This is my FIRST blog ever so please forgive me for not knowing all the cool html and other blog type stuff you blog guru’s may know. I’m not going to dwell on my lack of blog “know how” instead I am going to get straight to the point.

I’ve always have been an emcee. Since my early teens I have been neck deep in the world of Hip-Hop music from free-styling to battling to songwriting. I never tried to sound like anybody instead I always strive to create my OWN style. Sure I may have taken bits and pieces from my favorite artist and put my spin on it but in the end what you get is just that….me.

I went to college for Audio and was immersed in so many different types of music my senses hit overload. I loved it and my teachers emphasized the need to study the greats but create your own identity as an artist/producer/engineer. It was a sense of pride in creating your own fingerprint on music as an artist. I took that with me when I graduated and as a member of my band.

But being unique is hard ESPECIALLY when you are first….

Point and case….

My band iLLPHONiCS

We are a different type of Hip-Hop band. We blend sounds many other groups don’t or won’t and our content is different from other Hip-Hop bands. We get told from the Hip-Hop side we aren’t ”True Hip Hop” and I’m not a “True Emcee” and we get from many promoters and Bookers “we don’t know how to classify you so we don’t know how to fit you on a ticket/bill.” Managers are scared to represent us because they don’t know how to market us and listeners don’t know what to make of us. We are a diverse band with members from different socioeconomic backgrounds, religions, and beliefs. We also have two white members and three black members. Regardless of our differences we are family and we have one common goal: Making the best, most unique, music…PERIOD. The one thing almost everybody who has heard or seen us live agrees on is we have our OWN sound. 

You would think that this would have elevated us to a level of recognition and notoriety but it hasn’t…YET. So if you are reading this and you are unique and doing something different stay strong and know that you’re not alone. You are paving a path for others and even if your work goes unnoticed now one day folks will wake up. Even if they don’t at least you can take pride in being original.

I truly believe that in my heart…

-Fall