In this interview spotlight, I chat with Hand’solo Records artist The Mighty Rhino about his latest release, challenges, technology, his overwhelming abundance of joy and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Who is The Mighty Rhino? Where are you from?
The Mighty Rhino, given name Noah Aaron Moses Solomon Dante Lateef Goodbaum, is a rap artist from Toronto, Canada. He is the proprietor of the vanity imprint Deathless Truth Music Group, although most of his albums have been released by the venerable Thomas Quinlan’s Hand’Solo Records. He is 31 years old, obese, bipolar, ethnically Jewish, Baha’i by religion, and has a variety of disabilities. He is honoured and delighted to have the opportunity to give this interview, and hopes that new prospective fans will be led to discover and enjoy his music! He will now cease referring to himself in the third person, which he had been doing simply to be inoffesnively ridiculous.
What style of music do you create? What attracted you to this genre or style?
The music I make is primarily rap music, with influences from pop, soul, R&B, and Baha’i and interfaith gospel music. These are the five main genres I listen to. I was drawn to rap music roughly around the age of 12, when my brother, Digs, who is eleven years my senior and is one of the best producers of rap beats in the history of Canada, showed me some of the ’90s Golden Era rap music he had grown up on, as well as what was at that point the current underground rap of that era – the dawn of the streaming era, roughly, around the year 2000. The first rap song I consciously remember liking was “I Am I Be” by De La Soul, which later became and still remains my favourite-ever rap song. But the song that influenced me to become a rapper myself. the one that made me say not just, “Holy shit, I love this music and I’m obsessed with it!”, but “Wow, I need to learn to make this kind of music myself!”, was “What’s Golden” by Jurassic 5, specifically the Chali 2Na verse. Chali 2Na, Gift of Gab of Blackalicious, and CL Smooth were my first top three favourite rappers.
What attracted me to rap music was twofold, chiefly: One, the astonishing and wonderful verbal dexterity, and two, the awe-inspiring cornucopia of showmen and scene-stealers and larger-than-life, entertatining personalities. I have always been drawn to written and spoken eloquence and to ensemble casts, and the 200 or so greatest rappers are a magnificent ensemble cast, each with their own eloquent things to say in their own wonderful and amazing style, cadence, and so forth.
Who or what influences your rapping?
Each and every one of the 200 or so greatest rappers have influenced me to one or another degree. To name 22 (so that Chali 2Na, Gift of Gab and CL Smooth make 25), I will list Ghostface Killah, Scarface, AZ, Mystikal, Method Man, E-40, Devin The Dude, Bubba Sparxxx, AG of DITC, Dres of Black Sheep, Suga Free, Black Thought, Juvenile, Mos Def, Queen Latifah, Redman, Beanie Sigel, Gunplay, Raekwon, Lyrics Born, Nas, and Z-Ro. There are many more.
My rapping is also influenced by the moral lessons I learn from my father, my brother, my uncles More Or Les and Measuring Man, and the many wonderful friends I’ve been privileged to make over the years, as well as by the spiritual teachings of the Baha’i Faith, Inayati Sufism, and bits and pieces of various other world religions and philosophical outlooks. Two rappers who have set a moral example for me as well as an artistic one are Shad and Brother Ali. Shad is a Chrisitan and Brother Ali is a Muslim, but both of them live their lives and make their art in ways of which the Baha’i Central Figures, the Prophet Baha’u’llah, and His son ‘Abdu’l-Baha, would approve, and they’ve been a salutary influence upon me as well.
How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?
The first recorded appearances by The Mighty Rhino ever to get officially released were my appearances on my dear cherished uncle More Or Les’ album Brunch With A Vengeance in 2010. My debut album, He Whom The Beat Sets Free Is Free Indeed, executive produced by my good friend Ted “Measuring Man” Onyszczak, was released independently at the tail end of 2011. My career as a performer had begun a few years earlier at Hip Hop Karaoke Toronto, which ran from 2007 to 2017. I began performing there in 2007 and did so almost monthly until the organizers, one of whom was my great friend More Or Les, decided to stop throwing that monthly party. I am no longer a regular karaoke performer, but my second album (We Will No Longer Retreat Into Darkness) and then my third (A Joy Which Nothing Can Erase) followed in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
What motivates you to keep going?
I am motivated to continue to make rap music by the fact that I love rap music more than almost anything in the entire history of the world, and wake up looking forward to making new rap songs, finding new and hilarious and inventive and exciting and poignant and moving ways to use language. I am motivated to keep going in life in general, despite occasional depressive episodes and suicidal ideation and what have you, by my core conviction that love is the most important thing in reality, the absolutely central component of everything that matters, and that there exists an indwelling love at the midmost heart of the universe to which I have the responsibility to pay fealty and with which I should strive to live in harmony. That latter thing can be accomplished by striving to be kind and loving to as many people as will accept my love and kindness, under as many circumstances as possible, all the time, with necessary exceptions such as when malign political leaders are pullin’ some fuckshit an’ I gotta scream on Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu or Daesh or Hamas or whoever.
Why should people listen to The Mighty Rhino?
It makes sense to me to underline that no one is ever obliged to under any circumstances! But I think people should, because my music is awesome and wonderful and deserves to exist and to be widely heard and enjoyed. I bring it into the world partly in order to satisfy the promptings of my own soul, but also in order to bring joy and light to the hearts of other people, especially but not exclusively the people I love! People should listen to my music if they like hearing creative, hilarious, intelligent, thoughtful rap music that strives to move its listeners on the level of the heart, the mind, and—perhaps especially—the soul.
What is your new release? How is it different from the previous ones?
My most recently released album, my third, A Joy Which Nothing Can Erase, was released in October of 2019, and it differs from my previous albums simply by being better than either of them by far! The first, He Whom The Beat Sets Free Is Free Indeed (2011), boasts what is still my best-ever song (“Company Policy”), but I was still wet behind the ears then as a vocalist, and I think that relative inexperience is audible. The second album, We Will No Longer Retreat Into Darkness (2018), is a lot better, but it’s still a stylistic grab bag, with a few too many guests (although it does feature collaborations with several legends – Big Mike, Prince Po, Witchdoctor, Myka 9, Adam Bomb, D-Sisive, and Big Rube) and not enough focus. A Joy Which Nothing Can Erase improves on both of them to a significant degree, because it’s more polished than the former and less overstuffed than the latter. It’s the shortest of the three, and every song on it accomplishes what I had in mind for it to without overstaying its welcome in the least. I also think that it’s the best collection of songs, pound for pound, that I’ve ever written, although the upcoming fourth Rhino solo album, which I hope to release in 2020, is set to give it a serious run for its money!
Did you set out to accomplish anything specific with this album?
Yes! I wanted to make a more streamlined album than my last one had been, more focused and less cluttered. I also wanted to make sure there were quite a number of very personal songs expressing my unique ideas and perspectives, whereas the previous album had had a few too many guests for it to be possible for it to feel as personal as I had hoped. And I think I accomplished my goal! “Little Ol’ Me”, “Not All Is Lost”, “Honourable Man”, and “I Want You To Know I Love You” all fulfill the hopes I had of making more personal songs, and “Tell ‘Em How You Feel About It” manages to be both personal and fiercely political, and I appreciate that about it.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? And to discover more of your music?
I can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/themightyrhino, on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TheMightyRhino, and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/mightyrhinomusic. But realistically, people who want to connect with me online should just add my personal account, Noah Goodbaum, on Facebook. If you have any interest in really knowing who I am, that will give you access to the reality of who The Mighty Rhino is. To hear my music, go to www.themightyrhino.bandcamp.com! I’m told my music is also available on Spotify, as well as most other online music retailers and streaming services.
Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Bandcamp is by far the streaming service that deals with artists most equitably. I also appreciate its user-friendly design. I frequently purchase music on Bandcamp, and always appreciate it when my fans do likewise to get my music. I don’t have a personal Spotify account, and I think ill of the people who run Spotify and most of the other streaming services for cheating and shortchanging artists.
What about vinyl, CDs, and MP3s?
Vinyl sounds great, but both CDs and MP3s are thoroughly underrated in the current age. I still have an iPhone 6s that allows me to load MP3s onto it, and I still like listening to MP3s when possible. CDs are also dope, although I don’t have a CD player anymore, unfortunately. I used to love burning mix CDs for friends. Vinyl is excellent, of course, but also cumbersome, and the vinyl market is subject to manipulation by cynical record store types. I don’t have a phonograph, and relatively little great new music gets pressed to vinyl, so vinyl is not something I’ve yet gotten into.
As an indie musician in the digital age, how does the technology help and how does it hinder your art and career?
Technology is very frequently the bane of my existence! I have ethical objections to Spotify, and there are also problems with the account I’m obliged to have which mean I couldn’t use the service even if I wanted to. But quite a number of my fans have discovered my shit using Spotify and other similarly pestilential streaming services! We live in a bizarre and challenging time, in which it’s much more difficult than it’s ever been before to make a living as a musician, but in which the opportunities for direct connection between artists and fans have never been greater. Andrew Nosnitsky, a rap critic I greatly admire who lives in the Bay Area,is someone who has spoken eloquently and persuasively about how to sustain an ethical model of music consumption in this era of digital monopolies and fractions of a penny per stream, but in all honesty, aside from the consistent pleasure of dealing with Bandcamp’s atypically ethical and upright distribution model, the landscape as a independent artist is fraught with dangers and irritations, most of which technology contributes to. (One other consistent frustration is that one of the few luxuries to which I do have access is CD manufacturing, and no one has CD players or CD drives on their computers anymore!)
What are your other biggest challenges in attracting an audience to your music?
Let’s be frank—I have an advantage as a white rapper, by virtue of the fact that white rap fans are always hungry to support artists who look like them. The power and influence of white people who love Black culture but are indifferent to, if not actively hostile to, Black people should never be underestimated. But on the other hand, I’m obese, I belong to an obscure religion no one cares about, and I’m disabled, with virtually no money – I make my albums on a shoestring budget. I would have to have access to, at a minimum, several tens of thousands of dollars to be able to make the kind of album, and build the kind of career, that I’ve always longed to. Frankly, I’m broke! Even if I weren’t fat, I’d still be disabled and broke; even if I weren’t broke, I’d still be disabled and fat; even if I weren’t disabled, I’d still be fat and broke. That’s a triple whammy in terms of challenges jump-starting any kind of career, let alone a rap career.
Look. Let me be real. I know that the music I make is powerful and beautiful and clever and hilarious, and that an audience for it exists out there, probably numbering several thousand people all around the world. If the stars aligned, I could build a fanbase roughly the size of Shad’s, Chali 2Na’s, Aesop Rock’s, or Brother Ali’s, even with the difficulties I experience trying to tour as a disabled artist. The work of my career will be the attempt to find these several thousand people and win them over, one by one.
What was the last song you listened to?
It was “Jet Set” by DJ Quik featuring Tai Elton Phillips, one of the most beautiful and emotionally wrenching of all rap songs. But the best song I’ve listened to this year so far is “Gotta Work” by Amerie, which I listened to and danced to in my kitchen at the stroke of midnight on January 1st,. 2020.
For a loose top 25 of the moment, here are 23 more I’ve been enjoying lately: Hanson – “Give A Little”; Selena Gomez – “Bad Liar”; Ghostface Killah – “Troublemakers” (ft. Raekwon, Redman & Method Man); Capone-N-Noreaga & DJ Premier – “Invincible”; Fatlip & Chali 2Na – “Whachagonedu”; Haim – “Want You Back”; Lee Moses – “Time and Place”; Crooked Lettaz – “Daydreamin’”; Affiliated – “Where Do I Begin” (a surprisingly competent bit of obscure Nas and Raekwon cosplay); Curtis Mayfield – “The Makings of You”; Deee-Lite – “Groove Is In The Heart” (ft. Q-Tip, Bootsy Collins & Maceo Parker); The Meters – “Give It What You Can”; Ofo the Black Company – “Allah Wakbarr”; A.G. – “Infected”; Roc Marciano – “Thug’s Prayer Pt. 1”; Dapper Don of 151 Feva Gang – “Kush Groove”; Black Sheep – “Whodat”; E-40 – “Money Sack” (ft. Boosie Badazz); Mouse On The Track – “Get High, Get Loaded” (ft. Fiend); Playboy Tre – “All That My Life’s About” (ft. Homebwoi); Mystikal & Mark Ronson – “Feel Right!”; Chvrches – “The Mother We Share”; Lorde – “Green Light”; The Mountain Goats – “Matthew 25:21”. (The Mountain Goats are a truly great band, my very favourite, and I consider myself blessed to count their lead songwriter, John Darnielle, as a good friend and a Rhino fan!)
Do you tour or play live? Where can music lovers find out where to see you perform?
I only very seldom tour, but I try to make at least one out-of-town show happen every year, and there tends to be a Mighty Rhino live show in Toronto once every six or eight weeks or so. Some of the venues that have hosted me include Stone Lounge, The El Mocambo, Duffy’s Tavern, The Painted Lady, The Smiling Buddha, Pact Bar, Nocturne—tiny little places, mostly. The best way to find out when I’m playing live is to follow me at www.facebook.com/themightyrhino and www.twitter.com/TheMightyRhino! Quite frankly, I have no problem with folks adding my personal Facebook account under my given name, Noah Goodbaum—that’s the simplest way to keep in contact with me and keep abreast of the goings-on in my career, and in all honestly I’m pretty great at Facebook. (I’m good at Instagram too, and can be followed there at www.instagram.com/mightyrhinomusic. Although I will warn you that I am less good at, and thusly a much more sporadic user of, Twitter.)
What’s next for The Mighty Rhino?
I am tremendously excited and delighted and moved to be working on the fourth Rhino solo album, which is tentatively entitled To Relieve The Sorrow-Laden Heart and which is due to be released no later than September 2020. I already have 12 songs on deck for it, and they’re some of the best shit I’ve ever written. I already know for certain that they will blow everyone who cares about my music the fuck away. I couldn’t be more thrilled about that! I’m also elated to be working on a collaboration project with my dear friend Skizza, of the Book Club Art Goons click out in Saskatoon. That project is called Northernflavalisticmetropassmuzik and will probably be released in 2021. I also hope to eventually put out a trio album with Ultra Magnus and Donny Yonder under the name Champions of Everything. But To Relieve The Sorrow-Laden Heart is coming first!
Any last thoughts, shout outs, or words of wisdom?
I would just encourage everyone who cares about me or my music to remember that love and compassion and kindness and dignity are the very centre of reality, the most important ideas in the history of human thought, and are the things I consider to be the ontological and epistemological certainties at the very core of the universe. As far as I’m concerned, every human being ever born has the capacity to be good, to be awesome and wonderful and beautiful and amazing and magnificent and glorious, and it’s just about discovering which virtues we have the capacity to develop and then doing so to the best of our ability, for our whole lives. Love is and has been and will always be the correct direction in which to orient one’s soul—it is, in fact, the entire purpose of having a soul, or, rather, of being a soul. So anyone who strives to live with love and kindness, to live honourably and treat others well, is automatically someone I value and care about, someone I consider my friend.
Just because I can: Shoutout to Digs, Measuring Man, Skizza, More Or Les, DJ Burn, A.G. of DITC, Adam Bomb, Orijin, the Egyptian Prescription, Fraction, Roshin, D-Sisive, Ultra Magnus, Donny Yonder, Adam Walsh, Fatlip of The Pharcyde, Prince Po of Organized Konfusion, Big Mike of Rap-A-Lot, Young Bleed of the No Limit tank, Jesse Dangerously, New Friend, Myer Clarity, Notion, Illvibe, Spenny, Che Ruben, Tragic, Keysha Freshh, Blackboltt, Jima Jam, Dante Jordan, Chokeules, Jay Bizzy, Mega Ran, Tribe One, Psybo, Kehmak of Bruce Lecky Way, Ginzuintriplicate, MisterE, Phoenix Pagliacci, D.O. Gibson, Haviah Mighty, Snagg Da Don, Slaughter Rico, Jenna Nation, Hatley, Eric Farr, Tanika Charles, Rachael Cardiello of Zinnia, John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, and Ciele! These are just a few of the wonderful friends I’ve had the joyous honour and privilege and blessing to make in my roughly ten years as one of the world’s best independent rap artists.
And finally, many warm thanks to y’all at Indie Music Discovery, for bothering to interview me, and to anyone and everyone who cares about or values or appreciates me, my music, or both! I am tremendously honoured, profoundly moved, and seized with transports of ecstatic joy that anyone fucks with me at all! 21-gun five-star bossalini fooliyoni #RhinoSalute!
