When you have time to really find yourself, you see you have more potential in life than just waking up, eating, going to school, going to work and going back home. You see that you’re worth more than that.
‘LL: Tell us a bit about your visual art, and how that all came about.
RH: That all came at around the same time. I was just going through everything. When you have time to really find yourself, you see you have more potential in life than just waking up, eating, going to school, going to work and going back home. You see that you’re worth more than that. So, while I was going through the tough times at school and in the streets, all the time that I would be by myself, my mind just started creating. I would just sit there and I would just draw and paint. I started to find things that I didn’t know I could do.
‘LL: Is your visual arts something that you’re trying to take to the next level like you’ve been doing with music lately?
RH: Yeah, I’m trying to take both of them. I’m trying to do a whole brand. There aren’t that many people out there who people can say of them, “Oh, shit, this dude can produce music, this guy can draw, write, and do a brand?” I want people to think of me as a brand.
‘LL: Are there any painters that you look to for inspiration?
RH: To tell you the truth, I don’t. I’m so stuck into creating myself and just letting things happen that I don’t really look into other people’s work and see what they’re doing. Every time I do that is if I’m at an event with another artist, and I’ll go around and speak to them. Other than that, I feel that if I get too stuck into seeing what other people are doing, then I’ll start thinking, Oh, they got this amount of this and that. Then I’ll start feeling like what I’m doing is not cool.
‘LL: How do you manage your time working on all of these projects?
RH: I got ADD, and I’m happy that I have it, ’cause shit [laughs]. I move at a thousand miles an hour [laughs], and everybody is always like, “Yo, this dude! I don’t know how the fuck he does it.” But, it’s like it never bothers me. It never tires me out. I just tell myself that I can do it.
‘LL: Do you find that painting helps you with your music or vice versa, like does one inspire the other?
RH: Yeah, it does. I feel like the more I do it, the better I get at it. The more I paint, the better I get, and then I tell myself, “Damn, I’m getting nice at this, so I gotta get nicer at this other thing. I’m putting so much details in this drawing. I should put some more details into what I write.”
‘LL: When will we get a Robin Hoodd album?
RH: I’m working on that now. The mixtape is almost done. The album will be out, hopefully, in June. I’m working with getting a bunch of artists from all over, like artists in Ohio—I’m talking to artists in Miami. I’m trying to get everybody from different states and countries. I’m also supposed to travel to Japan. I’m trying to get an artist from Japan. I’m trying to create an album that’s going to be music from all over the world. That’s been in my mind, and I started working on it since I’ve been here in Miami. I started working with some reggaeton artists. I’m trying to have a mix of everything—like I’m doing something in English, and then in the next eight bars you’ll hear a Japanese artist.
‘LL: What can you tell us about the mixtape that’s coming sooner?
RH: The mixtape is going to be dope. I put some old school vibe into it. I love freestyle music. I know it’s beyond my time, it’s way older than me, but I love it. Freestyle is the shit—like the instruments, the lyrics, the things they say is dope. I was listening to freestyle, and I made like a freestyle type of beat. Then, I created like an EDM pop type of song. It’s pretty cool, man. It’s a mix of different types of beats. It’s so dope, man.
The message that I’m trying to get across is that music is like a canvas. It’s a blank piece of canvas. It shouldn’t have a budget. It shouldn’t be about how the person looks. It shouldn’t be about you having to be skinny or look a certain way.
‘LL: Some artists have a message that they hope reaches the world by the time they put down the mic and decide to retire. What message are you trying to get across with your music?
RH: The message that I’m trying to get across is that music is like a canvas. It’s a blank piece of canvas. It shouldn’t have a budget. It shouldn’t be about how the person looks. It shouldn’t be about you having to be skinny or look a certain way. It’s just a blank canvas. I just want people to create, and create things that you feel. Create things that you go through in your day by day. I want people to go out there, and just go do it. Through my music, I want people to just feel that—just do it, man. Don’t let the next person tell you that you have to have this or you have to have that to get this much of a following. It’s about what you can do, and how you can make me feel. Put your words and feelings into it, and while you create, and spread. Spread knowledge to the next person. Don’t just make them more ignorant. Enlighten them. Don’t tell little homies to go out and shoot a gun when you probably never held a gun in your life. I want people to hear my music and say, “This dude went out there and did it the way he did it.” Like Frank Sinatra, I did it my way.
Just click below for a look at Robin Hoodd’s latest video “Trouble”.