Rittz Wants Recognition Outside Of The White Rapper Label (Audio)

Strange Music’s own Rittz details the state of Hip-Hop today as it relates to race and, more specifically, being a “White Rapper.”

As an artist who is incredibly dedicated to the craft itself, Rittz delves into his own personal struggle to supersede the “white rapper” label and garner more respect for his talents while paying homage to those who forged Hip-Hop’s history. In an interview with DJBooth, Rittz flushes out the meaning behind the song and his goal to simply be known as a great rapper, period.

Is your place in hip-hop as a white rapper something you’re conscious of when you’re rapping?

“Definitely. I don’t know if it’s as necessary as it used to be, but I know when there weren’t that many white rappers and Eminem came out and took off he was great; he was better than any other artist. At that point in time, if you were gonna be a white rapper, you had to be good, really, really good. That set me back some years! I had to take a step back and say, ‘Oh shit, I gotta get better.’

It definitely plays a part in my head. Maybe not so much, ‘Damn, I’m white I gotta be good,’ but I just try to be good at rapping. My goal is for people to go, “Damn, that dude can rap.'”

Find this single and more on Rittz’ upcoming album, Next To Nothing, set to release September 9.

Related: Rittz Turns Down and Makes Double Time Rap Sound Easy. It’s Not…(Video)