Rite Hook

Rite Hook gives the lost souls of the world a gritty, honest, and unique voice. The Boston based alternative artist blends his dense, lyrical raps with bluesy, sung rock choruses to capture the struggles of those on the fringe with gruff, raw emotion.

“When I first heard Rite Hook, his choruses and voice stuck in my head weeks later,” says Ned Wellbery of Leedz Edutainment, a Boston promotional company. “That’s how I knew he was someone special.”

Rite Hook spent nearly a decade bouncing from band to band and genre to genre, sharpening his writing, singing, and rapping. Whether rapping, crooning, or shouting in a hardcore band, his voice was always a trademark feature: rough, gritty vocals that reflect a rough, gritty life.

He soon found consistent work crafting hooks for Boston rap legend Slaine, who also brought him along on tour. A solid emcee himself, Rite Hook went bar for bar with Slaine and Vinnie Paz on “It Ain’t Easy,” a breakout track off 2013’s From the Wrong.

Rite Hook grew up in the suburbs of Boston and Worcester, roaming around the state like a nomad, before settling in the Hub at 18. No matter what town he found himself in, he was always part of a generation of blue collar kids who liked to party and cause trouble. That lifestyle followed the artist and his friends from their teen years to adulthood. Fights, fires, petty thefts, and close-knit families that struggled with alcoholism and drugs behind closed doors. As the country grapples with an addiction epidemic, Rite Hook gives voice to those lost in the struggles of drug abuse, doubt, and no place to call home.

A lost son of Massachusetts himself, years of hard music and hard living defined Rite Hook’s early career in Boston. In 2012, he overdosed and died. His heart stopped completely, and paramedics had to revive him.

Now a survivor in the truest sense, he returned to music with a newfound focus, and churned out the polished album From the Wrong—titled after both the outcasts he grew up with and his fanbase of rock kids with an ear for hard rap styles. The local scene enforced a love of classic rock and the blues, but as a teen he was also exposed to the raw lyricism of 90’s rap. Never an easy act to pin down, his art is set to evolve, driven by dense lyrics, hard flows, a rock attitude and a bluesman’s soul.

“Some people can rap well and sing okay, others can sing well and rap a bit, but only a very few can do both extremely well,” says Wellbery. “Plus, he looks how he sounds,” he adds, commenting on how Rite Hook’s grave vocals match his inked forearms and neck, blocky build, and lengthy mane.

With more artistic changes to come, Modify was an easy title choice for his fourth effort—an album that sees the artist inviting others to his story, sharing his realizations, struggles, and triumphs.