Month: March 2018

Felly, whose single “Desert Eagle” blew up last year, is back with a new music video. The Connecticut rapper comes through with a visual for his song “Ali” featuring Gyyps. You can watch it below.

The video is inspired by social chaos and freedom. Felly hangs out with his crew in a variety of locations, including a gym where he gets into a boxing match.

“My homie John Rawlins directed this,” Felly told XXL. “It’s funny cause we been lowkey working for eight years. He did some of my first videos ever. People think he Hollywood now too cause he films with Chance [The Rapper] and Post [Malone], a bunch of people who are poppin’ today. His talent is amazing. Shout out Johnny.”

The “Ali” video is just the beginning of what Felly has in store for 2017. The young MC is ready to make some big moves after he graduates from college in the spring.

“2017 is about to be really cool,” he said. “We have a couple small tours around Canada and Hawaii after I graduate from school here in L.A. But mostly I been working on my new project called Wild Strawberries with my band and Gyyps. Some really dope sounds on deck. Oh and I’ll probably move to NYC this summer to cook up.”

Watch Felly’s “Ali” video below. If you want to learn more about the rising star, check out Felly’s interview in XXL’s The Break series.

Cinematic Music Group’s Felly is a promising young rapper who’s been growing steadily over the past couple of years. The long-haired spitta blesses fans with his new song, “Hotel Room,” and drops the video for “Keep the Team Straight.”

The music video, which is directed by John Rawlins, is the newest track to release from his New Flavors series and his upcoming album, Wild Strawberries, which is scheduled to drop sometime this summer. In the “Keep the Team Straight” video, the rapper is seen hanging out by the beach and in the mountains with his friends. Life looks good for Felly and his squad as they goof off and go sightseeing.

For “Hotel Room,” which is produced by YoG$, $ad Money and Felly himself, the up-and-coming rapper from L.A. by the way of Connecticut raps about his nightly escapades. “Stuck in these hotels, loving on these hoes still,” Felly croons.

Hopefully Wild Strawberries drops sometime soon. The University of Southern California student caught fire when his song “Desert Eagle” went viral. He released his This Shit Comes in Waves project in 2015, and his EP, Young Fel, last year.

To learn more about Felly, read his interview with XXL for The Break.

Ethel Mwedziwendira

New York-based rapper and producer Felly will hit the stage tonight at Proud Larry’s, bringing his eclectic style as part of his “Wild Strawberries” tour.

The multi-talented artist – along with rappers GYYPS and Trip Carter, who are also signed to the same record label and are guest features on his album – will be performing songs from Felly’s newest album, “Wild Strawberries,” and earlier tracks.

Felly, also known as Rob Fel, began recording music at the age of 15, producing music and posting songs online with the release of his first mixtape, “Drive-By Music,” in 2011. He has since elevated his name, after being known for producing songs in his bedroom, known as “bedroom raps.”

With the release of his third album, “Young Fel,” the rapper reached charts on major R&B album listings. One of the most popular songs from that album was “Desert Eagle,” which features long-time friend, GYYPS. His music features a distinct sound which mixes reggae, jazz and hip-hop, with influences from Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin and Sam Cooke.

Through every song he produces, Felly embraces a laid-back style, often getting experimental with his mixes. His latest project, “Wild Strawberries,” implements sounds that are different from those in his previous works. The album is supported by big singles “Bag Season” and “Wide Angle” and has features from Trip Carter, Frex and other notable artists, which only proves Felly’s ability to make music from different wells to produce work that is distinct from his previous sounds.

The short tour kicked off in Richmond, Virginia, on Jan. 23 and ends the first week of February in Nashville, with the group making its way through major cities around the South. Doors for the show open at 7 p.m. tonight.

People are able to achieve stardom from a simple YouTube video these days, but for Connecticut rapper Felly, his videos are just one layer of his story.

At 21-years-old, the University of Southern California graduate has already gained a sizable cult following with his Young Fel EP and breakout hit “Desert Eagle.” While singles off the project have garnered more than over 10 million streams on Spotify, Felly is attempting to keep the momentum going with a brand new project, Wild Strawberries.

Although he recently moved to New York City, Felly decided to pay Los Angeles — his former city of residence — a visit. HipHopDX caught up with the burgeoning rapper to discuss how JAY-Z changed his entire music career, why he likes experimenting with new sounds and what he wants his legacy to be.

HipHopDX: For those who don’t know you, tell us who you are.

Felly: What’s good. I’m a musician from Connecticut living in New York City. I’m 21. From a squad 2273 — they are a conglomerate I found in LA.

DX: How does a kid from Connecticut grow to love Hip Hop?

Felly: Um, boredom. And desire to break out of mundanity and boring shit.

DX: How would you describe your music?

Felly: I would say it’s like a blend of being laid back and enjoying life and accepting the good, but also really having a fire and pain and desire for more. And like a deeper look into what is all this. So that could drive someone kinda crazy. So, it’s kind of a balance of that and then somewhere in the middle.

DX: Who are your musical influences?

Felly: Anderson .Paak, Led Zeppelin, Rage Against the Machine, Nas, JAY-Z, King Krule. Yeah.

DX: What’d you think of JAY-Z’s 4:44?

Felly: That shit changed my whole trajectory in life. That’s why I didn’t sign any deals. I was telling someone yesterday, it’s like what I attribute my new lane to. I was about to sign a deal, but JAY-Z just inspired me to trust yourself and believe in your own power. And that you can do it yourself. I mean it’s been preached a million times, but for some reason, 4:44 is the one that actually hit and was like this is the way. I love Hov. He’s like a teacher to me.

DX: How has your image or ethnicity hindered or propelled your career?

Felly: That’s always going to exist for everyone, so there’s no cop outs or nothing. Everyone has some type of thing that you can pick at them for being. It does both — it does help and hinder. It hinders just because judgements — they can get you down. You can feel defeated at first, but then it also helps because it pushes you to prove yourself, and to prove that you’re not just this little fuck boy that they may perceive you as, so you go harder in certain situations. But also, it’s just always going to exist. It’s just what it is.

DX: Have the hate comments affected you?

Felly: Not really — if you have your good people around you. I was worried at one point when there wasn’t enough hate. I was like, ‘Damn, they used to hate on me three or four years ago. I ain’t seen a bad comment in a while, I must be doing something wrong.’ You want people to be like iffy about your shit or kinda like pressing you because it’s like you have to leave some fans … not leave them, but grow beyond them. And they’ll thank you one day. They won’t get it at first, but they’ll thank you one day.

DX: You have a cult following. A lot of people nowadays are YouTube stars. What was different about your journey or what worked for you?

Felly: I used to do shit like that, in that vein. But no, that wasn’t none of it. Honestly, I think my ‘cult following’ and the kids that are deep and love my music, it doesn’t even come from the shit that’s popped off or like the flashy type videos you see or like the bangers. It comes mostly from what I like to call the ‘bedroom raps,’ which are like the more in your head, younger deeper shit. Back when I was in Connecticut and Waking Up To Sirens, which was an album I released my freshman year [three years ago], stuff like that is contemplative. I wouldn’t call it conscious, but it’s definitely more deep and in your feelings, and in your headphones and in your bedroom. That’s why I call it ‘bedroom raps.’ It’s not really something you play at the club or you spin to a bunch of people. But it’s stuff that can really touch people because it kinda has a lonely feeling to it. So advice to kids, I would say just don’t try to do anything. Don’t try anything. Just be what you are and let yourself spill what you are ‘cause some of the ugliest moments of myself are when I see myself trying to do something, and that’s what my new album’s kind of about. Like fuck that, don’t force that or you’re gonna look like a fool.DX: Tell us about your new album Wild Strawberries. It’s supposed to showcase your growth as an artist. What’s different?

Felly: Wild Strawberries has a bunch of different vibes of me. It’s kinda like a showcasing of my spectrum. It just kind of shows that I can do anything. And so, maybe on the next album I’ll pick a more focused or direct route to go. But on this one, it’s kinda just like, ‘Yo, I can do all this shit, so watch me spit fast on trap beats. Watch me do some slow mellow shit. Watch me do something poppy. Watch me do something like this or that.’ But it covers all the bases. It’s just wild. That’s what wild means to me. It’s like you don’t know what you’re going to get.

DX: Any major Hip Hop artists you want to collab with?

Felly: I wanna work with Kanye [West], I wanna work with 21 [Savage]. Off top, I would mostly want to work with groups that I see as like very musically evolved — like Hiatus Kaiyote, Anderson .Paak. I think he’s [.Paak] a genius. His band, Free Nationals, I think they’re really fire with just music. Just the music heads. I like music like there’s always gonna be trap rap, and people making beats and spitting hard shit to it, catchy shit. I just wanna make some shit that’s like really cinematic almost.

DX: What do you want your legacy to be?

Felly: I want to move people in a positive direction to become what they want to be and feel comfortable with what they are. And to feel empowered in a world that like … everybody wants to be somebody else and no one feels good about their own shit. Like even the most poppin’ people, they’re still looking at other people. I just wish everyone could feel comfortable because then they’ll have more ease to be themselves and not just do some wack shit. It’s very polluting this world. You could really do some shit that just doesn’t fit right. Music and word is very powerful, so you could do a lot more damage than you can do good if you do it wrong, which is something I try to stay conscious of. And I’ve fucked up a bunch of times, so it’s not like I’m perfect on this shit. But it’s an everyday struggle to stay in your own lane.