As the first artist signed to Prodigy’s Infamous Records, Rick Gonzalez aka Realm Reality, has his heart and soul embedded in Hip-Hop. Despite being known first and foremost as the actor from such films as Old School, Coach Carter, Biker Boyz and War of the Worlds, Realm first honed his rap skills as a kid growing up in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Joining a long list of actors/rappers, he’s out to prove the naysayers wrong. Rick, who just recently officially signed with Infamous Records, is gearing up for the release of his second mixtape next week titled In the Grind We Trust. The 12-track project features appearances and guest verses from the likes of Joell Ortiz, Fred the Godson, Blu, Skyzoo, and Termanology among others and is set to make quite the impact. AllHipHop.com got the chance to speak with Rick about his signing to Infamous Records, working with rappers like Blu and Prodigy, his favorite film from 2012 and much more. You teaming up with Prodigy seems to come out of nowhere. When did you two connect and how did your signing to his label come about? Yeah well me and [Prodigy], through mutual friends, have known each other for a long time, like six or seven years at least, so we’ve always had a respect and friendship that was built. When P went to jail, I sent letters in and just kept in contact with him and kept his spirits up and when he got out he knew I had been doing music so he came to L.A. I said “we need to go to the studio, I need to get you and [Havoc] on something and while we were unable to get Hav at the time, P came through and I played him the joint, he laid down his verse and gave me a hook on top of it. P is a man of very few reactions and emotions but once we played it back he gave me this look like he loved the record and so that moment just kind of led me here. Since you just brought up both Prodigy and Havoc, what kind if impact did last year’s break-up of Mobb Deep have on you as a native New Yorker, lyricist but more importantly someone who is a fan of Hip-Hop? As a fan it was definitely disheartening to hear ‘cause they influenced me so much as an artist and I sympathize just as a fan like ‘wow this really hurts Hip-Hop in a big way.’ They are simply one of the greatest Hip-Hop groups of all time so it was definitely disheartening to hear. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INgI9S_781o&w=560&h=315] In addition to Mobb Deep, while you were growing up, who else were you listening to and being influenced by? That’s easy. As a kid, and I’m talking like four years old up until like ten, it was easily Slick Rick, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie… and once I got older and started thinking about rhymes, sometime around ’98, I started writing. At that time it was [Big Pun], Nas,  Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Eminem even really influenced me heavily and was someone that I listened to a lot. The Roots of course I listen to all their stuff. So I was dabbling in all lanes. I was really just listening to everyone and before CD’s were available I was buying tapes of like The Pharcyde, and I think I bought the “Gas Face” by 3rd Bass tape too, and that was my thing like all day. So yeah, stuff like that. Taking all that into consideration, shoot off your “Top 5 Dead or Alive.” My “Top 5” changes a lot but right now, how I’m feeling, is Nas, [Eminem], [Jay-Z], [Big Pun] and because today I’m just feeling that way, I’ll say [Tupac]. But you can always switch out [Notorious B.I.G.] in there. That’s my “Top 5” right there. That’s dope and you can tell that’s honesty because 99% of people are always going to include both Tupac and Biggie in their “Top 5.” [Laughs] Yeah for sure. Of course people are paying more attention to your stuff musically now especially with the release of In the Grind We Trust coming in a couple of weeks but what do you classify yourself as first, an actor or a rapper? I mean I definitely consider myself an actor first because that was how people initially recognized me and that’s the truth of it. Unless you were from Bushwick, no one knew I was a rapper. I used to rap with people out there and certain friends of mine knew I did that but in terms of the world, it knew me as “Rick Gonzalez the Actor” first. It’s been a long time of me just trying to gain notoriety and become visible from the music. I guess I technically have to just own it; I’m an actor first and I’m proud to say that ‘cause that’s an incredibly hard career to break into. It’s a huge blessing. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWTm2D1sJ1Q&w=560&h=315] Let’s talk about the project itself since that’s what is up next for you. Of course your man Prodigy is on it, as is Joell Ortiz but so is Blu. I have to ask man, how the hell did you get a verse from Blu, he’s not the kind of artist to just hop on anyone’s track. [Laughs] I don’t know man this is the second time that someone has told me that. Is it really that hard to get Blu on a track? I have no idea. I go to Alchemist’s studio all the time and Blu is always there, that’s how I met him. He showed me love at the studio and I told him ‘I’m a fan and I think your music is dope as hell.’ We just knocked it out and I told him we had to do something. I just waited for the right moment to get the right production and I got him on this joint produced by […]