Liner Notes: Rell the Soundbender

Rell The Soundbender. The name appears regularly on DAD and other blogs, but what do you really know about Rell? He's a DJ in his mid-twenties, not some fresh kid with a laptop and Twitter. After a chance meeting earlier this year, we kept in touch, and over time I learned that he's a man with a story and a grind. A story of innocent beginnings, hard work, hip-hop dreams, disappointment, tragedy, triumph, and optimism, Rell The Soundbender's story is worth every second of your time.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Rell The Soundbender. The name appears regularly on DoAndroidsDance.com and on other blogs, but what do you really know about Rell? He's a DJ in his mid-twenties, not some fresh kid with a laptop and Twitter. After a chance meeting earlier this year, we kept in touch, and over time I learned that he's a man with a story and a grind. A story of innocent beginnings, hard work, hip-hop dreams, disappointment, tragedy, triumph, and optimism, Rell The Soundbender's story is worth every second of your time.

Growing up

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Timbaland

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M.Rell meets the Far East Movement

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Hip-Hop dreams

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Silver Medallion

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After meeting a young rapper named Carnegie, Rell began working him with and his project named Silver Medallion. Working with Silver Medallion, Rell began to infuse a more electronic sound into his productions, as the group aimed to create a dance/hip-hop fusion. With Rell behind the boards, Carnegie rapping and Oren (the other half of Silver Medallion) singing and rapping, Rell began to find his stride, producing singles "Gravity," "Scottsdale," and "All I Ask." Silver Medallion kept growing in popularity and by the summer of 2010, the group had begun working on an album for Akon's Konvict label and began playing bigger concerts, ultimately opening for LMFAO; things were looking up. After reaching the career milestone, however, tragedy struck when a drunk-driving teenager killed Carnegie. "His spirit keeps me motivated and I'm sure it does the same for Oren as well, as he keeps the Silver Medallion legacy alive."

Like a G6

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A whole new world

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Next steps

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Finding his sound: Moombahton

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Challenges

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Far East Movement

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Rell The Soundbender had officially launched and he was on his way. Already steeped into his DJ career, Rell's former life as a hip-hop producer was never completely left behind. As things tend to in this universe, his life as a hip-hop producer came full circle when he hooked back up with Far East Movement. Passing contact information off between the two parties, Rell said they reached out to each other and kept in touch. By the time November rolled around, Rell was booked to play Blasted in LA.: "I reached out to FM to see if they were in town and we linked up. I played them 'Grimey Thirsty' and my 'Thank You' remix. Next thing you know, they had me flown back out to do work with them and 'Ain't Coming Down' was born." Since then Rell has hooked up again with them on additional releases including his West Coast rap inspired single "Inglewood" and has also signed with their management firm.

Rell today

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