. There are also some things in the works that I can’t really speak about right now. But definitely check out my Facebook page and Twitter @RebelTheGreat. You can download the mixtape at HotNewHipHop.com and my Youtube page is http://www.youtube.com/rebelthegreatglf. Thanks.
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