| Roman philosopher Seneca once said, “luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” One cannot prepare nor properly await opportunity without a heavy dose of patience. Fortunately patience is something that The ILLZ has learned to build and use properly. Making Hip-Hop music that blends so many different genres and focuses mainly on evoking human emotion it’s no wonder why having patience is so crucial to his success. Having released his first project on June 29, 2009 entitled “This is…The W.C.A. Sessions EP” ILLZ has seen what having patience has accomplished him. Fast forward to the summer of 2010 and due to his online marketing and viral response, amongst other things The ILLZ has witnessed his movement grow immeasurably in only one year. That one year saw ILLZ building an artistic and fanatic foundation as well as developing and finding his very own sound. December 15, 2009 brought us his very first full-length project entitled The Pursuit LP, which was presented by online heavyweights 2DopeBoyz.com and DJBooth.net. Receiving several thousands of downloads within its first few hours this is what let The ILLZ and many others know that Hip-Hop was ready. However in order to know where we’re going we must know where we came from. The ILLZ was born Delgis Jose Mustafa Rodriguez on July 6, 1986 in the town of Jarabacoa (La Vega Province), Dominican Republic. His parents Jose Mustafa and Katia Rodriguez split up when ILLZ was still very young and eventually his mother came to the United States seeking a better life. After working tirelessly Katia was finally able to attain the proper paperwork to bring her son to the United States, he was only 4 years old. Growing up in Hudson County, NJ ILLZ would slowly develop his love and skill for Hip-Hop. Artists like Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Mobb Deep, & AZ would serve as his earliest inspirations. What first started as a game of rhyming certain words together with friends as they walked home from school would end up turning into his life’s passion. His first encounter with actual “rapping” was due to his best friend at the time. They would record 18 second long songs on Windows Sound Recorder over Hip-Hop beats that they would download on Napster. ILLZ was only 11-12 then, however he knew this was more than just a way to kill time. His love for music was slowly taking concrete form. Fast forward to June of 2005. ILLZ is 17 and has a life changing choice in front of him. He would either move to Miami, FL with his parents or stay behind living alone in a one bedroom apartment. He had grown up all of his life only minutes away from New York City, a Mecca for all things music related. Without much thought he decided to stay behind alone and for the first year he worked and attended NJCU majoring in Video Production. Film was a love that was slowly building inside of him identical to the way music once did, so he happily attended school until he could no longer afford it. 2005 was a difficult year for The ILLZ. In August he would lose his father due to a tragic automobile accident in the Dominican Republic and in November he would lose fellow emcee and longtime friend D-Mobb to a fatal shooting. Musically the years that were ahead of him would be barren. ILLZ had grown tired of the Hip-Hop music he had once loved so dearly. He was tired of his sound and decided to step back from it. He needed something new, something that would inspire him. No longer did the essential, golden age Hip-Hop that he was making quench his artistic thirst. “I was just searching for new music on iTunes and then I came across it.” Smashing Pumpkins: Greatest Hits. Music had always been the main focus of his life, and now in the spring of 2009 ILLZ almost felt as if he had to move on from it. Still searching for something new, refreshing, and unexplored by himself he decided to download this particular project. What happened next was pivotal in respect to ILLZ’ music career. He fell in love with music again. He began buying albums from The Killers, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers and from then came on the early experimentation with Progressive rock instrumentals. That was the sound behind his first project, “This is…” That project earned him his very first placements on premier blogs all over the internet. After releasing that project he began exploring with Trip-Hop, Ambient, Chillout and Dubstep music. What we have now is the perfectly woven sound that is The ILLZ. Letters and words of encouragement and support from fans pour in daily and it seems as if ILLZ’ patience has finally paid off. Songs like “Heaven (Higher)”, “In Between Us” and “Faded/Los Angeles (existen)” have connected with people like ILLZ could have never imagined. August 24, 2010 saw the release of ILLZ’ groundbreaking project entitled In Between Video Series. Teaming up with film directors Kristopher Rey-Talley and Hot Mop Films the project built an immense amount of buzz and momentum for ILLZ’ music. The project, a first of its own, is a “Video Mixtape” that saw a release of a new video and song consistently for 5 weeks. Presented by online giants OnSmash.com, YouHeardThatNew.com and 2DopeBoyz.com the project earned ILLZ over 100,000 views on his videos and posts on sites like TheFader.com and Missinfo.com to name a few. For the first time ever ILLZ can earnestly say he is prepared and opportunities seem to be coming more often than ever with many more taking shape in the near distance. “Luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.” If that statement holds true then I guess ILLZ is the luckiest rapper we will all know. | |
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