We were lucky to catch up with Rip Passy recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Rip , thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I was sitting in my car one night, just thinking about life and listening to music. I was also watching live performance videos of guys like Kendrick Lamar and NF. I thought to myself, “Wow — these guys have an amazing message in their music and they have all those people listening and relating to it.” I admired their audacity to stand on stage and lay it all out there for their loyal fans who needed to hear their message. At that point, I called my mom and started venting about how I wanted to be somebody and how I love hip hop music and thought I could do it personally. I had a great story to tell, much about social issues, mental health, and relationships. So, I believed that making music about these things could make a positive impact on the world.
My mom heard this urgency in my voice, almost like I was eager to start making songs. I had experience writing poetry and song lyrics in college, so I was ready to go. After that phone call, my mom started researching and learned about TuneCore, CDBaby, DistroKid, and she told me that I could use these platforms to release music. The rest is history.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Rip Passy, and I am a San Jose/Sacramento-based hip hop artist. I have been making and releasing music for six years now, dating back to 2018. I was always into music growing up and learned to play drums at the age of six. During my college days, I gained a profound interest in poetry and creative writing, so I ultimately combined my love for drums and writing into a music career.
I released my first project, “Intellection,” in 2018, which is a hip hop album comprising songs about mental health, relationships, grief, and generally what people go through in life. The objective in writing these kinds of songs is to give people a message they can relate to so they don’t feel alone. I remember how relieving it was to listen to an artist like NF and think, “He’s just like me!” So, I wanted to do something similar and rap/sing about things that people experience. Typically, many people shy away from speaking about their feelings and struggles, so I gear my message towards them, hoping that I can inspire them and provide solutions.
While I haven’t accomplished as much as I want to, I am most proud of the positive feedback I have heard about my music, especially coming from supporters who have told me that my music has helped them in some way.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
After releasing my debut album “Intellection” in 2018, I hit a major plateau. I realized that creating a music career for myself was going to be extremely difficult. The album basically flopped, and I took a six-month hiatus from music because of how disappointed I was. I even started going to therapy in January of 2019, hoping to find the answers there. Three months into therapy, I learned that the program I was in had a “music guy,” as they called it. My therapist introduced me to him, and we got along great. It turned out that he owned an entire studio in Santa Clara, CA, and I was able to start recording my songs there.
This was a hard pivot because I was used to recording songs in my room at home, using cheap earbuds, a Snowball mic, and Garageband on my iPad. Working in a studio meant that my music was going to be professionally recorded, mixed, and mastered. This was a huge deal to me and inspired me to continue creating. After eight months of not releasing anything, I dropped a single called “Hunnid” in June of 2019. Since then, I have kept coming back to music, refusing to give up on the dream.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
After signing to a label in 2020, I started gaining many new supporters but also many new haters. I learned exactly what haters were, and how they are always looking for the tiniest thing to rag on. Once an Instagram podcast trashed a couple songs of mine, I felt defeated and didn’t want to continue making music anymore. I had been making lots of new beats at this time and was getting ready to export them all and sell them to other artists like me. I had myself convinced that I would never record again.
Then, I got to thinking. I had never once thought that I sucked as an artist personally, nor did I ever set out to become famous. I just wanted to make an impact, however that came. I liked my own music, so why did others’ opinions matter that much to me? I learned to care about what I thought and what my very own supporters thought. Additionally, I learned that I can have an opinion just like everybody else, especially about myself. What other people think is on them, not on me. It is also important to be resilient and face adversity head-on rather than shying away from it, and to never give up.
I ended up writing lyrics to one of the beats I wanted to sell, just for kicks. I took it into the studio, recorded it, and released it. The song is called “Sike,” my most popular song to date.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://solo.to/rippassy
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rippassyofficial/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rippassymusic/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rip-passy-51206a1a1/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/rippassy?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RipPassy
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/rippassy
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@iamrippassy
Image Credits
Christopher Nguyen