Today we’d like to introduce you to Rochelle Bloom.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born and raised in Indiana, and I always knew music was my path. Every stage of my life prepared me for it. The first rap song I ever loved was 2Pac’s “Changes.” The line “I wake up in the morning and I ask myself, is life worth living or should I blast myself” hit me hard. Even as a kid, I wrestled with deeply rooted depression, and Pac’s rawness and depth shaped how I approach my own art.
I discovered I could rap in elementary school, classmates would ask me to rap constantly. By middle school, I was producing beats and rapping at lunch. High school was all about battle raps in the gym and talent shows where I brought the energy of a Kendrick Lamar “Control” verse. My first single even got played on the morning announcements, which helped me sell my first EP and make real money. By the end I even was voted “Most Likely to Be Famous,” next to a friend who was already in a major film.
In college, everyone wanted to collaborate with me, which made me one of the most recognized artists on campus. That’s also where I got my first chance to write for an independent film. The film majors gave me their script, and I wrote, rapped, and produced my first song for a movie.
After I graduated college, my mentor, Finger Roll, who taught Freddie Gibbs how to rap, invited me to Atlanta to work with him.
Atlanta changed everything. I ending up opening for Ludacris twice, performing at SXSW, and had my music featured on Sway in the Morning. I also landed my first sync deal, with placements on the Charmed reboot and the dope series on Hulu called Johnson.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Smooth road…where does this street exist in life, cause I’d love to visit haha. Struggles are part of the game, from finding the right creatives to simply staying the course. It can get lonely.
At the end of last year, I faced one of my hardest setbacks. All my music was accidentally removed from all streaming platforms due to a glitch in my streams. That moment sent me into a deep depression.
Since I left social media it felt like they took away my source for listener to engage with my music.
Thankfully, I had built strong relationships with the company over the years, and after a few weeks, we got it resolved. But it opened my eyes, artists don’t truly own anything. Everything we build can disappear in seconds.
The system feels broken, and somehow it keeps getting worse. But maybe that’s life itself. We don’t control anything, we just have the illusion of control. The only real power we have is choice. So I choose to trust God. Because when we do, He always creates a better path than we could ever imagine.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As a Hip-hop artist I’m known for my voice, metaphors, and rawness wrapped into an entire package. The music says it all. But I think what sets me apart from every artist is that I’m not on your traditional social media platforms like Tiktok, IG, X, FB. The Lord was leading me to get off so I did. I engage and build my relationships with people via my email list. http://rochellebloom.com/leftsocialmedia
That’s the only way you can receive personal content from outside of the few things I make available on youtube.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
We must finish the race no matter what. So faith, consistency and repetition, physical practice, fearlessness, creating a community of people around, you genuinely love, and being able to help other people in reaching where they want to go.
Contact Info:
Image Credits
“RB_photo” – Donna Permell
“Img_88840” – Finger Roll
Every other image – Fly Film: Justin Turner
