Chris “Red Pill” Orrick was born and raised in Detroit until seventh grade, when his grandfather evicted his family from a house he owned for failure to pay rent. He, his parents, and his three younger brothers moved to the rural city of Howell, Michigan. Around this time, he began writing raps and initially admired mainstream acts like DMX, Eminem, Jay-Z, and Nas, but later studied underground titans like Atmosphere, Jurassic 5, and Pharaohe Monch. But the words in Pill’s notepad narrated his own hardships: his mother’s alcoholism (she later passed away from the disease), growing up poor, and the desolation of moving to a new town with new friends. “I connected more with music that I could find a way to relate to,” he said, “and I wanted to write songs that connected with other people.” In 2012, another unofficial SXSW showcase garnered the attention of Fat Beats, which agreed to digitally distribute The Kick. Red Pill and Hir-O teamed up with DaJaz1 to release Dream Within A Dream, an EP that respected rap journalist Kevin Nottingham placed in his year-end Top 10 list. The duo also won a fan-determined trip to Brooklyn to compete for a slot in the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. The singles and music videos for The Kick have landed on HipHopDX, COMPLEX, and other top notable publications: most notably, MTV RapFix’s “Get In The Game.” On the weekly show, Sway Calloway interviewed them and Machine Gun Kelly praised Pill’s rhyming ability. “You already know, your wordplay is genius,” said the Bad Boy Records signee. The Kick showcases Red Pill at his best: candid, conceptual, and reflective. He rhymes about his tough upbringing, his everyday economic and musical struggles, and perhaps most importantly, how he perseveres through it all. Hir-O’s mix of soul, jazz, electronic music and live instrumentation serves as the backdrop. The disc has garnered comparisons to revered indie classics like Blu & Exile’s Below The Heavens, and fans have made The Kick the highest user-rated album of 2013. Red Pill’s talent and work ethic have also gained the attention of fellow Detroiter Apollo Brown, one of the most respected producers in the indie rap scene. Mello Music Group released Ugly Heroes – an album that groups Apollo Brown with Red Pill and Chicago emcee Verbal Kent – in May 2013, ascending on iTunes charts around the world. With powerful storytelling and a brawny, unmistakable delivery, Red Pill is primed to prove that he and the people his music represents will continue to fight through whatever comes their way. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.