The Dark Side of the Industry: Lil Realist and Those That Betrayed Him
Having worked as an aide, confidant, and assistant to HOLYSEE for eight years up until his death, it is only natural that I to was very familiar with Lil Realist. I was in the studio when Lil Realist recorded his famous vocals to ZER0, and helped to mix the track beneath. HOLYSEE worked deeply with Lil Realist. Their finest collaboration — The Ageing of Innocence — might seem to the outsider a HOLYSEE solo project with a Lil Realist track in the middle, but to those around during its production it was truly the first Lil Holyist album — a piece made by two artists feeding off of each other’s genius.
Every project HOLYSEE worked on, he would consult Lil Realist. When he could not work out the harmonies on The Sons and King of Exodus, or was struggling with the transitions on The End of the Line My Friend, he went to Lil Realist.
Their artistry danced together. When they were together in the studio and in full flow, there was little, no, nothing, that could stop them. And the things they created in those moments — has there ever been greater music made in such short time?
In the year following up to HOLYSEE’s death, the two seemed more inspired than ever. They had at last decided to create a full length LP, the entire thing a collaboration. If truth be told I don’t know why they didn’t sooner. HOLYSEE would demo a track, and Lil Realist would love it. They used to sit in the studio, HOLYSEE with his guitar and Lil Realist his piano, and they would show each other their music. “This is good,” Lil Realist would say, “but I think you should do this” — he would play a few notes on the piano — “instead.” And HOLYSEE, suddenly struck by something, would pick at the strings of his guitar and suddenly, in a matter of moments, they had, together, created a masterwork.
This is how it would go. Very, very rarely would they be interrupted. Only when he wanted some recording from one of the session musicians would HOLYSEE come over to me and throw a few orders. They were two masters playing in a world of their own.
About a month into the recording of Lil HOLYist, as it would eventually be named, James “Moneybags” Mitchell would invite me out for coffee. Moneybags, so named for his unmatched talent in eyeing the lucrative, was instrumental in Realist’s rise. Moneybags saw in Realist an immense talent early. Since his debut Realist had had Moneybags as his manager, and in many ways was instrumental to his rise. They were close friends in life and, perhaps more importantly, Moneybags knew not to interfere with the art, and Realist with the business. The Lil Realist brand was a well-oiled machine because of it.
Moneybags and I met in the warm afternoon. I came from HOLYSEE’s apartment. He was not well and with his age I had begun to worry. I hoped Moneybags Mitchell had for me good news. But he sat me down and I bought us coffee and he told me he was going to break ties with Lil Realist. He was not merely going to reduce his responsibility, or step down, which he would’ve done if things were just a bit heated between the two, or Moneybags was feeling overworked. No. He was cutting ties, and what’s more, he urged me to do the same.
I denied him. To do anything else would be to abandon the morals on which I have made my name. Later I learned that Lil Realist had refused a new record deal, which would’ve seen Moneybags pay increased and Realist’s reduced. Moneybags Mitchell was a smart man, one of the smartest I know, and he thought that he could hide the true nature of the contract beneath a few words and Realist wouldn’t notice. But he was foolish here.
It was not a week later when I woke to here that the record label dropped Lil Realist anyway. They were no longer going to produce his album, or at least, they were not willing to sell it with his name on it. This, unsurprisingly, shocked all of us. It was not until a few days before HOLYSEE’s death when we learned the full truth of it. The press had gotten hold of accusations of grooming on Lil Realist’s part, and the record company was scrambling to have him free from them, so the accusations would not fall on them.
HOLYSEE’s death shook us all. Lil Realist was not excluded from this. The day after we heard he was gone — on a plane to the Bahamas. Shortly after the accusations of grooming were faded, as if they had never been there. But Moneybags Mitchell was fled, his label had cut ties, and Lil Realist was left, on his own, to finish Lil HOLYist.
The greatest artists of our generation, betrayed at every corner.
