Featured Artist Of The Week: Roy Rutto
With a unique flow, delivery and unmatched energy, Roy Rutto has to be one of hip-hop’s more varied talents. Emerging as a leader going into the new decade; Rutto takes his experiences moving over to the US at an early age, and puts them on wax. Rapping over a myriad of sounds, from glitched-out hip-hop, to trap-infused heaters, there’s a bit of something for everyone when you throw on a project from Roy Rutto. With Rutto’s tenure just beginning the Kenyan native, he’s already gaining acclaim through, streaming, Press, and his invigorating live performance, Rutto is ready to show the world what he’s made of.
From the minute Roy Rutto opened his eyes to the universe, he was surrounded by music. Rutto’s entire family was embedded in music culture in varied but impactful ways and each affected Rutto in which we can see today. His father was always dancing and playing Kenyan oldies called “Zilipendwa”. On the other side of the spectrum, Rutto’s mother and aunt were choir teachers but more importantly music leaders in the church. Adding yet another dimension to Roy’s upbringing was his older brother who would play Nipsey Hussle, Mac Miller, Kendrick and others. However, Roy Rutto admits “I never really cared for music until I saw him caring for music.” as his brother would carry a guitar on him all the time. The amalgamation of all these factors pushed Roy to join the church choir as a vocalist, simultaneously practicing the keyboard and drums thrusting him into music creation.
As the Kenyan native grew older, he found a more intimate interest in hip-hop through freestyling. In high school, Roy Rutto’s parents separated thus Roy leaving the motivation to sing in the church choir in favor of the usual high school festivities. After experiencing the life of partying and indulging himself in self sabotaging behavior, Rutto’s focus drastically shifted to one of goal-driven productivity. Rutto spent 2016 & 2017 mastering and sharpening his craft, honing in his sound, manifesting his own individual delivery and lyricism. Unorthodox perfectly sums up his sound with him pulling influence from his family, his home in Kenya and the diversity of art around the world. It’s no wonder boxing him into a lane is close to impossible.
