When Dipset member, Hell Rell, stepped on the scene with his 2007 debut For the Hell of It, he had a lot to prove.  Many wondered if he would match the success of fellow A-list group members Cam’ron, Jim Jones, and Juelz Santana.  Almost a year later and the pressure is still on as he releases his mixtape, Black Mask, Black Gloves. 

Yet, Hell Rell seems to be taking the pressure in stride as he chats with Sixshot about his beef with Red Café, what he regrets most about selling drugs, the downside of having love for the streets, and more.  

Sixshot.com: Did you approach this mixtape differently than your debut since now you’re more of a branded name?

Hell Rell: I mean at the end of the day it’s no holds barred.  There are all types of audiences that got to be fed: mainstream, underground, ladies and the streets.  At the end of the day I had to deliver for the streets.  I heard them calling me and I hollered back.

Sixshot.com: I read with your first album that you felt like you had a lot to prove.  Is that still true for you?

Hell Rell: To the industry—but to the fans I ain't got s*** to prove.  They know I'm hot and fly.  They know all that good s***.  I got to prove it to the industry.  You got people running around in the industry that don’t see you put up numbers.

Sixshot.com: So you feel pressure to deliver high record sales?

Hell Rell: Yes, sir.

Sixshot.com: How do you handle that pressure without forsaking your artistry?

Hell Rell: I mean I’m stuck with that ‘cause I don’t suck dick—no homo.  That’s pretty much what it is.  My talent is gonna shine through the clouds.  They can block it but if it take 2 or 3 years I’m coming—no homo.  I’m a hustler.

Sixshot.com: It’s often hard to stand out in a large group.  So do you ever feel as if you don’t stand out in Dipset?

Hell Rell: Man, I ain’t got no problem standing out.  At the end of the day I ain’t never go platinum or have a big major release buzz.  But I still walk the streets and get the same love.  It's f****** me up!

Sixshot.com: You’re known for having a lot of love for the streets.  However, there are many young people they may take that attitude too far and it leads them down the wrong path--

Hell Rell: Nah, at the end of the day they ain’t gonna never take it the wrong way with me.

Sixshot.com: I don’t mean to target you personally.  I’m talking about the mentality of loving the streets.  I think that some of the youth misconstrue it and equate that with dying for the streets and other nonsense.  Do you see something wrong with that message?

Hell Rell: Yeah, I see something wrong with that.  At the end of the day having love for the streets and being a compete idiot are two different things.  I’m not dying for the streets.  I love the streets.  I’m in the streets but at the end of the day the streets don’t love back.  So it’s a one-way relationship.

Sixshot.com: You put out a webisode where you called Red Café a “roach” and some other things.  What led to that beef?

Hell Rell: [Laughs]  He’s a f****** roach!  He’s a weed—like you pick one out and then more grow up.  He was with Konvict then you put out something with DJ Envy.  So it's hard for the fans to connect with you.  It’s like, what game you representing?  That’s all I'm saying: don’t confuse the people.  Find your lane and don’t try to piggy back somebody else’s lane.  That’s what he tried to do at the end of the day.  If you gonna rep New York then rep it right my n***** that’s all I’m saying.

Sixshot.com: So he didn’t say anything about you?  Is it just that you don’t like his style in general?

Hell Rell: I don’t think he’d good for hip-hop.  I’m a part of hip-hop so I have a voice that needs to be heard.  He ain’t built for this s***.  He’s a fraud and fake.  He’s bamboozling the people.  Ya’ll been hoodwinked.

Sixshot.com: So you’re basically throwing the first punch.

Hell Rell: It ain’t a punch; it’s exposure.  I’m exposing somebody for who they not.  That’s all that is.

Sixshot.com:  Why target him if he’s never done anything to you?

Hell Rell: If I wasn’t representing hip-hop right and if I wasn’t living up to the expectations in the game as a New York artist or artist period—I wouldn’t mind somebody pulling my coat or checking me.  You gotta understand nobody is bigger than this s***.  I'm not bigger than this s*** and I been in the game before Red Café.  He been out but at the end of the day I’m more relevant than him, so I feel like I have a say-so in hip-hop.  It’s not about who you are or what the f*** you doing.  If you ain't representing it right I’m gonna speak on it.

Sixshot.com: There are many others you could target too if that’s your approach.  So is there anyone else that you feel is not representing hip-hop to the fullest?

Hell Rell: At the end of the day he’s the only one on my radar right now.

Sixshot.com: Have you heard from him at all?

Hell Rell: He put a little record out there.  I ain’t even hear it.  I’m not paying attention to him.  At the end of the day it’s bigger than him.  I don’t want to make it like there's a beef with that n*****.  I don’t even know that n*****.  My thing is rep hip-hop right—that’s all I’m saying.

Sixshot.com: Since there’s no real issue here besides the fact that you don’t like his style many people will say that this is all a publicity stunt.

Hell Rell: No, it's not a publicity stunt.  I got over a $100,000 worth of jewelry on right now and he’s around with fake jewelry.  That s*** is corny man.  It’s corny.  I went to every jeweler in the streets and none of them said that they made that chain he’s running around with.  I don’t know where the f*** he got that from.  Stop fooling the people!  You sold 1,500 records n***** and that s*** don’t add up.  Stop lying to the people!  That’s like the government.  Don’t you want the government not to lie to you?  Don’t you like those “Truth” commercials telling you the truth about what's in cigarettes?  You think, “What the f*** ya’ll got me smoking?”  I’m looking at him like what the f*** is he wearing?  Like what are you doing?  But it’s to each his own—just stay out of my lane.

Sixshot.com: You were in jail before your first record came out.  So were there any tools or lessons you learned while in jail that you apply to your career and life now?

Hell Rell: Nah, cause at the end of the day that wasn’t my first bid.  I been in jail before.  I already got the learning experience.  I ain’t have to go to jail for that.  So any mistakes I did I had to face them.

Sixshot.com: Do you ever regret selling drugs?

Hell Rell: Do I regret selling drugs?  Nah, I mean I regret the poison and damage I did in my community, but I don’t regret that s***.  It made me the person who I am.

Sixshot.com: What was your upbringing like?

Hell Rell: I grew up in a single parent home.  I had one brother and one sister.  I grew up on Wic checks, food stamps, government cheese, hard peanut butter in the can, and that was my s***.

Sixshot.com: So your father wasn’t around?

Hell Rell: Nah, my pops wasn’t around but he’s on deck now.  Shout out to my pops.  He’s on deck now but he wasn’t there.

Sixshot.com: When did he enter your life?

Hell Rell: Like around 2000. 

Sixshot.com: Was it hard for you to develop that relationship?

Hell Rell: No, it wasn’t hard.  At the end of the day I was accustomed to the transition.  A lot happened and mad n****** that was getting high and I watched them clean their life up.  So my pops did it.  I was like alright welcome to the real world n*****.  You back, you had fun, alright let’s go.  It’s all good.

Sixshot.com:  Was it hard growing up without your dad around?

Hell Rell: Yeah, living in the ghetto you ain’t got enough time to even contemplate that.  There’s so much s*** going on, like you got to be daddy.  So us kids where we from we don't think about that.  We think about it when we get older, like I wish I had my father.  But we don’t sit around thinking about that s***.

Sixshot.com:  Do you have children?

Hell Rell: Yeah, I got three daughters.

Sixshot.com:  Was there any father figure that you learned from or did being a father come natural to you?

Hell Rell: My gang.  My street gang—I turned to them for love and all that other s*** that I wasn’t getting in the home.   They gave me love.  They showed me how to run the streets, get that money, and s*** like that.  They also showed me that every friend ain’t your friend.  So I don’t put too much emphasis on the streets and throwing your life out there.  I don’t regret it but I don’t wish it on nobody either.

Sixshot.com: How’s the sophomore album coming along?

Hell Rell:  I’m working on that right now as we speak.  The s*** is crazy.  I got some real big records.  I got an R&B artist I’m working with and she’s terrific.  I got a lot of s*** in the making.

Sixshot.com: What’s the name of the R&B artist?

Hell Rell: Cinderella.

Sixshot.com: Is she your artist for your own label?

Hell Rell: Nah, actually we ain’t work that out yet.  We just knocking out dope music and getting s*** hot.  When it’s together we’ll work the business out, but right now we’re just focused on the music. 

Sixshot.com:  Any other projects we can expect from you?

Hell Rell:  I got the “Gunplay” movie and we start shooting in another few weeks.  I’m in the lab everyday.  This is my second home.

For more information please visit:
www.myspace.com/hellrell