rMell, also known as Meezi, is a self-described ‘90s baby that distills the essence of soulful, sample-based backpack rap into contemporary multimedia art. Based in Brooklyn by way of Clinton, Maryland, Rahmell Green grew up living on the Mason-Dixon line, which he describes as “a place with city sensibilities based in the middle of nowhere.” The self-taught rapper and producer came up during the blog era and began producing at a young age, after a 9th Wonder video on YouTube inspired him to download FL Studio. “If I can do it, I will,” the 32-year-old says of his work as a multi-hyphenate artist who specializes in videography, graphic design, and game design beyond his music. “The reason why I do everything myself is people weren’t taking my music seriously at first, which helped me come into my identity as an artist,” he says, citing Lil Wayne, Curren$y, and J Dilla as major influences. In 2017, Green dropped his first project after relocating to New York City, French Toast, an EP made over the course of one day while experimenting with ProTools for the first time. In 2019, the release of +++NEW GAME PLUS+++ cemented his contemporary sound, which takes on a new life in his latest EP, 3Zi. “3Zi marks my third iteration as an artist now living life in New York as a transplant.” Green, who has close to a dozen projects under his belt, says of the release. “I’m done sitting on all this music and keeping it to myself.”