Culturally and musically, Hill is African American in every sense of the term. His African-born parents moved the inner city of Newark, New Jersey where he was born & raised on a steady flow of native African music and American hip-hop. Inspired by early hip-hop artists like Run-D.M.C. and others he saw perform on the local New York channel Video Music Box, he began writing songs when he was ten. Within a few years, while still a pre-teen, he was also managing his younger sister, an aspiring rap artist.

While One of Hill’s original aspirations was to be a screenwriter and film director, he used music and the power of hip-hop as his storytelling voice and, together with a group of like-minded, Liberian born friends from New York and Philadelphia, formed a group called Rebel Clan. Once Rebel Clan got serious and began performing live, Hill also took over their booking and management and began to get serious about creating a record company dedicated to the work of African hip hop artists.

With the help of entertainment lawyer John Robertson, Hill began seeking other avenues for Rebel Clan’s career and drafted a proposal that he submitted to Island Def Jam Records called Def Jam Africa—which envisioned a division of the parent company dedicated to African hip-hoppers. Though some of the label execs at the label ultimately showed interest, a shift in the company’s structure ultimately ended the potential deal. Later, in 2005, Warner Music Group in South Africa (also known as Warner Music Gallo) nearly signed Rebel Clan, but Hill turned down the offer due to relocation issues.

After two founding members left Rebel Clan—leaving the band a trio—they recorded an album that mixed street hip hop with African drums and other exotic instrumentation. They sold this out of the trunk and at performances in NYC, Philly and North Carolina, and also moved 25,000 digitally through InGroove Distribution.

While retooling his African hip-hop label concept and making valiant efforts to elicit the interest of 50 Cent (which included leaving the proposal and music with a security guard outside the rap superstar’s mansion!), Hill began working in a dual capacity at Foundation Magazine, the first hip hop mixtape magazine. He worked in the advertising department, handling press and promotions, and served as the publication’s National Street Team Director. Ironically, the month he began his stint there, 50 Cent was on the magazine’s cover.

Hill later worked in marketing for the magazine’s PR company, 3BG, before endeavoring on his own to create Hood Glamour, a networking website dedicated to helping individuals seeking to get into the music and modeling industries. In the meantime, he discovered that Akon had started a small label called Konvict Africa that had signed African artists and had the same essential concept as Hill’s original idea.

Hill formed his company Diamond Soul as a platform to take this concept to the next level and give hip-hop artists from Africa a global presence. “Diamond Soul will not only create a major buzz through the music industry,” he says, “but also help the artists gain street credibility by promoting mixtapes, music videos, and gorilla marketing each artist project throughout every city in America with his organized street teams. I am very proud of my heritage and this is something I have wanted to do for a long time.”

Diamond Soul is currently in the process of seeking investors and creating partnerships with several major labels.