Today we’d like to introduce you to Rizzo.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Rizzo. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My story really begins with music back around age 15. This was really a turning point in my life because before this I was not into music at all. I was a young kid in South Dallas who grew up on 44 Oakland or back when it was 44 Oakland haha. I played basketball every day all day that was my dream and I know it sounds cliche but that was all of our dreams at the time and my Dad helped and pushed me to get there. I say my story starts at 15 because this was the age that my dreams were crushed and snatched away because of a case of kids being kids, horseplay. It wasn’t a sports injury or anything it was just a bad situation. I know a lot of people see that I walk with a limp and that’s what happened. It was a case of horseplay and my hip was pushed out of place. I went thru so much depression doctors telling me I should take it easy and avoid contact sports. It was hard at 15 to have something you loved so much be taken away. I’m sorry but I had to give a little bit of backstory so people could see how I got here.
At age 16, I started listening to music a lot I became a huge fan of Houston rapper “Chamillionaire” as well as Dallas rap group “DSR”. I was already a huge fan of Lil Flip, UGK, Ludacris, Eminem etc just to name a few but everybody can tell who the biggest influence is haha. It wasn’t till about 19 that I started my company GreenGrass Entertainment. I released countless freestyles over industry instrumentals and about 5 mixtapes. It was fall 2013 when I released my EP “Exile” with the hit “My City” and received great reviews. After that, I went back to school and completed My Associate’s degree in Audio Engineering and actually landed a job with Funimation/ Sony Pictures. My company GreenGrass Entertainment is still here and we are actually in works of creating Merchandise as well as releasing new music. I have already released 3 songs this year “Bendn'”, “Cheat Codez” and “PLZ” which are all available digitally on all platforms. My website Rizzoconnect.com is still up and running and we are creating more content for my YouTube page “GreenGrassTV”.
And another thing I do have 1 artist on my roster which is JR and he is also working on new music as well. Basically, people should know that I got here thru dedication and hard work. I was self-motivated thru this entire process. There was nobody behind me telling me I could do it until after they saw the product. Once they have seen and heard the product they knew I had something then. There were times I wanted to quit because out of everybody in this industry I know that I am the “oddball” I don’t hang or pretend to be friends with anyone because I see a lot of people pretending and it rubs me the wrong way. I rock with who I rock with and continue to stay on my path and in my lane. That’s pretty much my story.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The main struggles I had to deal with throughout this entire process had to be with the bad energy between artist and DJ’s it’s not that bad now but at a point when I was in the center of it all a lot of D’s were not breaking records which was a shame but its gotten better. I have a problem sometimes being consistent on social media because Social media to me is a picture of false truths. There are so many lies in each post and I have to make sure that I don’t get sucked into that. Also, people fail to realize how much time and effort and most importantly MONEY it takes to do what we do. When I 1st arrived in the scene I spent 2000 on creating my 1st EP that’s all the beats that’s all the features that are all the mixing and mastering that’s all the copyright… not the videos.
Today, to me that’s not a lot but to a guy that paid all his own bills and rent, car note and just quit his second job and only worked a part-time job 20 hrs a week to do music… man, that’s a lot of money. I recouped my money and plenty extra off that but to keep going and going and deal with DJ’s who play favorites and who told me only and ONLY IF you do me this favor which mind you doesn’t even pertain to music or me at all… only then will I spin your record. I got fed up with it a lot of times. It was most upsetting because you personally told me the records are solid but you won’t play them… but you’re a DJ. OK haha, I can laugh about it now because I’m better than all of that now. There are plenty more stories but I want to save those for another time.
Please tell us about GreenGrass Entertainment.
I specialize in tracking and recording. I am a songwriter and I am known for my music as a rapper and recording artist, Rizzo. My company builds artist from the ground up we give them the tools to start in this industry… simple. We don’t make billboard artist or any of those lies. We start people on the path. I’m proud of being a songwriter and concept creator. I in the most basic form of love to motivate. I encourage people to be better and live the lives they want. Green Grass Entertainment where the grass is greener and the money is cleaner. We make music haha it’s a lot I know.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My most favorite memory ummm, haha, don’t laugh. I was 4 years old my mom and dad bought me a Sega Genesis for my birthday. I never asked my parents for much throughout my life. To have them buy me that when I was 4 was the happiest day of my life. I don’t think I ever told them that but that memory will always be my favorite there are more but that… I wish I could go back to that day sometimes.
Contact Info:
- Website: RizzoConnect.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/Rizzo214
- Facebook: Facebook.com/Rizzo214
- Twitter: Twitter.com/Rizzo214
- Other: YouTube.com/GreenGrassTV
Image Credit:
Photos Shot By EZ
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