Dutch ReBelle

It ain’t where you from, it’s where you’re at. And for the day, Dutch leaves her Boston hometown behind to kick it in Queens with 360. The track is off her ReBelle Diaries which you can scoop here. Peep her precious release below. - B Dot

Voting for the XXL Freshmen 10th spot is a wrap. Check out XXLMag.com for more info on the 2015 Class.

Read More: Vote For the XXL Freshmen 10th Spot | http://freshmen.xxlmag.com/10th-spot/?trackback=tsmclip - XXL Magazine

Every guy wants a freak in the sheets but a lady in the streets, right? I like my female emcees with lethal flows in the booth and a goddess at the party. If you feel the same way, Dutch ReBelle is here for you. The Boston emcee shows you that her tongue can be as sharp as nails but the delivery can be as smooth as the production from Rauxy Woodro. She’s joined by some friends to become one with nature only to be reborn again in the waters of an island I’d like to visit, especially with winter approaching.

You can download her REBELLE DIARIES project HERE.

Bryan Hahn is reconsidering all of the wasted time finger painting as a child. He’s on Twitter (@notupstate). -

Dutch ReBelle is Boston’s fiery talent that’s ready to go big.

Boston hip-hop has reached a new level of popularity. It’s evident at the Middle East Rock Club in Cambridge, MA last Friday night (Sept. 26), where Dutch ReBelle reached some rarefied air. Dressed in a Cam Neely Bruins hockey jersey that served as a dress, garter belts and the crispiest wheat Timberlands, she rocked for a packed venue in celebration of her new project ReBelle Diaries. As an artist in Boston’s highly competitive hip-hop scene, she’s now headlining on the same stage she’s shared with artists like Action Bronson and Big K.R.I.T. Being the star of the show is regular occurrence these days for the artist better known as Vanda Bernadeau.

The Haitian-born, 27-year-old has been busting barriers since she came home after earning a journalism degree at Penn State and decided to pursue her other word-fueled passion, hip-hop. XXL featured Dutch Rebelle in The New New: Boston edition and our 15 Female Rappers You Should Know. Her rep in her hometown, along with her breakout performances at festivals like SXSW, A3C and NXNE, led her to gaining national exposure. A growing presence in the blogosphere with her mixtape Married To The Music resulted in her chopping it up with Sway as a guest on RapFix more than once.

Want to know why Dutchie is special? Look no further than the crowd at the release concert. The show feels more like a coronation than a concert. A who’s who of Boston’s scene are there to see her step up to the next level. The college kids that have come to love her from her live shows are right next to the women that party to her songs in the clubs who came with the cats that bump her music in their whips. ReBelle has built an audience for her exuberant brand of hip-hop built on left of center samples and clever turns of phrase. Like her idols Styles P and Lauryn Hill, she weaves consciousness into her turn-up without coming off as preachy.

ReBelle Diaries is all over the place in the best way. The introspective tone of the album that includes guests like the 2011 XXL Freshman Fred The Godson and production from ATG gives you and up-close and personal look at what’s going on in the mind of the Haitian-Dominican spitter. As she speaks on the stress on surviving (“Yen”), loving the wrong person (“Love Is”), self-reliance (“All On Me”) and the jealousy that attention brings (“I Know”) you feel her as she’s trying to make sense of it all.

And what does one do once they get love in their hometown? Smart hustlers take the show on the road. With the launch of her own label ReBelle Music, she’s working hard with her team to reach the next level. A return trip to SXSW in 2015 and this year’s edition of A3C festival where she’s appearing on three stages should help the world know what Boston is already up on. We talked with Dutch about building her own company, her friendship with Fred The Godson, and how education helps her navigate the industry. Get familiar with Dutch ReBelle in The Come Up.—G. Valentino Ball -

Featured on MTV Rap Fix Live's "Ladies In Hip-Hop" Episode - MTV

Like everybody else in the control room of Cambridge’s Bridge Sound and Stage, Dutch ReBelle has her head in a laptop, where she’s organizing final tunes for her promising third project, ReBelle Diaries. But before the speakers boom with her latest hip-hop tracks, the rapper joins producer Janos “the Arcitype” Fulop and the others in swooning at the idea that Radiohead once rocked that room.

“I don’t ever want to be stuck in one genre,” says ReBelle, who grew up listening to opera, dancehall reggae and No Doubt as well as the Fugees, Goodie Mob and Wu-Tang Clan. “With all my projects, I feel like there’s gonna be a variety because that’s who I am. That’s what I mean by ReBelle Diaries. I used to rap over beats that made no sense with hip-hop, like Tina Turner shit.”

That’s evident in a polar-opposite pair of advance tracks from ReBelle Diaries heard in slick videos on YouTube. ReBelle ticks off relationship woes over a swelling neo-soul bounce in “Love Is,” snapping syllables with melodic inflection to ice the phrase “I don’t think we got much left for dis-cus-sion.” And in the hard-edged “Yen,” she breaks down the money game over a spooky, electronic pulse that wouldn’t be out of place on a Radiohead record.

“For me to keep moving forward to the music I want to make, you need to know where I come from,” says ReBelle, born Vanda Bernadeau in Haiti. She also raps about family dynamics, from her parents to a brother who lives in a tough part of Miami. “Some people think my music is aggressive or in your face, but to me, this is just what’s around me.”

That brother helped set her course when the poetry-minded ReBelle was still in elementary school, having her freestyle about household items as he’d point to them. “We never knew that it’d be anything serious, but that’s the game we played,” she says. “Being able to do it was what made me pursue hip-hop.”

After graduating from Penn State with a journalism degree in 2009, ReBelle refocused on rapping, honing her skills at local and national showcases where crowds don’t always expect a female MC to walk out. “That works in my favor,” she says. “The flipside is [they’re] super-critical. You’d better get it right within that first 30 seconds.” -

Now we know you had a lot of success with your Sunday Morning joint. Meeting with MTV, Sway, DJ Premier and such. BUT uhhh can you explain the towing of the car and flat tire situation haha?

DR: Laced Boston, a sneaker boutique on Columbus Ave that has always showed me love, let me do my interview from inside the shop. I had my DJ and fellow Famous Nobodie(s) park my car but he parked it in a tow zone so as soon I wrapped the interview, one of the employees told us someone got towed. He didn’t want to interrupt the interview! Hours later a group of us went to go pick up the car. I went to get some food and on the way back I got a flat! It was a long day but I had to take the L on account that it was one of the dopest days ever!

What can the fans and new listeners expect from The Rebelle Diaries?

DR: ReBelle Diaries is a straight forward reflection of my thoughts and how I process what’s been happening to me since the release of Married to the Music. Every song was approached with a “page in my diary” angle so I’m talking about straight forward topics that people have wanted to know my ideas on ( i.e- All On Me -pressure or Yen- money) look forward to releasing it.

I like to give artist the platform to speak on topics away from music that may be on their mind so readers can make more of a connection with the artist. If you may….You now have the floor.

DR: Shows are the new clubs. Forget all this senseless celebration with the same old same old. The world needs inspiration and motivation so I really hope that people start understanding we HAVE TO support the creatives!!

What are your favorite scene in Belly and Sin City? Those are two of your favorite movies right?

DR: My fav scene in Sin City is when the officer finds himself in the “tough girls” territory and Miko and the rest of the girls regulate while Rosario Dawson’s character lets the main guy know that the girls can handle themselves. Straight Boss how Miko gets down with the weapons. In belly. My fav scenes are tied between when DMX is in Jamaica with Ox and he gets the details for the hit as this girl dances on him and when DMX is talking to Sin about books vs money and the infamous line “when it rains niggas get wet” I still say that Til this day. But my favorite movies are Godfather, a Bronx Tale but I love movies so I’ll stop there. Lol

How would you say you’ve grown as a musician and as a person since Married To The Music ?

DR: Since Married to the Music I really want to make records instead of songs. I’ve been reaching out more and expanding with production and musicians and I’m also just making music that I feel shows me and not just my surroundings. Married to the Music addressed my surroundings a lot but ReBelle Diaries is more personal and reflective. Feel like this is the right time for me to able to show my mindset to people who don’t know me and how I got to where I’m at.

When you are an up and coming artist people always want to play the comparison game…Lauren Hill, eve, Foxy have been some names thrown around when describing your sound. Any added pressure?

DR: I’ve seen and done pressure on too many different levels. No one can pressure me to do me. The comparisons are interested and at times humbling but the goal is to be remembered as Dutch ReBelle and Being that alone. I feel like no one can pressure me becaUse my vision for my music and my future is so wide that I won’t expect most people to understand let along tell me how to do it.

Again I want to thank you for taking time to chat with ya boy. Before you take off let the readers know where they can find you at on the net.

DR: Thanks for your time !!!! Happy hustlin! @DutchReBelleFN -

Dutch ReBelle needs yen, friends - euros too.

"Why settle for one type of currency when there are over 180 being circulated globally?"

A question which "YEN", a new single from emerging Boston emcee Dutch ReBelle, begs. It finds her flowing unforgivingly over an ominous, bass-heavy instrumental from Latrell James, touching on recognition, fandom and her desire to experience life through "more than just the US dollar".

"Don't get me wrong, I'm all about the Balmain in the beach house life," says Dutch of the track. "But the struggle makes the success so much sweeter when you're out to earn your keep."

No doubt. "YEN" is a far cry from her previous single, "Love Is", an October 2013 leak that features Mel Monea over production from Mr. Light Upp. Both tracks will be included on her upcoming ReBelle Diaries project, which is coming soon.

"YEN" is accompanied by a music video as well, which was shot and edited by Goodwin. Watch it below, and keep up with Dutch via Soundcloud, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @DutchReBelleFN.

Quotable Lyrics

I'm a bomb threat, whole crowd gon' bounce
Time like money, nigga, everything counts
Large amounts, just for the finer things
To avoid what the drama brings

-Dutch ReBelle - Nicolas James

Dutch ReBelle
Hometown: Boston, MA
Twitter: @DutchReBelleFN
Notable Songs: “Sunday Morning” and “Ammo/Freddie”
Sounds like: Lauryn Hill in her Fugees days with a bit of a Foxy edge.
Why you need to know her: Dutch went to Penn State and studied communications and journalism, but she’s parlayed her awareness of social issues and infuses them into her music. With her visceral honesty, she’s a perfect representer for her bleak, grey-sky city. - XXL Magazine

Boston has produced its share of hip-hop greats: Slaine, Esoteric, Moe Pope and Akrobatik come to mind. But the city has yet to launch a giant — Sammy Adams’ success is solid, but it’s nothing compared to Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar or Macklemore.

Maybe Boston has been looking to the wrong gender for its breakout star.

Dutch ReBelle has the style, swagger and skills to compete with anyone in any scene.

Earlier this spring, Dutch got a well-deserved bump after an appearance on MTV.com’s Rapfix Live. The rapper born Vanda Bernadeau in Haiti and raised in Mattapan and Milton wowed in the show’s freestyle session.

“That was a last-minute dash because I found out they wanted me to do that just a couple days before,” Dutch said. “But I came up doing ciphers (rap freestyle battles), so it was fun. My older brother used to literally point at something and make me freestyle about it. If you’re in that situation and you can’t perform, you can’t be doing this.”

Dutch’s freestyle skills impress, but her compositions are killer.

After her strong 2012 LP “Married to the Music,” Dutch plans to drop “The ReBelle Diaries” next month. The newest singles from the release represent an artist with tremendous range — “Yen” is a tough club-banger about getting paid; “Love Is” shows off her brilliant flow over a smooth hook.

“There’s a couple of high energy records on ‘The ReBelle Diaries,’ but a lot of it is mellow — no, not mellow, moody,” she said. “There’s some darkness with the fun.”

Hip-hop began with a batch of strong female voices: Queen Latifah, MC Lyte and Salt-n-Pepa. The second generation boomed bigger with Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott.

The market now favors alternative artists such as M.I.A. and pop acts like Nicki Minaj. There doesn’t seem to be much room for Dutch.

How is she going to break big beyond our borders?

“You’ve got to go there to know there,” Dutch said. “Get out of the city, go to festivals, conferences, tour. It’s not about sending a link of my music (to writers) out 50 times over. It’s about getting in front of people.”

Dutch has been hyped by a solid list of supporters. Locals Rek, Slaine and Edo G have helped her on the way, and she’s been a perennial Boston Music Award contender, winning in 2012. But she isn’t resting on laurels.

“You can be from Boston and be successful,” she said. “But it’s going to happen because you left Boston to be seen in other cities.”

Go to Jed Gottlieb’s Guestlisted blog at BostonHerald.com to see Dutch ReBelle’s latest videos. - Jed Gottlieb (Boston Herald)

A cursory glance at Boston’s hip-hop community reveals a gender stratification not unlike those found in other cities: a small group of women fighting for their piece of the spotlight among a male-dominated rap scene. Among them, Dutch ReBelle isn’t the first to set her sights on transcending the perception of being just good enough “for a girl,” but in a short time she’s established herself as the best hope for expelling such notions from the city altogether.

Such a task isn’t for the faint of heart, but ReBelle, who performs at Church next Wednesday, has shown herself more than capable of taking on the challenge. The rapper, born Vanda Bernadeau in Haiti and raised by an extended immigrant family in different neighborhoods before settling in Milton, earned herself a deal with East Boston-based digital imprint Amalgam (its first female signing) barely a year after beginning to pursue music full time after graduating from Penn State. Her first release, “Married to the Music,” showcased her not just as a sharp lyricist, but as someone who stood apart from typical female rapper categorization.


“Music couldn’t tell me anything about people,” she says, lounging on a chair at sneaker boutique Laced in the South End. “My mother is like a thug. She’s very smart, but she’s very aggressive. She’s the one in the middle of like 15 guys playing dominoes. She used to run with them and fight with them. I have a lot of women in my family, so female rappers couldn’t tell me anything about people. As far as how women were, I wasn’t influenced by the female rappers, I just liked the chicks I liked.”

Larger map / directions
DUTCH REBELLE
Church, 69 Kilmarnock St., Boston MA 617-236-7600. http://www.churchofboston.com
Also performing:
Lodus Dei, Latrell James, Fran P., Natural, Flyboi Dizzy, Moroney
Date of concert:
Wednesday, 8 p.m.
Ticket price:
$10
Rapper Dutch ReBelle performing recently at Boston University.
JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Rapper Dutch ReBelle performing recently at Boston University.

Inflections of female influences such as Lauryn Hill and Rah Digga can be heard within her, but ReBelle’s music stays grounded in a Boston state of mind. Living and going to school in Milton while maintaining ties with family and friends in Mattapan and other neighborhoods provided a range of experiences to write about during her adolescence.

“In high school just talking to my boys, especially in Milton talking to white boys about your weekend, I’m just talking to them and telling them what happened with crazy cousin Nina and they’re like, ‘Whoa, you tell the best stories,’ ” she says. “That’s honestly how I knew I could rap. But they never saw me rap because that was something I did at home with my family. I didn’t do that in school, there was no reason for it.”

She continues: “Haitians don’t do emotions well, until they’re older and then it’s a religious type of thing. It’s shunned upon as a sign of weakness. I talked about stuff like that. I’m writing raps about my boy who just got locked up or what happened to my homegirl whose boyfriend beat her up. I wasn’t about that type of stuff, but it was everything that was around me. Being judged wrong is really a lot of what I would write about because people often did that to me.”

Songs on “Married to the Music” reflect an artist eager to break out of the typical female hip-hop mold, which often casts them as either hypersexualized tomboys (a la Lil Kim) or passive nurturers. “Freddie (Set It Off)” offers a menacing stickup vignette, while “Runaway Bride” constructs an extended metaphor of a strained relationship to illustrate her struggle to stay true to her hip-hop dreams amid personal strife.


Outside of the recording booth, ReBelle has worked equally hard to establish herself as a viable artist in Boston and beyond, having performed at the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival and with an upcoming date at AC3, one of the largest hip-hop festivals in the country, taking place this weekend in Atlanta. Alongside Real Politikz and Chris Brook, she’s a member of the group Famous Nobodies and has also founded her own network of female entrepreneurs and artists called the Black Roses.

“We didn’t sign Dutch because she’s a female, we signed her because she’s an artist who we respect what she’s doing,” says DJ Next, CEO of Amalgam, who started working with ReBelle after her performance at SXSW in 2010. “Talking to Dutch about concepts and stuff, I’m impressed about what she’s wanting to write about. Her music, her work ethic, and her organizational skills are a rare combination of elements you don’t always find in artists male or female.”

Her forthcoming first official release, “Voodou,” should further separate ReBelle from her peers, as it molds her aggressive, direct style with Caribbean and Haitian musical influences. By the time it comes out sometime next year, ReBelle will likely have proved a few more skeptics wrong along the way.

“It’s not always what you think,” she says, repeating the phrase twice more for emphasis. “That’s the story of my life. ‘Voodoo’ is the TV microwaved version of what lives in New Orleans — ‘voodou’ is the correct version of that. That whole aspect is a combination of religious beliefs that are centered around serving the spirits. I feel like if this is going to be my first real go into national exposure, I’m going to start with serving the spirits. ‘You have to go there to know there.’ That’s a Zora Neale Hurston quote. So I have to take you there for you to understand what kind of music I’m trying to make.” - Martín Caballero (Boston Globe)

Quietly, Dutch Rebelle may be Boston’s most talented emcee. Since releasing Rebelle Diaries in 2014, this Beantown beast has hit stages nationwide, released a slew of visuals, growing more impressive with every set. Whatever she may lack in Youtube views and Soundcloud plays is superseded by her raw talent. Dutch Rebelle can rap. She can deliver in double-time, tell a tale that’ll leave an audience teary-eyed, dissect social complexities. Her following may not match her talent yet, but expect the bandwagon to get crowded in 2016. - JH - HipHopDX

HOMEHER SOURCE | BEAUTY AND FASHION TRENDSHER SOURCE
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DUTCH REBELLE SHOWS US HOW TO “MIX IT UP”

DA'RYL VICTORIA APRIL 26, 2016
FB_IMG_1461679030765

Boston’s braveheart Dutch Rebelle has been continuously blessing us with banger after banger since the release of her Kiss Kiss EP last September. Her latest single “Mix It Up,” produced by Leo S.I.N.S, is just another example of why Dutch is up next for women in Hip Hop.

DutchReBelle-ImproperBostonianCover-500jpg_zps5bb5ea3bSince her debut in 2012, Dutch has been featured on MTV’s Rapfix and won numerous awards and recognition from her hometown as one of Boston’s best Hip Hop artists. As confident as she raps, Dutch has even more confidence in herself and rightfully so as the founder of her own record label, Rebelle Music. Taking control of her destiny, the Milton rapper has organically built her fan base by staying true and engaging with her dearest supporters by allowing fans to #TextDutch.

Shot by Seba Films, the Haitian-born lyricist shares what it’s like to ride around with her good vibe tribe in the video for “Mix It Up” as they cruise through Miami on bikes, chill by the pool, visit family and light up on South Beach by fire pits. - The Source

Dutch ReBelle is a Boston hip-hop artist who was born in Haiti and raised in the Boston area. She’s won numerous awards including the Boston Music Award for Best Hip-Hop Artist and is nominated this year for Music Video of the Year and Hip Hop Artist of the Year.



Dutch is using her voice not only to make music but to support causes close to her heart like a school in her native Haiti, to build community, and to empower girls and young women - Hot 96.9

When crafting a full body of work, some artists choose to only pick a select grouping of records to release strategically, while others compile leftover tracks into a treat for fans always in desire of new music. Dutch ReBelle has opted for the latter as she finalizes her next official effort Bang Bang by sharing a new project titled No Stems.

Clocking in at nine tracks, ReBelle takes a noticeably aggressive turn on No Stems, putting her ‘raw and unapologetic vibes’ into the foundation of the project. Intro track “I Can’t” (prod. AyyDot) and it’s follow-up “Young OG” (prod. Teddy Roxpin) set off the assertive tone and lead nicely into project singles including Boston collaboration “Stripper” (feat. 6ixLayne & Prince Smooth) and the Ellie-Goulding sampled “No Sleeping” (prod. The Arcitype & Quisington).

Despite Dutch flowing with no signs of remorse throughout No Stems, “Miss Me” (a personal standout to us) switches up the tempo considerably, providing a refreshing display of ReBelle’s vocal ability over the sax-laced gem from J.A.S Productionz. As a whole, ReBelle shows no restraint in exploring and experimenting with different sonic realms and cross-genre influences on No Stems, so it will be interesting to see how Bang Bang stacks up both stylistically and in its lyrical content. - Based Boston