King John-ILL

Season four comes roaring in with the indomitable King John ILL, a beat-making maestro whose rhythms and grooves are as royal as his title suggests. We peel back the layers of his artistic identity, from the genesis of his kingly name to the Instagram flip videos and Donut Lounge clips. Sit back and soak in the origin story of a Beatmaker who transcends the ordinary, crafting beats that resonate with the soul of New York's bustling soundscape.

Lose yourself in tales of vinyl hunts and melodic discoveries, where J Dilla's beats meet D'Angelo's soulful echoes. The journey through his musical influences is a kaleidoscope of sound, from childhood jams to the transformative power of live performances. King John ILL and I weave an audio tapestry that charts the evolution of our production skills, celebrates the cultural touchstones that inspire us, and honors the craft of sampling that stitches the past to the present.

As the beat goes on, we tackle the realities of juggling the music grind with life's relentless tempo. King John ILL opens up about the challenges and triumphs of bringing original music to the stage, and the grit it takes to keep the creative fires burning. Whether you're a fellow Beatmaker looking for camaraderie or a music lover craving a fresh beat, our candid conversation promises to be the perfect accompaniment to your day. Join us on this rhythmic odyssey that's sure to spark your inspiration and get your head nodding to the beat of our stories.

Intro Music: Sober Thoughts by $aveme from BOOTED by Untalented Tapes
Episode Music: All music heard from King John ILL's Bandcamp Discography Available Here
Find King John ILL: @djkingjohn_ill
Website: https://linktr.ee/kingjohnill

Watch King John ILL's Donut Lounge Beat Set Here: https://tr.ee/zDKqmIM9MB

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

What does that sound, you ass?

Speaker 3: 0:11

Welcome to the Rec Show podcast, a show dedicated to beat makers around the world. Kick back, relax with the host, Golden Mind.

Speaker 2: 1:17

Request of blue at your speed. Request of blue. Request of blue. Request of blue. Request of blue. Request of blue. Request of blue. Request of blue. Request of blue.

Speaker 1: 2:43

Alright, check, check one, two.

Speaker 1: 2:44

I'm in the garage. Check, check one. Two. Peace of love. Everybody. Go to mine here for the Rec Show podcast. Thank you all for tapping in, man. Thank you all for supporting the podcast.

Speaker 1: 2:57

Man, listen, we in season four. This is episode number one. This would be one 19, I believe, but we started the season four off with K Love aka the Go. We interviewed him a couple weeks ago and then, when you're hearing this, you'll probably hear the episode I did with Jetlag Trab from I Love Supreme, california. This would be the third one that we got a special guest man. So if y'all like what we're doing, you know subscribe to it wherever you get your podcast on YouTube, youtube, music, all At Spotify. I know y'all know where to find us on the link tree, but anyway, let's get into today, man. So my guest today, man.

Speaker 1: 3:47

I'm a new fan of man. I've seen his you know his, his flip videos on Instagram and I was like yo, this guy, he, you know he got something, man. So, you know, I just started just following them and just started looking at his videos. And you know his, his donut donut lounge videos and live beat sets and stuff like that, and I'm like yo, man, like I gotta, I gotta, I gotta have him on his show. So he gracious, he said yes, so that's gonna be our guest today. Man, he's a beat maker man. I think he might be an audio engineer as well. Man, I think he might be a videographer. What else man? He's a cartoon lover man. I think he might be an 80s baby, I'm not sure, maybe a 90s baby 90s baby.

Speaker 4: 4:36

I ain't that old. Come on now. 90s baby.

Speaker 1: 4:40

All right, so but yo man, his flip game, his beats, incredible, insane man. So, ladies and gentlemen, I want you all to welcome the one and only King, king John Il man I almost said the other name from the other country, but not King John Il Welcome to the show.

Speaker 4: 5:01

We'll get into it, we'll talk about it. Yeah, man so what's good man.

Speaker 1: 5:06

Welcome to the show man. How you doing, man, I'm good man, I'm doing all right.

Speaker 4: 5:10

It's a three day weekend for me. It's been a. It was a snowy day here in New York, so it kind of got a little bit nicer for the afternoon, so but I'm doing good, I'm hanging in there, we're chilling out here, it's good.

Speaker 1: 5:25

Hey, that's what matters, man. I'm glad you're here, man, glad you made it safe and sound. Man, everybody that's listening to this, make sure y'all listening to this safely. You know what I mean Driving, you know driving, flying, you know all skateboarding, catching the train bus, whatever it is doing, safely, man. But yeah, man. So welcome to the show. My first question, man. I gotta ask you, man, king John Il man, how did you come up with that name? Man?

Speaker 4: 5:54

Well, I can't say credit for it. So when I first was starting out, I didn't really have an idea of a name and I think I was going as like. So I started as a DJ and I was DJing as I think I was like DJ Big Red and I was like that's kind of whack. And then I think the other name I had was I extended it it was like DJ Big Red Bala. All the sounds like oh gosh.

Speaker 1: 6:24

So you was going through it, you was going through the DJ.

Speaker 4: 6:26

I was just like this is just awful. And then so in my sophomore year of college, one of my friends he was going to hang out with a friend of ours and his name is Kevin Black, and he basically went and smoked and drank with a friend of ours and he comes back and I'm just talking to him. I was like, hi, how's your night? Whatever, whatever. And one of our friends, he starts talking about how, yeah, his name is Alex Trophy, but we call him Trophy. And he says, yeah, trophy knows a lot about North and South Korean relations. And I was not really thinking of what I was saying. Next I was like which one of those is the King John Il guy? And he was like you mean Kim Jong-il? And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, that. And then he had the high epiphany of that should be your DJ name. That shit.

Speaker 4: 7:32

So the way that I explain it, it's a tough explain. It's start, but to kind of explain it, I use King, as obviously I've heard artists use it, like Ken Kendrick and stuff like that, john being my actual main, and then Il, because I'm Il with the beats, but also Il is the last three letters of my last name, which is Meryl.

Speaker 1: 7:54

So oh wow, wow, man Crazy story, man hey great epiphany man.

Speaker 4: 8:01

Yeah, all the credit to Kevin Black. Shout out to Kevin.

Speaker 1: 8:05

Black Shout out to Kevin Black man. I'm like, oh shit, that's it, that's the name. Wow, man, incredible, incredible origin for your name, man. So let's, let's get into, man, just a little bit of your journey. So far, man, you know, from what I can find out, so far, man, you've been putting out music for maybe seven years, maybe more so, unless I'm off on that. But how does you even get into wanting to create music?

Speaker 4: 8:41

Well, I mean, I started originally as a DJ because I had I mean, I've always been like enamored with producing music and things like that and wanted to get into doing it. Like, originally it was more like a hobby for me. Like I went to acting school and basically it was like the kind of thing to kind of get me away from the acting stuff when you're kind of just like you're playing a character and kind of doing all these things and dropping into a character and getting out of it and all that. It was kind of just like a kind of therapy thing for me. And but mostly I was just DJ and it wasn't until I graduated and that's when I started to put out like actual music and it was awful.

Speaker 4: 9:33

Those projects are not online anymore, so if anyone has it, you have a grail, but there's some there is to put it, I shit on it. But also, like there is some good things on there, like there's some dope samples and things like that. But it was at a time when, like I just didn't really know what I was doing and like the way that I was making music I didn't know what a doll was. Like I was literally making music through Serato oh, wow, okay, like literally they had a record button, wow, and what I would do is I'd take, like I find a sample, I'd have. I had this like Newmark Mixed Track Pro like DJ controller. It was like. It was like made out of plastic, like what? Like kids are getting now Cause, like kids can I know kids can get like DJ, like yeah.

Speaker 1: 10:27

I've seen that.

Speaker 4: 10:28

Yeah, that's how that shit was built, Wow. And now. Now obviously you know things are like technologies changed, but like it had three cues on it so I could chop and then I would take a sample, chop it up the way that I needed to. I find like a drum loop I'd layer and then like basically loop the chop that I have and then layer a drum loop on it and get it to match. If there's like any bass lines and stuff, try to find some sort of bass line to put into something other, like vocals and other samples, maybe I'd do some cuts on it. But it took hours, Like it took forever.

Speaker 4: 11:10

Yeah For one, yeah it took me two, three hours to make one. And I'm like yikes, Like like I needed, I need to actually like focus on this. But it wasn't until I moved to New York that kind of everything shifted, like everything changed, and I was like, oh, like I should focus on this and like actually work on that. And actually, you know, that's when I, you know, started to figure out what a doll was and know how to work in a doll or you know, like working with other, like drum machines and things like that that's. You know, that's kind of the origin.

Speaker 4: 11:45

I don't know if I veered away from the question a little bit, but like that's kind of where things began.

Speaker 4: 11:50

Like it began as just like I was DJ, because I had heard, like I think I'd listed like one EPS theme like years ago, and I heard like Saifah Sound say something along the lines of like if you want to be a good producer, you need to be a good DJ, and I was like, ok, so like I guess I need to buy DJ equipment and get to know this, which I mean it's helpful. There are certain things that are really really helpful for that, that that I am very grateful to have gotten into that and I can still do it and pick it up, Like I still have a controller over here. I have like a nice pioneer, the new JSX2, that is still kicking around and still works, but yeah, like that's basically the kind of way that I kind of veered into it. It just was like therapy. And then, like once I moved to New York, it just felt like, oh, like let me focus on this and actually work on it and get deeper into it.

Speaker 1: 12:45

Yeah, that I hob on it, yeah, yeah, yeah. Who are you around? When you were going through this transition of you know, like you're in your, you know your day, you're, you're being an actor, you're trying to become actor, you're going to acting classes, but then you're learning about music production, like who are you around? That was kind of like helping you to where you know where you are right now.

Speaker 4: 13:09

I mean there there wasn't really anybody that that was. I was around, like I was around my friends, like, like you know, I mentioned Kevin. Like Kevin was, you know, he's a hip hop head and was really into music and stuff like that and that was somebody that I could like kind of show ideas and things like that too. And but honestly, it was just like a lot of trial and error, like like again, like doing things through Serato, like that's like the complete wrong way of doing it, like like I had to like kind of morph myself into like trying to find more information. Like YouTube was one of those, one of those outlets, you know, I remember at a time like there was a guy that kind of showed me this is like the first first time I was introduced to an SP and it was like it was back when I was in my community college and this guy named Dennis he was, he was a beatmaker and he like let me pull up and kind of showed me like his setup and things like that. And I saw, I guess he for the first time and just like to me at that moment it looked like oh, this is like a arithmetic, like I don't know what this is and then, as years kind of progressed, where I'm at now, now I know how to kind of work, like I've got a four or four sx and like the mark two and things like that that I utilize a lot.

Speaker 4: 14:34

But I mean, basically it was a lot of just like you know me finding, you know finding it for myself, and doing a lot of this like kind of alone in a way and and trying to learn and try to learn things. And I would say, over the past, like maybe like two or three years, like as I've connected with like more producers and things like that, like especially like in the in the collective of people that are here in New York, like that's that's been also very helpful to learn from, from them, you know, and like seeing certain things and like you know, not not necessarily it makes it sound like it's like binding ideas and stuff, but like it's a collective of people that like want to see the information the information you know and like it's, it's, it's not, like it doesn't feel like gatekeeper shit, like you know which I feel like that's something that in music is so riddled all over.

Speaker 4: 15:32

Yeah, but yeah, that I would say, like to start it really was just mean, like it was just like I'm trying to figure this out. And that's that's where like ill flips came from, was, because not working with many artists and things like that, Like I could take these acapellas and try to see, like okay, like it could give me a gauge of like okay, is this going to work if an artist wants to use it Like can, can a rapper rap on it? Can a singer sing on it? Like that was something that that birthed out of that time within myself. And you know, and now it's, it's things that you know, I have a catalog of things that I end up playing and still making. And you know, now it's it as I've kind of like dug into kind of the collective of producers here in New York, also like other places to like you know, shots, to like there's a few producers that I've met through that have come up to here. Like there's some people up in Canada that are really dope One of my, one of my favorite producers, magnus Andretti, who you should get on this show.

Speaker 4: 16:41

He is from Baltimore. Bro is like my favorite producer, like he's a monster Okay.

Speaker 4: 16:51

But but yeah, it's, it's. It's ultimately just. You know it was. It started as that and now it's like I've started to kind of work with more artists and work with more producers and and try to get my my stuff out there and be heard.

Speaker 1: 17:06

Gotcha yeah, trial and error.

Speaker 1: 17:08

Man Like that's how I like, yeah, that's how we all started. So. So you know, we had some boo boo tapes out there, you know. But eventually you get to a level where you like, all right, y'all, I'm cooking now I'm cooking some good stuff, Boom, I can let other people hear it and vibe with it and perform with it, and stuff like that. I want to take you back real quick Because I want people to kind of like just get a gauge on where you came from to where you are right now. So like when you were growing up in the house you know you being around, whether you have brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, whatever who was playing the music in the house? And then what types of music were you listening to?

Speaker 1: 17:56

I was listening to this day.

Speaker 4: 17:58

Right, I mean I like so. So I was. I'm originally from New York. I was born in off state New York, in Albany area, and I lived there for like the first 13 years of my life and and I mean ultimately, musically, it all came from my mother. She listens to like everything, like it would be like Sting, the police and then Anita Baker, and then it would be like she'd be listening to like you two and Luther Vandross or you know, it's just was like such a crazy array of music that she would listen to where my father wasn't. The same Like.

Speaker 4: 18:46

The way that my father listens to music is that it's kind of just like in the background. I know there's things that he likes, but it's. If you asked him the question of what's your favorite album of all time, couldn't give me oh, what's your favorite artist? Oh, no, I couldn't give him Like, oh, what's your favorite Like? Do you don't have like a like a favorite song? It's not like, no, like there's certain things that I like. I know that he likes that, I know he fucks with, but like it's. He was never that like.

Speaker 4: 19:15

The musical resource wasn't coming from him, it was coming from my mother, ultimately, over everything. And when I was younger it was very much a thing where with me. So my sister is a year older than me and as a kid it was very much like of a follower kind of mentality that I had as a kid because I was like trying to find friends and was like, oh, if I like in sync or backstreet boys, they'll fucking love me, right, like they don't like me or whatever. And then like something kind of hit me around, like maybe the fourth or fifth grade, and I was like I don't really love, like love this music. I don't.

Speaker 4: 20:02

I say that like look, I DJ for a while to play a lot of their music and stuff like that. Of course I listen to music again. I have no, no, no, love loss. Like I'll play back to you boys song right now. It's fine, right. And it wasn't until then that like I started searching and like trying to find like, well, what is it that I like and that I'm into? And that's when, like you know, I'm just like kind of scooting through the radio. I had like a general electric like radio that was like had like these like fake wood panels and shit on it.

Speaker 4: 20:37

And it was like and I remember just kind of it was. I think it was 96.3 was the station in Albany and it was. It was hip hop station. I think the first thing I heard on the station was ludicrous. It was the first thing I heard and obviously I had heard through terrestrial top 40 radio hip hop records in the 90s. I'm born in 1992. I'm not an 80s baby, yeah, I got you, I got you, I'm a 90s baby.

Speaker 1: 21:08

I'm a 80s baby.

Speaker 4: 21:09

I'm a 90s baby.

Speaker 2: 21:10

I'm close to it, but yeah, I'm close to it.

Speaker 4: 21:12

I'm close to it, but yeah, but in the 90s, I mean, obviously there were hip hop records that trickled into top 40. Not a lot though, but it was like, if I, if it was, it was obvious that okay, Biggie and Pock are going to play on radio, because obviously the spectacle of that time, so that stuff trickled into the top 40 radio. I think, like Coolio, you know God rest the dead. He was, you know, also another person that I would hear a lot through through radios like that. But it wasn't until like around that time that it hit me. But even earlier than that there was, it hit me like when Space Jam came out. That was the biggest thing. Where's this record?

Speaker 1: 22:01

The OG Space Jam. Everybody Internet's the OG Space Jam.

Speaker 4: 22:06

This thing yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:08

Woo.

Speaker 4: 22:10

Because at the time I didn't, I didn't know, I just liked it and it didn't. It didn't really hit me until like years later I was like, wow, this kind of shaped me a little bit of like where my music is Like like this was Jay-Z, before Reasonable Doubt. He wrote the. He wrote the Bugs Bunny bugging song on here. He Ghost wrote it. He told my people don't ask for Wow. Uh, you know, obviously, like the B real Buster, ives Coolio, l Cool J, method man hit him high record. That posse cut with the nuts. But like D'Angelo had a record on here, I found my smile again and he's my easily my favorite artist of all time. He's like the goat to me and then obviously redacted, we don't have to talk about him.

Speaker 1: 22:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was gonna track four, track five, I think, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4: 23:02

Yeah, yeah, but that's yeah Ultimately. Like it's kind of crazy that that's that kind of brought me into it first, like that record was such a moment where I was like, oh okay, like, but it didn't hit until probably years later. Oh okay, now this is, this is something that I'm into and I like it and I fuck with that. That has me intrigued and has me interested.

Speaker 1: 23:32

And man Space Jam, the original space.

Speaker 3: 23:36

The.

Speaker 1: 23:36

OG, okay, the OG Space Jam Internet, all right.

Speaker 4: 23:40

So the other, the other one's fine. Like it's it's fine, like they. They tore that shit down like so hard and I watched it and I was like it's, it's whatever, it's not like it. Like I didn't expect it to be anything close to the original Right. Like you know, obviously, with technology and all the media rights and all this shit, that they got all this character in there and all that, I'm like okay, cool, like whatever. But it was an enjoyable watch. Ultimately, I would say the new one.

Speaker 1: 24:16

Yeah, yo, man King John, it was here, man, Listen, d'angelo is his favorite artist. All right, absolutely it's. Nobody is D'Angelo like and a lot, I think a lot of people, a lot of you know, a lot of my guests, feel like D'Angelo is like top notch man amongst you know some of the, some of the normal names that they name is like you know, like a RZA J Dilla, you know like you know any of one of them is a prominent beat makers and stuff like that. But D'Angelo, what is it about D'Angelo? That's like got you, he's, he's just another echelon above everybody else.

Speaker 4: 24:57

Oh, I mean, I think that obviously there's a, there's a part of me that's like, oh, like, with the producers that influence me and stuff like that. There's definitely a list there. But you know, I just fell in love with his music, especially like when I hit high school and when I heard like Brown sugar for the first time and just hearing how, like like that record is interesting because it's it's such, it's such rooted in like that 90s R&B sound. It's very glittery. You know it was. It was like kind of in the era of like the jingy era and you know that was something that was. You know it was kind of like an outlier type of record and you could hear like kind of where he was going to go. And then voodoo. I remember the time Classic. I love, I love that record. Now it's like it's fantastic. I think I loved Brown sugar more when I was in high school, but it wasn't until I got to college that voodoo like hit for me on another level, like I think I got it. I think it might have been like one of another, one of those like high epiphany type things where, like, I was sitting with a buddy of mine His name is Matt Phillips, he's an artist in North Carolina.

Speaker 4: 26:17

To kind of to kind of like to show my trajectory Like, yeah, I lived in New York for first 13 years of my life, moved to North Carolina when I was in about the eighth grade, did my high school in college years in North Carolina in the Greensboro area and then moved up to New York like a few months after I graduated. But I remember like one night we like sat in my room we had smoked, we went to cook out. If you ever go to North Carolina in the South, cook out is the shit. Get a $5 tray. I went down recently. It's more expensive now, which is stupid.

Speaker 4: 26:56

All the prices is going up now, yeah everything's getting inflated now, but it was we, like I remember, sat in the room and I listened to it and it was just like, just like Questlove's drumming and like Pino Paladino's, just like bass lines, charlie and Hunter, you know, d'angelo just being such a like, just kind of like the way that that record was made, especially where it's like, oh, I'm taking like they're playing, like you know, earth, wind and Fire records, or you know Jimi Hendrix records or gang star and stuff like that, and they were track and they were building songs off of, just like covering people, and I thought that was such a wild thing. And you know, obviously, you know Dilla had a huge influence on that. He was, you know, probably the biggest influence on that record, you know, to like, especially from, like the drag and like all that type of stuff. Like it just was such a that in that moment, listening to the album at that point was just like a crazy experience and I can just was like, wow, this is just like there's. There is nothing wrong with this record at all and I still listen to it to this day and we'll find new things, like I'll hear certain things and hear different sounds of like that I never noticed before and in certain ways, that they kind of like arranged those songs and it's just fascinating and I don't have that really with any other album Like that. That is the one album that I will always go back to and I'll be like like, oh, wow, like I've never noticed this, this type of thing. I do this.

Speaker 4: 28:44

Other records too, like what's the song? When we get by, yeah, when we get by, on Brown Sugar, the bass line is One Nation Under a Groove and I never, and I didn't realize it until a few years ago, and I was listening to it and just hear the and I'm like, wow, that's fucking nuts. Wow, dude, is I mean like honestly, like he, he's so, like it's just like the mystery of him and like all this stuff. I saw him in concert years ago in Atlanta when Black Messiah came out and it just happened to absolutely floored, like, like I allowed myself. I cried afterwards because I was like I was just so blown away by it. And just to see him like years later, just like coming out and doing these songs and you know I don't give a shit about the whole like oh, he got sad.

Speaker 4: 29:49

And like he's not like the total. I'm like I don't give a shit about that, I care about the music, right, but but he like it just was I could talk about him. This is how long is this? Do we just want to talk about the end? Yeah, that's what I can do.

Speaker 1: 30:07

We got to listen, man. He's. He's a big influence man on on a lot of us Like and and the crazy, the great thing about music is there's somebody that's brand new, that's going to pick it up. Let's play today and become a new fan today and then follow for and go back into this geography and start listening to that music and buy the albums, and you know what I mean. So that's man. It's an incredible man Like. I know a lot, of, a lot of us beat makers. You know we want to sell beats and we want to sell, you know, cds and albums and stuff like that. But hey, one person getting your joint and then another. You know what I mean. It's just a stacking man. That's how it happens, man. So like the same thing for the angel man like we all. You know my mom was playing D'Angelo and then I came up on D'Angelo, so I'm like I have never seen him live. So I can imagine like I'll be a little emotional. Yeah, I might be a little.

Speaker 4: 31:08

He is unbelievable and like to have like not having toured and like at that point in like 13, 14 years, it just was like jaw dropping and just to see him having fun. You know, like the band that he put together is like unbelievable, like he had had Pino Paladino and you know, chris Daddy Day he's on drums and like all that Like. I can't remember her name right now, but she wrote a lot of the songs on Black Messiah with him.

Speaker 4: 31:43

Ah, she was like a backup singer for like Parliament Fugadelic for a while, but she was always fantastic during the show and it was just was like two hours of him just like jamming, like doing these like elongated, like jams of these songs that we know, like like him doing like a 15 minute version of like left and right and it's just like what, like it's so nuts, and like, like even the end of the show where he does on title which I think that when he started touring again like he was kind of fighting it yeah, he didn't really want to perform it, he did it in a way that I thought was so, was so beautiful, where it's just him on the roads and then everybody's playing their parts and things like that, and then it was like literally a 10, 15 minute rendition of it and like everyone has their own part and then they just start like leaving the stage. So each person started walking off, so like the backup singers walked off, and then the and then Pino walked off and and then, like you know, it's just like everybody just kind of goes away and like until it's just D'Angelo on the stage and he's just playing acoustically on title, has a feel, and it's just like and he's trying to get the crowd into it and like all this stuff, and it just was like literally I'm just sitting there like wow, wow, wow. Nuts man, I hope, I hope, to the graces of God, that he puts out a record again soon. I know he just put out a single that was with with Jay-Z recently, but you know, I hope that there's something coming. I know there is. I know there's something there, but it's just a matter of when.

Speaker 4: 33:39

When the tour happens, throw all of your money at it, because it is worth it.

Speaker 4: 33:44

It is so worth it.

Speaker 1: 33:46

What's that? What's that that Atlanta episode where it was like he's so like you can't find him anywhere?

Speaker 4: 33:55

Like all these impersonators. Yeah, he's like going through, like the tunnel or whatever. And then he's like I am D'Angelo.

Speaker 1: 34:03

Yeah, yeah, man, but he's like yo, he's a goat man. So shout out to D'Angelo Every misses to the Rex show podcast man. Yo salute to you.

Speaker 4: 34:14

Just let me sit in the studio, please Like. Let me invite. Electric lady is not far from here. Like I could, I could shoot down there right now, man.

Speaker 1: 34:23

So yo, man, I got to ask you because you just said if you were going to talk about some of your you know your beatmaker, music producer, composer, inspirations, man, like who, who would be on that list? And they can be, you know, you know older beatmakers. It could be current beatmakers in our in our circles right now.

Speaker 4: 34:44

So I would say I mean when I was first getting into you know, when I was, when I was thinking about it. I mean I know he's redacted at this point too, but uh, but Kanye was such a huge influence on on me in terms of like sampling and things like that, because around high school that was when I started to get more deeper into it. Like around that time it was like when I was living in North Carolina it was around the time when, like the Gucci's and the Waka's and the and the soldier boys and all of them were like really big and I like no disrespect, I love their music and stuff like that. But at that time I wanted to find something different and you know, it was at a point where, like, I would always hear and I went back to like do my homework and like listen like 90s hip hop music and then, like hearing all these songs, I'm like well, where do these come from? And like understanding sampling and finding where many samples come from and all this stuff Like uh, that was kind of what brought me to it and Kanye was definitely one of those because he was it was a guy who, you know, heavily sampled and sampled a lot of really off the wall type of things that I just was like really interested in.

Speaker 4: 36:06

And that's when, like you know, I think, like obviously I look like I love DJ Premier and I love P Rock. You know Vila was also somebody who was huge like for me and definitely is something that you know, you know it. It everybody tries to emulate him but they never will.

Speaker 4: 36:26

Yeah, it's only one there's only one and I you know I I'd be lying if I said I didn't try to emulate him in my music.

Speaker 4: 36:34

You know it's, it's something that like he's just always going to be there and you know, obviously I found him at the time when, you know, unfortunately after he had passed, but but it just was some.

Speaker 4: 36:49

His music was so interesting and donuts was such a an interesting album to me when, when that had come out and and just kind of listening to it and years later with you know, kind of digging deeper into it, of like where a lot of it was like you know his last kind of will and testament and kind of like a you know his last words, almost you know, yeah, but Dilla is definitely one of those knowledge is somebody that definitely inspired me a lot, especially during a pandemic. That was like his music was something that really was inspiring at that point, like I've known his music before that, but definitely like during pandemic, I dug into his catalog a lot more and Deffo was an inspiration. Rza, rza too, like he, like he's fucking nuts, like he's always like one of the goats and someone that I like man, like I wish I could make an album as good as 36 chambers, like.

Speaker 3: 37:53

I don't know if that will ever happen, like man that is such a fantastic record.

Speaker 4: 37:59

But definitely, though, like I would say, like you know, premier, you know Pete Rock, rza, you know Kanye Jadilla, knowledge, those were, those are the guys, those were the people that were like, oh, they kind of inform my music for when I'm making beats and things like that. And you know, obviously, like you know, I'd have like favorite artists and things like D'Angelo and stuff like that, but that also are very inspirational. But yeah, like I, just those, those are, I would say that's top five, I guess.

Speaker 1: 38:43

Yeah, that's pretty much a top five.

Speaker 4: 38:45

Yeah, kind of answer that the top five.

Speaker 1: 38:47

Yeah, I'd say that in no order, in no order.

Speaker 1: 38:49

Yeah, I catch man. Man, you can't go wrong with that list. First of all because all of them influence and they still. You know, even J Dilla man he was. I don't, I hate, I don't like to say rest in peace, because, let's keep it honest, man, his, he's still living, like his music still lives, like his image, still lives, like he's still going around this world right now, like you know. So it's just, you know, maybe his physical form is not here, but still he's still living man. So everybody knows his Dilla month. So shout out to everybody putting out them Dilla mixes and you know everything like that.

Speaker 4: 39:31

I got him right over here. I got to say it.

Speaker 1: 39:36

Oh yeah.

Speaker 3: 39:37

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 39:38

Yeah, yeah, donuts man, but is that the SP? Is that the 1200 in his hand?

Speaker 4: 39:45

He's got a, so there's like a. It's actually the. I think it's like his MPC. Oh yeah, 3000.

Speaker 1: 39:55

Yeah, I might be the three down because he has that one in the Smithsonian. Yeah, so yeah.

Speaker 4: 40:00

Yeah, I need to go to that. I want to see that.

Speaker 1: 40:02

Yeah, yeah, next, next time I go home to Jersey man, I saw I'm on my head there because I think it's in this in Washington yeah, dc, yeah, dc, yeah.

Speaker 4: 40:11

Shout out to Dan Sharnas too. I wrote the Dilla time book that came out. I met him like a like a year ago and like got to tell him like dude, that book was absolutely fantastic and like something I've been waiting on someone to do, like a deep dive into his, his life, and and he went even farther than you know. Stuff about Dilla like went down to breaking down like his, just like his timing and, like you know, like going back into like just like early history of like Detroit and shit like that. Like it was like really such a wild ride of a book. I definitely need to read it again. But yeah, but it's fantastic book. If people have not read it, you should.

Speaker 1: 40:57

Yeah, Got to recommend that one man Dilla time. I think that's the the life and music of hip hop's.

Speaker 4: 41:10

I can read it. Hip hop's music producer, something I can remember the whole title, but Billiton, the lights and afterlife of J Dilla, the hip hop producer who reinvented rhythm.

Speaker 1: 41:24

Yeah, yeah, that's the bill. I'm not that. I'm a link in the description to show everybody, so y'all can just go ahead and tap into that man. Um, but man, let's, let's keep it moving. Man, let's, let's talk about your before you start talking about a few of your albums that, you know, just really made me a fan of you and your works. What is when you go digging for music and I'm not sure if you YouTube dig, I'm not sure if you actually go to the vine I think I heard you. I see you mentioned a one records and some other record stores in the New York area. What is that process like for you when you go digging for records?

Speaker 4: 42:06

So I mean, lately, lately it's been a lot of YouTube, Like it's. It's something that you know because it's just such a kind of easier accessible kind of thing to kind of dig through the crates and find like different channels and things like that, just because also, like just vinyl is it's just very expensive right now, yeah, so that's also kind of difficult. But you know, there's a lot of great spots in in New York that like like a one superior elevation, blue sun, you know, trying to come. There's another one that I'm freaking out time ahead that I really really love Human head. I think that they're still. They're still operate. I think they moved at a spot that they were, they were in. They are also really dope and have like a lot of like like Brazilian and like more international type records and stuff. But anytime I go dig like it's, it's off of, it's kind of just you know, obviously they kind of like reading through some notes and seeing who plays on what and if it just kind of looks cool like it like sometimes I just take a shot in the dark. Sometimes I'll sift through the like the dollar bins. They fuck up your needle probably because of how bad they are. But, like you know, I'll go through that.

Speaker 4: 43:33

I'd say, like another, another person who really was in that one of the things that I always do when I go to a record store and it's it's every single time I go is the first thing I do is I go to the jazz section and see if there's any a Majumal records. He is somebody who, when I was going through and doing my homework and like kind of like learning about, ok, where are these samples and shit coming from? Because, like, the two songs that were like big for me was Stakes is High Day, last Soul and World is Yours, nas and Pee Rock, and they're all in both of them sample Majumal records and they are like it's. And when I heard them like the actual source for the first time, it just was like blowing away. And then every single time I go to a record store I'd like go to that section, see like do they add something that I don't have, something that I don't have? And like I have like a whole dedicated, like cubby of records here. That's just his records and that's it.

Speaker 4: 44:46

But like that's, that's the one thing when I go in the record store, but like everything else is just like it's, just like I could be there for like an hour just like kind of sifting through things. There might be some, some things that are like tweak in my mind, like maybe like that I'm thinking about and I'm like, oh, I should probably probably snag to see if some some things on it. But you know, honestly, a lot of it's been, you know YouTube it could be. You know, going through like like sample library things like or like a like a drum, like drumbroker, is something that I've gone through before to find like compositions and things like that. You know it's it's who sampled or not who sampled. What's it called track lib? Oh, yeah, yeah, like track lib is something that that I've used before to and have tried to find some things.

Speaker 4: 45:42

I think their catalogs got a little bit better from when I had first kind of like foray into it, but but like, yeah, basically it's it's, you know, when it's like if I have the special moment to go out and go digging and go record shopping, a lot of times I take that moment whenever I travel, like if I'm, if I'm leaving the city and I go back to like North Carolina or you know, I think, when I yeah, like I was in like Asheville like recently and was like was like going through records and stuff like that with my family and me and me and my cousin Molly went to one of the one of these spots.

Speaker 4: 46:25

He was in the Asheville area and just kind of just was like dig into some stuff and found some stuff and I was like, all right, like this, I need this. And he did and like break in the bank. But but basically, yeah, it's just basically kind of just off a feeling, like whenever I go record shopping, but also like because of how you know, vinyl is such an expensive thing now Even news records are kind of the same way you know that YouTube man is. It's very helpful.

Speaker 1: 46:57

You know, you know, I'm very helpful for digging.

Speaker 4: 46:59

That's it.

Speaker 1: 47:00

Man, you know how many man I have so many like watch later sample libraries in my profile, like, yeah, so many. And then we got Spotify. Spotify, you know. I mean we got like Apple meet like yo. If you can't find samples in today's Asian and like from all over the world, you bug it out.

Speaker 4: 47:25

And it can be from anywhere, like, even like I learned this from from ninth wonder like ninth wonder, I would listen to a lot of beats of his and he would be sampling a lot of like modern stuff too, like stuff that like not like completely like biting it and just like, oh, I just found a loop and I'm just going to play it, like whatnot. But like I've heard him flip like ran, like things from like Kendrick records and stuff like that and I'm like what, yeah, how did you even think of this? Like oh, I also said it would be of his today. I had to go to the post office this morning and like he sampled the second childhood record that Nas has and made it like this bouncy, fucking like like, oh my God, it was like it was like third child boogie or something like that I think that's what it's called, but like I was listening to it on my walk it was like snowing outside.

Speaker 4: 48:31

I was like God, this shit is nuts Like that. His like just even in the like, not like shying away from modern stuff too, like I like. I remember I heard like a Maggie Rogers record and there's a, there's a. There's a EP of music that I worked with a friend of mine. He's a, an R&B artist, it's also a Broadway singer, I don't know a fool. Ah, there it is.

Speaker 2: 48:58

Wow, I heard this shit.

Speaker 4: 49:02

I was like wow, wow, I didn't know that.

Speaker 1: 49:08

Wow, you blow my mind right now man Wow, I did.

Speaker 4: 49:15

Yeah, like to take samples and like, find it like even a sample that people know, to find something new with it. Everybody know right there.

Speaker 4: 49:24

Like it's something that that that I've also been trying to do because it's good, it's good reps. Like to try to see, like, okay, can I find something different from this? You know this, this record that's been sampled like 50 times. Like, like, let me see if I could do something with it. Like, can I take this Chaka Khan record and try to see if I could flip something out of it? Like, that's also something that you know. To try to kind of test yourself.

Speaker 1: 49:55

And that's the challenge. Yeah, yeah, yeah man, you know how many times Chaka Khan's discography has been flipped Like it's probably insane amount of flips, a nuts amount.

Speaker 4: 50:09

A crazy amount.

Speaker 1: 50:11

But man, okay, so we got to talk about your joints. Right now you have a series oh, you got a few series on Bandcamp, all right, so I'm a big supporter of Bandcamp music, by the way. And you got six volumes of ill illy flips, is it? Ill flips, ill flips.

Speaker 2: 50:35

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 50:36

So ill flips. You got six volumes of ill flips. Where did that? Where did that start from? Like you got six now. So how did that evolve into six joints?

Speaker 4: 50:47

Technically, I think it might be seven. Is it seven? One, two, three, four, five, eight. So there's well, I split tape six into two.

Speaker 1: 50:57

Okay.

Speaker 4: 50:57

Yeah, yeah, I think I just feel it in the moment.

Speaker 4: 51:02

But, there was like another one that's like unreleased Lucy's is what I called it. That has some stuff on there too. But yeah, basically it was just birthed off of, like you know, I wasn't really working with a lot of artists and you know, it was like me trying to test first off arranging that's. That was the first thing, because I mean, you could make a beat, yeah, but can you arrange it? Can you add different things so that it's something that you can? That is like that people will want to listen to. Because you don't want it. I don't, you don't want it to be repetitive, right? Like you want to have different things in it.

Speaker 1: 51:43

Variations yeah.

Speaker 4: 51:44

Variations and all that.

Speaker 4: 51:46

So ear candy all that stuff, yeah, little things here and there. And that's kind of where I was like, okay, I felt comfortable with these remixes that I had in the can and I was like you know what, I'm going to put this out. And then, ever since, I was like you know what, I'm just going to keep as I collect songs and make more remixes. I'm just going to continue to do it. I'm sitting on two right now that I hope maybe tape seven will come out in March, and then the other one I've kind of still kind of building off of it right now at the moment, but hopefully that will come out at some point this year. But yeah, like basically just birth off of like I'm not really working with many artists and it's something that like, okay, let me test myself to be arranging and mixing and producing and try to see if you know, can a rapper or a singer do anything on this? If I do send it out to them just the instrumental or whatever.

Speaker 1: 52:57

So, man, who's doing your cover art man for these joints, Because these joints are hilarious.

Speaker 4: 53:01

Man, it's all, me it's all me Like I ended up. It just was like because I didn't really have like anybody like taking photos and things for me and like all that stuff, but like it'll just be random photos and stuff, like some of the cover art, like man, like I could have done so much better with some of these, but yeah, like some of them I was like you know, just kind of like. I think my favorite one is probably the. I think it might be either it might be tape three or it's just like me as a kid and I'm just like an ice cream cone, ice cream cone, yeah.

Speaker 4: 53:39

I can't even. I just look like nuts. That's probably my favorite. But you know, obviously, like I think that with covers and things like that, it's just like the thing that I have in my mind is like, obviously, like the music is very serious and the music is something that I take a lot of you know, pride in and work on and all this stuff. But like I think like more of the covers is more of like the attention grab and just to like kind of like put it in your face and be like, oh, come to this, like see what's here, you know, yeah yeah, the internet's man.

Speaker 1: 54:17

If y'all don't know about King John Ile's man band camp discography, man, I'm going to link it in the description of the show as well. So y'all can just click on the link for me to take you right to his band camp and actually end his link tree too. So I'm going to put all the air in the description of the show. Don't even sweat it. But, man, like, out of all six volumes, man, you know what. It's hard to pick, just because your sample selection, the way you chop them, the drums, the vocal, the vocal joints you put in there, man, and then it's bruh like yo like.

Speaker 1: 54:54

I can't, I can't even pick. I like all of them, man. But like, speaking of speaking of cover art, the attention grabbing man, you got an album called Farts. We got to talk about that one. Yeah, tell me about Farts, man.

Speaker 4: 55:11

So that is the first beat tape that I put out on streaming services so that you can get out on Apple Music and Spotify and all that stuff. Uh, let's say all that shit.

Speaker 1: 55:25

You good, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, all that shit yeah.

Speaker 4: 55:27

No pun intended, I guess. But yeah, like I was, a lot of the music was made during a pandemic. I think that the pandemic kind of helped a lot with me to focus more on this music and something that you know. I'm very grateful for that time because it's you know shit, I don't know if I ever will have that time ever again, right, uh, we'll see in November. Uh, you know.

Speaker 1: 55:58

I got you.

Speaker 4: 55:59

I got you yeah, let's stop bringing the, let's stop bringing the podcast.

Speaker 2: 56:04

Um gosh.

Speaker 4: 56:05

But no, like they think, the pandemic was very much a moment for for me to work on a lot of music and focus on it and kind of just kept me sane. During that time I had a collection of music that I was just kind of sitting on and, um, and I was like you know what, I feel like this could be the first thing that I put out on streaming, because most of the stuff that I put out has been on band camp and I've just left it there and obviously, like a lot of the remixes of it, I can't really put that on streaming because you know they, they, they come after me, yeah, uh, but I was like I felt comfortable enough with the project that. I was like you know what, like this, I like I want to put this out there on streaming. I want to have this out there and around we're not put.

Speaker 4: 57:01

That was like 2021 and around that time I was uh, like I think it was like April and I had asked my sister. I was like hey, like can you make me an album cover? And like, cause, she does like cross stitch, um, and I think that's what that's called, I don't know She'd like some sort of sewing thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, um, and I asked her is like, can you make a cover for me? She's like yeah, I guess. Yeah, like what do you? What do you want the cover to be? I was like I don't know, I just want my logo below it. And then I just want the word farts with like a poop emoji next to it, and then it's like surrounded by roses, and she was like All right, I'll give it to you tomorrow.

Speaker 1: 57:49

What.

Speaker 4: 57:53

So, so, like literally, it was like, and I was literally was like I told her I said, alex, you don't have to like just take your time with it, whatever. Like she was like, and then she hit me up the next day and she sends me photos of it. I was like, holy shit, wow. So I basically she like, she sent me, like I think, a postcard and had it in there, like actually I can get it right here. This is the one of one right here, wow, wow, and that's a wow, probably backwards on there, but maybe if I ever make no, it's clear stuff like that.

Speaker 4: 58:37

That's that'll be the one of one that's there. But yeah, like it just was, it just was like like I could be like a cool kind of attention grab type shit, and then I just kind of went through, collected a lot of the beats and sequenced it in the way that I want it, like that's the thing that I like come back to, like where DJing was very helpful to me, where sequencing was something that I attest that to DJing, because as a DJ, like knowing BPM matching and, you know, knowing keys and things like that, you know I'm I don't, I don't know music theory, I don't really. You know I didn't go to school to learn music and like I couldn't play a song for you on a piano right now, but it helped me, especially with sequencing these tapes and things like that. So I just collected all that stuff and tried to, you know, kind of teach myself a little bit through through mixing and mastering during that time too.

Speaker 4: 59:42

And that was this was the first, the first project, and you know I'm working on another one right now for streaming it's, it's. I have a bunch of songs, but like I think my mind has just not been in the place of like I don't know if it's ready yet. I don't know if it's ready yet, and I think that that's like the thing that always as an artist and things like that, you kind of fight that I don't know, it's not there yet. It's not there yet. It will get there, but I feel like it's in a lot better place than it was and I think there's a lot of beats that I've been playing out through shows. That has been getting good reaction and I think that we're getting close to the next one.

Speaker 4: 1:00:28

I don't really know what the title is going to be. I don't know what the cover is going to be. I don't know if it'll be as nuts as this, but yeah, maybe in the moment, once I get close to finishing the record, I'll have a better idea of what that will be like and all that. But definitely this one is something that holds close to the heart for sure, because it's like the first thing I put on streaming and put out there and I felt like this was good enough. Where, like, okay, let's get this to the people.

Speaker 1: 1:01:06

Man, everybody, if y'all haven't listened to Farts, you got to listen to it, man. I think it's 14 tracks, 18 minutes of just pure dope music, man, for real. So just check it out, man, I guarantee y'all going to be following King John Eil All right, everybody King John Eil on socials. But we'll ask that later. But I got to ask you, man, like, if you ever come out with the physicals for these, or even just go ahead and put them on a thumb drive and then sell the thumb drive. Yo, I'm your guy, man, I'm number one, number one man.

Speaker 4: 1:01:45

I got to get that man, that's definitely something I'm trying to figure out too is getting to some more physical stuff Like. I have a bunch of like. I have a four track tape recorder that I utilize and run sounds through it, because it just adds a different flavor and it's definitely something that I love to get some stuff on like maybe on vinyl, maybe on the sets Consets are probably a little bit cheaper to press, but I just would love to have the physical thing out there for people to be. Like that I also thought about kind of doing like a collection of the best of the ill-flipped stuff. So a lot of ideas, a lot of ideas that kind of come to mind, but definitely the physical realm, for sure for this next streaming record. That's a promise. Like that's definitely what I want to do for the next streaming record, but hopefully to get more into that world. That would be something that definitely needs to happen, I would say.

Speaker 1: 1:02:48

Gotcha. Yeah, man, you'll definitely have so many. You probably sell out quick man, like for real. That's how good your joints are, man, I'm not going to do my own horn. I'm going to pause, you know, I'm going to. You know what I mean. Yes, but man, wow, okay yo.

Speaker 4: 1:03:18

Next question.

Speaker 1: 1:03:18

Next question. Next question Okay, yeah, I got to ask you about because we're talking about DJing and shows and knowing BPMs and stuff like that. Like you perform all over, actually, but one of the shows that you did which I'm a big supporter of is Donut Lounge, right, so I'm not sure how many times you did Donut Lounge, but you definitely in there, man, and the crowd is just man. They really vibe in with you, man. So what was that experience? Like you know, doing Donut Lounge and because I think World MC is the one that puts that on, is that yes?

Speaker 4: 1:04:01

So they're a part of that and you know it's it's, it's Armani yeah, armani, armani, who's the you know, and Nicholas, who's also a part of that. That kind of sets, all those shows up and I would say, like you know, in terms of performance, like it's I was, was like one of the big plans for when I was making the music was like I wanted to start performing and I wanted to play out my own music. It's kind of why I stepped away from DJing, because I was like I wanted to focus on on my music. So so I remember like they had a like Donut Lounge does like an open aux, so they'll have like people come out and play like five minutes and stuff like that. And I did it I think this was in the end of 20, kind of kind of in the end of 2022.

Speaker 4: 1:05:04

And did the open aux? They really fucked with it. The crowd really loved it and they had asked me back to do a show in February in the next year, in 2023. And I was like, oh shit, hell, yeah, let's do it, because, like I've been wanting to do more shows and put myself out there and try to get on more bills and and yeah, like it basically was a wild night Like the. If I know, my links will be out there, but if, if you want to see the live show, I was able to get like a lot of footage from like they took like footage from like the Twitch stream that they had and then kind of edited it all myself where you know, it's a clips from people's like iPhones and things like crazy, that's crazy how you did that too.

Speaker 1: 1:05:56

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:05:57

And like edited and put like other like little things in between and all that and and and. It was such a crazy night like really, really awesome night, like that's the first time I met Magnus Andretti he went on before me.

Speaker 3: 1:06:14

And I was like God. I got to follow that.

Speaker 2: 1:06:18

Oh.

Speaker 4: 1:06:19

God, I was like so like he had like some Kendrick remix that he played and I just was like God damn, man, come on. But now, like he's, but he is fantastic, but yeah he but basically like it went out, did like 20 minutes and it felt really good and you know, ever since then like just been trying to get out there more. I just did a show recently with another producer's names, tom Yanks. He sets up a show out in Williamsburg area kind of the same vein do some open ox and then also having some like build people, play some sets and man, like I still got a high off of that show, like it still was. It was like such an incredible night. And recently I got to perform like in my home. I call Greensboro my home, like like I know I'm from New York originally but like Greensboro is my home, my family's still there. You know North Carolina is the home for me. So I got to play recently in Greensboro for Beats Batch Shots of Kate Boulevard. She's fantastic, it sets up those shows and it's, yeah, just absolutely was a surreal kind of experience but just, you know, kind of getting myself out there, putting myself out there doing open oxes, networking and connecting, but that was the plan.

Speaker 4: 1:07:52

Out of the pandemic, I was like I want to start performing my own music and performing this stuff and figuring out how to make sets of what I could play. So that was something that I was really trying to push as I was getting out of that and as we were getting back into normal life, and I've been able to do that. From a DJing standpoint, it's definitely a different process with an SP, because the Mark II has a DJ feature in it, but I haven't really worked with it that much. And when I have, it's just not the same feeling of having two platters and having your mixing board and all that. It's just not the same. It's not the same. Yeah, and I think it could be better. I think that they could improve on it and shit like that. It's a lot easier for me to just load it up into pads, know how I want to sequence it, know how to BPM that, things like that, and it's something that just is with the process.

Speaker 3: 1:09:15

And the.

Speaker 4: 1:09:15

Mark II has been fucking phenomenal so much since it came out. But that was the plan man, just going out and doing these shows and hopefully there's some more. Hopefully I'll get back on the bill at Donut Lounge this year I've been hitting them up to see if I can get back out there and do a show. But yeah, man, love all of them out there and then they have a show next weekend. This is like the first one for the year and I'm excited to go out there and support. There's some dope artists out there Frank Passions, who's shot to him. He was actually at the last show that I was doing on Williamsburg. He's a phenomenal producer. He's doing a show, so definitely going to pull up with support. Support him for sure. The Donut Lounge man.

Speaker 1: 1:10:05

Armadillo with the bars too. I see you, armadillo, on the World MC channel, man, I see you, bro man. Okay, so as we round this joint out, man, I always got to ask a very deep question for some new. You said we weren't getting deep.

Speaker 4: 1:10:27

Just a little deep, just a little deep.

Speaker 1: 1:10:31

For the beat some new, Because we got some new beatmakers coming into the photo right now. And they're going to come across the balancing challenge. Balancing, working or going to school, creating beats and having time with the family and stuff like that. So I got to ask you what's one of the challenges that you've had during your music journey, that you've had to come to grips with, and then how did you overcome that challenge?

Speaker 4: 1:11:05

I mean, the one thing I say is, like, don't get discouraged by the day job. Like that's something I would say. To put it honestly like look, I don't the music. Like I want to live off the music, like I want to make money off of this and make some bread off of this, so that I'm not I haven't worked a day job, but I do. I work a day job right now.

Speaker 4: 1:11:33

Is that something that you know that I should be judged for? No, absolutely not. And I know that there's a lot of producers out there, maybe people that are starting and wanting to get into it, that you know it's something that's like there, but, like you know, don't let that discourage you. Like that's something that you know, even in the moments where, like you know, it's tough and it's hard like you're going to find those times, you know it's definitely like forcing yourself to kind of work on something and if it's bad, okay, like just save that shit.

Speaker 4: 1:12:10

Because there have been so many times that I've like made something and it might not sound good and I'm like, oh, this is awful. And then I come back to it, like maybe a year or two later, and I'm like, oh, okay, wait, I know how to fix this. I come back to it. There's been so many of those moments like there are records. I think there's like a record on parts that I think that I remember. When I made it I was like this is awful, like what is this? What was I thinking?

Speaker 4: 1:12:45

Like what was I thinking? But then I go back. I went back to it and I was like, oh okay, wait a minute, I think I know how to make this work. And you know it's just keep pushing, keep moving. You know it's not an easy road. Like being an artist is never an easy road. I mean, look, and I've been through it in so many different avenues Like I was like, obviously, as I said, I went to acting school.

Speaker 4: 1:13:13

Obviously, you know I don't do that very much anymore, but it's not something that's left my body Like I still love it. But like my thought process changed. I got into production. But you know, I knew when I came up here, when I was doing acting stuff, I knew it wasn't going to be easy, I knew it was going to be very difficult, especially as an artist. Like it's not an easy road but you got to find inspiration. You've got to. You know, fight through it and keep pushing.

Speaker 4: 1:13:44

You know, even in those rough days, you know there have been days that I'm like I get off of work and I'm like this is just a dog shit day. But I come here in this space, right here. This is where I work. I have my push to like I'm working on my SP, you know, maybe I'm digging through some records, maybe it's just listening to records. You know, maybe I don't sample something or make something, maybe there's nothing that intrigues me, but just something that just to find little things, that that just like still work and still like work the muscle so it doesn't atrophy. I know I'm rambling a little bit. No, you can. You can.

Speaker 1: 1:14:30

But I hope you know.

Speaker 4: 1:14:32

I just I think that you know it's always like you know, if it's, if this is something that you love, fight for it. You know, and, like you know, I saw something the other day where it was like would you still be making this shit if you, if no one, heard it? Yeah, you know, yeah, and I 100% would you know. I mean, like, I know that there's like a not a lot of people that listen to my music. I want everybody to hear my music but, you know, not everybody's gonna love it. Some people will, some people won't. But you know, as long as it's feeding you and feeding feeding you and you fuck with it and you love it.

Speaker 4: 1:15:09

That's all that fucking matters at the end of the day. You know people are going to come, People are going to find it. Yeah, Like me and my dad. Now you're making me get deep Like fuck man. No, so, I say this. I'll say this Me and my father every Christmas. I don't know what started the tradition of it. There's two movies that we would watch. One of them it's not a Christmas movie, it's called Field of Dreams. Okay, and it's a Kevin.

Speaker 4: 1:15:45

Costner movie Kevin Costner yeah, yeah, like he builds a baseball field, if you build it he will come. And there's a, you know, it's definitely one of those things that, like there's a monologue that James Earl Jones does at the for the end of the movie and he's talking about like people will come right, like he's about to have to sell the farm and shit like that. It's like this monologue where he's like, basically they almost like predicting the future and you know, telling him like, you know, like people will come right, people will most definitely be here, like and like just walking through it and like painting the picture. And I think about that in that moment of like, you know, it's like keep working on it and keep believing in it and something's going to happen. Something's going to happen. You know it might not be the way that you thought it was, but you know people will come, people will most definitely come. That's what I'll say.

Speaker 1: 1:16:44

What's the second movie y'all watch?

Speaker 4: 1:16:48

He loves this fucking movie and I hate it. The.

Speaker 3: 1:16:51

Lampoon's.

Speaker 4: 1:16:53

No, oh good, it's Jack Frost. Jack Frost With Michael Keaton, and it's it is. I cannot stand this movie. So basically, he's a, he's like a, he's like an artist and he's in a band that works once a year because they play Christmas music and he's doing a gig during Christmas and he gets in a car accident and dies. But he comes back to life miraculously through a snowman so that he could be a good father to his kid and it this movie. Just it's not a good movie, but my father loves it.

Speaker 4: 1:17:36

And I've had deep conversations with my father about this movie and I just like it. It's just nothing that intrigues me about this film and I cannot stand it at all. It's just not. It's just not good. But every year it's like those two movies it's Feel the Dreams and it's Jack Frost, jack Frost man, wow, man.

Speaker 1: 1:18:01

You'll remember the times when your dad liked corny movies. Yes, so sorry. So okay. King John L man, yes, what. What do you have coming up in 2023? Well, 2024, man, wow, 2024.

Speaker 2: 1:18:20

In 2024.

Speaker 1: 1:18:23

I know you were talking about some, some new releases for the L flips and stuff like that, but do you have anything like set so far, or everything is just fluid right now?

Speaker 4: 1:18:34

Yeah, everything's pretty fluid right now. You know, hopefully getting getting to do some more shows you know I've been. I was hopeful that I was going to be able to go down and do this show at Baltimore next week but things kind of fell through the cracks. But hopefully at some point this year I definitely will try to get down there for one of those shows, that's for sure. But definitely very, very fluid with in terms of like the live shows, but just kind of putting myself out there, going out and supporting people and trying to see if I can do some more things.

Speaker 4: 1:19:05

Projects wise I am, yeah, basically right now the goal is for tape seven to come out of March. Tape eight for ill flips definitely come out sometime this year. I definitely want to work on finalizing this, this next streaming project, to kind of do like a a sort of roll out for it. But it's but it's mostly just pretty fluid. Like I'm going to still continue to work on some music.

Speaker 4: 1:19:39

You know, record videos like, do a lot Like obviously like through my social media to see that it's a lot of stuff that I'll be like posting and editing and tweaking and stuff like that. So definitely going to be a lot of of just doing a lot more things on social media and showing that off and hopefully, some of these projects that will come to fruition this year and get them out there. There's like a lot of beats that I've been playing out of these shows that you know I've been getting really, really good responses and I'm like you know what I got to get these collected on the record and put them out there. So that's really really the plans at the moment. You know, I wish I had some more definitive things right now, but, but I would say at this point, as we're rolling in the second month of the year, you know I did, you know, a show for a friend of mine, Jaleel Shasta Jaleel, back at the top of January.

Speaker 4: 1:20:33

This show, that show at Williamsburg with Tom Yanks and you know there's such a. That was such an incredible night to be with so many awesome producers and it was incredible to be there. And hopefully, hopefully, more things kind of coming down the line and maybe they will and line themselves up, do some more shows, do some more traveling, you know, to get out of New York and do some more things. That'll also be a fun thing to do as well. So, definitely trying to get out to North Carolina. There's a lot of things like Lofi Lounge out in Raleigh, shasta LD Beats. You know a lot of those guys out there just tearing it down in North Carolina. So I definitely would love to get out there with them and chop it up, for sure when I go down there to see family. But yeah, very, very fluid at the moment. But I know this year's, you know you're going to hear a lot from me this year, that's for sure.

Speaker 1: 1:21:28

That's you. Yo, y'all heard King John L man, stay tuned, stay tapped into his socials. Man Like and whenever you do post man, I always repost anyway, so you might be. I think you're on Instagram. I know you're on Instagram, not sure if you're on Twitter or X rather, but I have a Twitter, but I rarely use it.

Speaker 4: 1:21:55

It's cooked, anyway, it's cooked anyway, it's like, basically I'm just like I scroll through, looking at like wrestling things like early because I'm big.

Speaker 4: 1:22:03

I'm big WWE, aew guys, so I'll just be like scroll through that. That's really it. That's all I use it for. But most of my stuff is through Instagram. At DJ King, john underscore ill. You'll find my stuff on band camp SoundCloud. Obviously, fark is on streaming services everywhere. If you want to check that out, youtube has a lot of some of my like flips and like videos and things like that. Youtube will also be able to see the set that I did for for donut lounge that I that I ended it and put together there. That's that's also something you can find me at. But I would say domino. You're finding most of my stuff through Instagram and in my link tree and all that type of stuff.

Speaker 1: 1:22:49

So yeah, you got, you got a dope. I think you put together a playlist on Apple music, right? Yeah, so, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:22:58

So I was actually working on one today Like I it's. I've got a few like themed ones that I'm trying to wrap up to, but I've been a little bit slacking on the it's that I usually would do like weekly ones called the middle radio, and I haven't done one in a while it's been a it's been a minute since I put out the last one, but there's a lot of like themed ones Like there's one that I'm really proud of is called Yop Funk and Dad Rock, where's a lot of Yop Rock with like a little mix of like other things that I think kind of like fit and shit like that, but like like a lot of like different like types of mixes and things like that that I put out there. So definitely, definitely follow me on on Apple music and Spotify to like Spotify has has my collected playlists and things like that too. I don't know if Apple music does. I think it's like a separate like profile you have to find me.

Speaker 3: 1:23:54

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:23:55

Like Spotify. That's the great thing about Spotify is like I can link all of those playlists to my actual page and it's like it's listed as artist playlist. But I don't know why Apple music doesn't really have that kind of feature. But you know, but you'll find. But you'll be able to find a lot of those, a lot of those playlists on there Just waiting in my, my link tree. I definitely link to those if you guys want to check out those playlists too. So for sure, that's like the one little, one little inkling of a foot I still have in the like the DJ world and things like that. So I got you.

Speaker 1: 1:24:28

I got you. So you know, king John Ilman, I want to say thank you for your time and before we, before we, before we go, is there one final thought you want to pass along to all my you know, my mutants man, my beat makers, my music producers and composers.

Speaker 4: 1:24:49

That's, that's. That's a. That's another deep one.

Speaker 1: 1:24:53

Last last, last thing.

Speaker 4: 1:24:59

Keep building, keep creating. You know, this is like like I was a fan first before any of this shit and you know it's all done with love, like as long as you got that loving your heart for this shit. Like, continue, keep building, keep pushing, keep working, keep making things. You know, keep like jaw dropping the world. Like you know, like I keep. You know it's so many people that just like floor me and just shock me with some of the things that I hear and I'm just like man, like music is gonna be in a good place, it's gonna be in a great spot, like you know, just keep creating, keep creating. That's all I can tell you.

Speaker 2: 1:26:15

I'm a cool fast, so just tell know how I made it. I'm gonna throw it back now. I don't need to brag, now I need to put the mask down. Man, see the fans now they find us, find us, find us. We can Go and be a guest. Go and keep watching me. We'll fall. Still be real man. Dance with the dogs in the night time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm feeling I don't gotta dance. You can crawl when you want. You can crawl every week. All my dogs have no harm, we gon' harm. When you free, watch me, we'll fall. Still be real man. Dance with the dogs in the night time. Yeah, yeah, yeah In the kitchen rest. Twist like it's girlfriend With it in the kitchen rest. Twist like it's girlfriend With it in the kitchen rest. Twist like it's girlfriend With it in the kitchen rest. Twist like it's girlfriend.

Speaker 2: 1:27:49

Move, hold them bands down. Let it hold your bands down. Who told you come around? Who told you to try to find a job? Sign a code so fast. Show, show, try, show, how, how, how, how, how, how, how, how, how, how, how, how, how, how to draw the bag now. You don't need to brag, now I need to put the mask down, man. See the fans now. They find us. Find us. Find us, we can Go. We can go, keep watching me when balls still be real. They find us, we'll dance in the night time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, in the kitchen rest. Twist it like it's girlfriend With it in the kitchen rest. Twist like it's girlfriend With it in the kitchen rest. Twist like it's girlfriend With it in the kitchen rest. Twist it like it's girlfriend.

Speaker 3: 1:29:07

The block like it's aerubics. She fighting by my diamonds how I'm shining Stanley Kubrick Trip. Like Alex Mack, I spent them racks and turned to fluid Park is looking. Now she's blowing money like it's mucus. Told my nigga, get in losing, let's go shooting. Like it's clueless Money. It's all like I and John need a hanger for these racks. The beef is crotch time. Turn the niggas to a pack Backing white diamonds. Man, my wrist should be on black, all my bracelets and watches on my arms. I look like Jax Came up in the land of me and mama had the struggle.

Speaker 3: 1:29:35

Nerdy nigga. But I'm fucking just a zone six McLovin'. I was down on Custa watchin' Martin while she suckin' get the wildin' out with cannons. Bitch we drummin' choppin' Spirtle. Yeah, they bustin'. Yeah, fuck around and find out. Fuck around and find out. Fuck around and find out. Fuck around and find out. Fuck around and find out. Fuck around and find out. Fuck around and find out. Fuck around and find out.

Speaker 3: 1:29:55

Fuck around and back up on my bull shit and beans. Got me geekin' throwin' money on these strippers like they chickens gettin' seasons. I got bitches across the universe. I'm pippin' like I'm Steven. Hit me with them giggles almost made me have a seizure. Shake a run up if you want them, chop up what I'm holding. Shots, finna, stop you while you talkin' like a college Face off with the gang. Now your faces saw some clothing hollows. Had that nigga, foggin' Drake will turn up to a model hit and poses. Yeah, I can't never stop, bitch. I can't quit all my niggas from the gutter. Bitch we with the shit. I been out the pockets since a motherfuckin' dick raised my hand up in the class and told the teachers suck my dick, fuck around and find out. Fuck around and find out, fuck around and find. Fuck around and find out.