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Flo Dirt: First and foremost, I would like to say thank you to Roni from Think Tank and my man Hell Rell for not only being on time, but actually being early to the interview. Unheard of! I greatly appreciate that. Pick up Hell Rell’s “For The Hell Of It” in stores today!

Hell Rell: Flo, what’s poppin’, my dude?

Flo Dirt: Ay, what’s goin’ on my man?

Hell Rell: What’s good, G?

Flo Dirt: I appreciate the time.

Hell Rell: Thank you for having me!

Flo Dirt: No doubt! We don’t promote any negative publicity on hiphopruckus.com but if you wanted an outlet to speak on the Ohio incident, feel free. If not, let’s keep it movin’.

Hell Rell: I mean, you know, we can talk about whatever. We was in Grove City, Ohio. Pulled into the town to get something to eat, fresh out of Cleveland. We was kinda hungry. My man, Duke da God went up in Blockbuster to go get a movie. He was on a $800 iPhone so there’s no way he could be lookin’ like he’s a thief or anything. Little white girl in there got nervous, called the police and the officer came. He was like, “Yo, I gotta search you to see if you got any movies on you.” He had the weed in his pocket, like a quarter ounce. That’s what he went to jail for, the week. In all honesty, the girl was nervous. She’s probably not used to black people coming through the town like that. I looked up Grove City. It’s a predominantly white town. Black people are scarce in that town. She felt nervous and we fell victim to being black!

Flo Dirt: It’s like my man used to say, “It’s like being a raisin in a glass of milk” right?

Hell Rell: Exactly! You know we stick out!

Flo Dirt: So y’all were out there promoting the album?

Hell Rell: We didn’t have nothing set up in Grove City. We just pulled in there to get something to eat on our way to Cleveland. We just pulled in to get something to eat, random stop. You know how that go! Get some gas, something to eat and we wound up picking up Duke from the precinct. The officer was cool. The bail was $120. Duke had that on him.

Flo Dirt: So you didn’t get caught up in that. It was just Duke?

Hell Rell: Yeah, it was just Duke.

Flo Dirt: Tell us what’s been goin’ on with Hell Rell and the Dips?

Hell Rell: I’m workin’, man! At the end of the day, my album is a breath of fresh air. The hip hop gangsta scene is scarce. Like, if you ain’t leanin’ wit it or if you ain’t A Bay Bay or two-steppin’, they ain’t checking for you. That’s not real hip hop and I feel offended. I feel insulted like God damn! Where did the real hip hop go? I feel I’m a breath of fresh air. If I don’t do at least 50 or 60 then hip hop is really gone.

Flo Dirt: I’m starting to feel the same way. No doubt. 3. With so many writers and so much talent within the Diplomats, how do you stay focused on who comes out when and essentially, how is order maintained?

Hell Rell: Truthfully and I don’t want anyone to get this misconstrued or anything. I could have came out yesterday, the day before yesterday or anytime I wanted to. I’m gonna really be honest and just let people see that Cam gave me the chance to sit down and see what I wanted to do. Feel me? So, at the end of the day, I picked the right time, I picked the right place and I feel like I’m seasoned now and I’m ready to go. Cuz when you wanna come out, it ain’t always what you want. When you sit back and get a chance to analyze, you like “Aw man. OK.” That’s what it is. As far as coming out, I really ain’t have a problem with that.

Flo Dirt: So, you’re closely aligned with Cam? I’m just curious how you came into the Dips. It was because of Cam?

Hell Rell: Yeah, Cam signed me! Cameron Giles signed me. He brung me to the table. I knew everybody before that, but as far as music business wise, I’m signed to Cam. It wasn’t really no me waiting in line for nothing. It was me making the best decisions for my career at the moment. But I stay level-headed. The fans know what it is. They know I’m the hottest in the streets. They know I’m the hardest so I don’t really trip off of nothin’ man.

Flo Dirt: The cover for “For The Hell of It” is so ill! Nothing like it. It reminds me of what a Funkadelic cover would be if they were rappers today. How did that come about?

Hell Rell: This is hip hop. It’s entertainment. I wanted to be creative. I went through a lot of magazines seeing a lot of people showing their grills off. Feel me? I wanted to put it in a form of “Bite the bullet!” I wanted to put myself on like a “Fuck Tha Police,” NWA/DMX type feel. Once you see the album cover, you already know what you’re getting. I ain’t dress it up. I didn’t put no skirt on it. I ain’t sitting there with no suit on. I ain’t standing in front of no foreign car acting like I got multi millions of dollars in the bank. You see what you getting. It’s a street cover.

Flo Dirt: How do you stay relevant today and what keeps your skills sharp?

Hell Rell: Listening to old music. Always taking myself back to like the 95-96 eras, 86-87 era, 91-92 eras. Pretty much just know where I’m going. Hip hop just don’t consist of 16-22 year olds. You ask them what group Busta Rhymes came from and they look at you crazy! Then you got the old heads, that’s from 27 on up that remember the Rakim eras, the Big Daddy Kane era, the early Notorious BIG era and still want that raw hip hop. I’d be a fool to go left and try to make a “Ay Bay Bay” record just because that’s what the label want. Nah! You still got 40 year old die hard hip hop heads that would love to hear me over a EPMD beat or a Gang Starr beat. The fan base is too broad.

Flo Dirt: We all abide by codes and principles and that has to apply daily within not just the Dips but in the industry in general. What are some of your top codes or commandments that you live by daily?

Hell Rell: Always be truthful. Honesty is the best policy. Always maintain my morals and principles. Never sleep with one of my friend’s women. Basic shit. The rules and principles that I came up under in the street life, they’re the same rules that apply in the corporate world. Be aggressive, be sharp, be on time. Watch your back. Have lawyers watch lawyers and have cameras watch cameras.

Flo Dirt: You made a comment recently about rappers ending up on “Where Are They Now?” on VH1. How can you avoid that and furthermore, how can you gain even more exposure and notoriety in a business oversaturated with garbage ass content?

Hell Rell: (Laughs) You just have to stay tangible, man. Make dope music and always be able to be tangible. Tangible means a person can see you, like touch you (no homo). Nobody wants to feel like they’re dealing with a ghost. That’s one thing I think 50 Cent lacks. He doesn’t go into neighborhoods. He might go into events but that’s a once in a lifetime thing like when your album comes out. You can always catch me in the hood. If it ain’t my hood, it’s a neighborhood somewhere just so I can get that neighborhood feeling because that’s the crowd I cater to. Anywhere I pull into, DC, VA, Chicago… Wherever I go, take me to the hood. That’s how I get to interacting with people, start building relationships and networking. And I maintain those relationships. Those be the people that really support you. They be like, “Damn, Hell Rell was just in my town. He wasn’t acting funny in the club. I stepped to him, he gave me a number, a real number at that. I called him, he picked it up.” That gets around. It builds a character and says something about you. That right there, can always keep you hot. In your travels, you don’t make a person feel like they’re doing something for you. If you do it the right way, a nigga will break their neck to make sure you don’t fall just on the basis of your integrity or your character.

Flo Dirt: What can artists do to positively impact society and help avoid or counter situations like the Jena 6 or Sean Bell?

Hell Rell: I think they need to take over their communities, get into these high schools and talk to the kids. At the end of the day, what makes a real dope artist is a person that kids want to be like you. I got kids that want to be like me, dress like me, walk like me, talk like me. That’s what separates artists from just a rapper. A rapper is someone like Mims who pulls out a hot song here and there. Nobody wants to be like him. You got people that want to be like Fabolous, Jay-Z, 50 Cents because of their swagger or whatever. Once you have that impact on people, you have to go into the neighborhoods and the school systems and talk to the children, man. You got to! They gonna listen to what you got to say. I didn’t believe it! I’m like, “Man, I ain’t talking to no kids man. That shit don’t work.” But I actually see that it works! So if rappers reach out more, and holla at the youth, it’d be a beautiful place.

Flo Dirt: On that note, how much do you pay attention to politics, presidential candidates and hot issues vs. what’s going on in the hood?
Hell Rell: I pay attention to what’ going on in the world. I don’t pay too much to politics because I know where the ball’s gonna bounce at the end of the day. I’m in tune to the man behind the man behind the man so I’m not gonna focus on what’s going on in politics.

Flo Dirt: Hell Rell’s Top 5 rappers not Dipset affiliated:

Hell Rell: Eminem, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, ‘Kiss, Nas. I ain’t no hater or nothing. New York rappers is cocky. They might have favorite rappers and be afraid to say it. I’m giving you the raw. That’s who moves me and makes me want to go and write some ill shit!

Flo Dirt: Last words?

Hell Rell: You already know. Dipset all day. Album in stores right now. Go get it!