The God MC, Rakim said on “I Know You Got Soul,” constant elevation causes expansion, and the Armenian MC, R-Mean exemplifies those words. Back in 2019, after briefly meeting this Armenian brother and seeing him perform at Chris Webby’ s raw thoughts tour at The Mint in LA, I decided to ask him for an interview. And what transpired between us was a collective of questions and answers that turned out to become almost a 9,000-word interview entitled deeper than rap. It enlightened me about this man’s persona, and his path to being an elite MC while carrying the torch for the forefathers that came before him in the mc space of the culture. It showed me a lot about his quest to consistently bring awareness to his people and the Armenian genocide that took place in 1915, where 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered in their Anatolian homeland, which is now known as turkey. Not only is he a student of hip-hop culture raised on the greats like Nas, Eminem and Wu-Tang, Gangstarr, KRS-ONE but he also holds a doctorate from UCLA, and he’s a pharmacist that owns pharmacies. He owns a clothing store, and a clothing line called the Pentagon LA. His newest project M.E.A.N. (manifest everything avoid negativity), is produced entirely by the legendary Scott Storch. It boasts a slew of features from Nas to Offset, Quavo, YG, method man, Jeremih, French Montana, and more. He is one of the most dedicated craftsmen in hip hop, and today we tap in with the one and only, R-Mean.
