King John-ILL

“Be a homie & let us know what you think”

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

Support the show

Edited, Mixed and Mastered by Gldnmnd

Podcast Website Link: The Rec Show Podcast

Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel: Press Here

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
What does that sound, you ass?

Speaker 3 (00:11):
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 (01:17):
Request of blue at your speed.
Request of blue.
Request of blue.
Request of blue.

(01:50):
Request of blue.
Request of blue.
Request of blue.
Request of blue.

(02:15):
Request of blue.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Alright, check, check one, two.
I'm in the garage.
Check, check one.
Two.
Peace of love.
Everybody.
Go to mine here for the RecShow podcast.
Thank you all for tapping in,man.
Thank you all for supportingthe podcast.
Man, listen, we in season four.
This is episode number one.

(03:04):
This would be one 19, I believe, but we started the season four
off with K Love aka the Go.
We interviewed him a coupleweeks ago and then, when you're
hearing this, you'll probablyhear the episode I did with

(03:28):
Jetlag Trab from I Love Supreme,california.
This would be the third onethat we got a special guest man.
So if y'all like what we'redoing, you know subscribe to it
wherever you get your podcast onYouTube, youtube, music, all At
Spotify.
I know y'all know where to findus on the link tree, but anyway
, let's get into today, man.
So my guest today, man.
I'm a new fan of man.

(03:48):
I've seen his you know his, hisflip videos on Instagram and I
was like yo, this guy, he, youknow he got something, man.
So, you know, I just startedjust following them and just
started looking at his videos.
And you know his, his donutdonut lounge videos and live

(04:09):
beat sets and stuff like that,and I'm like yo, man, like I
gotta, I gotta, I gotta have himon his show.
So he gracious, he said yes, sothat's gonna be our guest today
.
Man, he's a beat maker man.
I think he might be an audioengineer as well.
Man, I think he might be avideographer.
What else man?
He's a cartoon lover man.

(04:30):
I think he might be an 80s baby, I'm not sure, maybe a 90s baby
90s baby.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
I ain't that old.
Come on now.
90s baby.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
All right, so but yo man, his flip game, his beats,
incredible, insane man.
So, ladies and gentlemen, Iwant you all to welcome the one
and only King, king John Il manI almost said the other name
from the other country, but notKing John Il Welcome to the show

(05:01):
.

Speaker 4 (05:01):
We'll get into it, we'll talk about it.
Yeah, man so what's good man.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Welcome to the show man.
How you doing, man, I'm goodman, I'm doing all right.

Speaker 4 (05:10):
It's a three day weekend for me.
It's been a.
It was a snowy day here in NewYork, so it kind of got a little
bit nicer for the afternoon, sobut I'm doing good, I'm hanging
in there, we're chilling outhere, it's good.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Hey, that's what matters, man.
I'm glad you're here, man, gladyou made it safe and sound.
Man, everybody that's listeningto this, make sure y'all
listening to this safely.
You know what I mean Driving,you know driving, flying, you
know all skateboarding, catchingthe train bus, whatever it is
doing, safely, man.
But yeah, man.
So welcome to the show.

(05:46):
My first question, man.
I gotta ask you, man, king JohnIl man, how did you come up
with that name?
Man?

Speaker 4 (05:54):
Well, I can't say credit for it.
So when I first was startingout, I didn't really have an
idea of a name and I think I wasgoing as like.
So I started as a DJ and I wasDJing as I think I was like DJ
Big Red and I was like that'skind of whack.

(06:16):
And then I think the other nameI had was I extended it it was
like DJ Big Red Bala.
All the sounds like oh gosh.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
So you was going through it, you was going
through the DJ.

Speaker 4 (06:26):
I was just like this is just awful.
And then so in my sophomoreyear of college, one of my
friends he was going to hang outwith a friend of ours and his
name is Kevin Black, and hebasically went and smoked and

(06:46):
drank with a friend of ours andhe comes back and I'm just
talking to him.
I was like, hi, how's yournight?
Whatever, whatever.
And one of our friends, hestarts talking about how, yeah,
his name is Alex Trophy, but wecall him Trophy.
And he says, yeah, trophy knowsa lot about North and South
Korean relations.

(07:07):
And I was not really thinkingof what I was saying.
Next I was like which one ofthose is the King John Il guy?
And he was like you mean KimJong-il?
And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah,that.
And then he had the highepiphany of that should be your

(07:27):
DJ name.
That shit.
So the way that I explain it,it's a tough explain.
It's start, but to kind ofexplain it, I use King, as
obviously I've heard artists useit, like Ken Kendrick and stuff
like that, john being my actualmain, and then Il, because I'm

(07:49):
Il with the beats, but also Ilis the last three letters of my
last name, which is Meryl.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
So oh wow, wow, man Crazy story, man hey great
epiphany man.

Speaker 4 (08:01):
Yeah, all the credit to Kevin Black.
Shout out to Kevin.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
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, fromwhat I can find out, so far, man

(08:26):
, you've been putting out musicfor maybe seven years, maybe
more so, unless I'm off on that.
But how does you even get intowanting to create music?

Speaker 4 (08:41):
Well, I mean, I started originally as a DJ
because I had I mean, I'vealways been like enamored with
producing music and things likethat and wanted to get into
doing it.
Like, originally it was morelike a hobby for me.
Like I went to acting schooland basically it was like the

(09:03):
kind of thing to kind of get meaway from the acting stuff when
you're kind of just like you'replaying a character and kind of
doing all these things anddropping into a character and
getting out of it and all that.
It was kind of just like a kindof therapy thing for me.
And but mostly I was just DJand it wasn't until I graduated

(09:29):
and that's when I started to putout like actual music and it
was awful.
Those projects are not onlineanymore, so if anyone has it,
you have a grail, but there'ssome there is to put it, I shit
on it.
But also, like there is somegood things on there, like
there's some dope samples andthings like that.

(09:49):
But it was at a time when, likeI just didn't really know what
I was doing and like the waythat I was making music I didn't
know what a doll was.
Like I was literally makingmusic through Serato oh, wow,
okay, like literally they had arecord button, wow, and what I
would do is I'd take, like Ifind a sample, I'd have.

(10:14):
I had this like Newmark MixedTrack 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 thingsare like technologies changed,
but like it had three cues on itso I could chop and then I
would take a sample, chop it upthe way that I needed to.
I find like a drum loop I'dlayer and then like basically

(10:51):
loop the chop that I have andthen layer a drum loop on it and
get it to match.
If there's like any bass linesand stuff, try to find some sort
of bass line to put intosomething other, like vocals and
other samples, maybe I'd dosome cuts on it.
But it took hours, Like it tookforever.
Yeah For one, yeah it took metwo, three hours to make one.

(11:14):
And I'm like yikes, Like like Ineeded, I need to actually like
focus on this.
But it wasn't until I moved toNew York that kind of everything
shifted, like everythingchanged, and I was like, oh,
like I should focus on this andlike actually work on that.
And actually, you know, that'swhen I, you know, started to

(11:34):
figure out what a doll was andknow how to work in a doll or
you know, like working withother, like drum machines and
things like that that's.
You know, that's kind of theorigin.
I don't know if I veered awayfrom the question a little bit,
but like that's kind of wherethings began.
Like it began as just like I wasDJ, because I had heard, like I

(11:56):
think I'd listed like one EPStheme like years ago, and I
heard like Saifah Sound saysomething along the lines of
like if you want to be a goodproducer, you need to be a good
DJ, and I was like, ok, so likeI guess I need to buy DJ
equipment and get to know this,which I mean it's helpful.
There are certain things thatare really really helpful for
that, that that I am verygrateful to have gotten into

(12:19):
that and I can still do it andpick it up, Like I still have a
controller over here.
I have like a nice pioneer, thenew JSX2, that is still kicking
around and still works, butyeah, like that's basically the
kind of way that I kind ofveered into it.
It just was like therapy.
And then, like once I moved toNew York, it just felt like, oh,

(12:41):
like let me focus on this andactually 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 throughthis transition of you know,
like you're in your, you knowyour day, you're, you're being
an actor, you're trying tobecome actor, you're going to
acting classes, but then you'relearning about music production,
like who are you around?
That was kind of like helpingyou to where you know where you

(13:08):
are right now.

Speaker 4 (13:09):
I mean there there wasn't really anybody that that
was.
I was around, like I was aroundmy friends, like, like you know
, I mentioned Kevin.
Like Kevin was, you know, he'sa hip hop head and was really
into music and stuff like thatand that was somebody that I
could like kind of show ideasand things like that too.
And but honestly, it was justlike a lot of trial and error,

(13:32):
like like again, like doingthings through Serato, like
that's like the complete wrongway of doing it, like like I had
to like kind of morph myselfinto like trying to find more
information.
Like YouTube was one of those,one of those outlets, you know,
I remember at a time like therewas a guy that kind of showed me

(13:55):
this is like the first firsttime I was introduced to an SP
and it was like it was back whenI 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 ofshowed me like his setup and
things like that.
And I saw, I guess he for thefirst time and just like to me

(14:16):
at that moment it looked like oh, this is like a arithmetic,
like I don't know what this isand 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 sxand like the mark two and things
like that that I utilize a lot.
But I mean, basically it was alot of just like you know me

(14:38):
finding, you know finding it formyself, and doing a lot of this
like kind of alone in a way andand 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 connectedwith like more producers and
things like that, likeespecially like in the in the

(14:58):
collective of people that arehere in New York, like that's
that's been also very helpful tolearn from, from them, you know
, and like seeing certain thingsand like you know, not not
necessarily it makes it soundlike it's like binding ideas and
stuff, but like it's acollective of people that like
want to see the information theinformation you know and like

(15:21):
it's, it's, it's not, like itdoesn't feel like gatekeeper
shit, like you know which I feellike that's something that in
music is so riddled all over.
Yeah, but yeah, that I would say, like to start it really was
just mean, like it was just likeI'm trying to figure this out.
And that's that's where likeill flips came from, was,

(15:44):
because not working with manyartists and things like that,
Like I could take theseacapellas and try to see, like
okay, like it could give me agauge of like okay, is this
going to work if an artist wantsto use it Like can, can a
rapper rap on it?
Can a singer sing on it?
Like that was something thatthat birthed out of that time

(16:07):
within myself.
And you know, and now it's,it's things that you know, I
have a catalog of things that Iend up playing and still making.
And you know, now it's it asI've kind of like dug into kind
of the collective of producershere in New York, also like
other places to like you know,shots, to like there's a few

(16:28):
producers that I've met throughthat have come up to here.
Like there's some people up inCanada that are really dope One
of my, one of my favoriteproducers, magnus Andretti, who
you should get on this show.
He is from Baltimore.
Bro is like my favoriteproducer, like he's a monster

(16:48):
Okay.
But but yeah, it's, it's.
It's ultimately just.
You know it was.
It started as that and now it'slike I've started to kind of
work with more artists and workwith more producers and and try
to get my my stuff out there andbe heard.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Gotcha yeah, trial and error.
Man Like that's how I like, yeah, that's how we all started.
So.
So you know, we had some booboo tapes out there, you know.
But eventually you get to alevel where you like, all right,
y'all, I'm cooking now I'mcooking some good stuff, Boom, I
can let other people hear itand vibe with it and perform
with it, and stuff like that.

(17:26):
I want to take you back realquick Because I want people to
kind of like just get a gauge onwhere you came from to where
you are right now.
So like when you were growingup in the house you know you
being around, whether you havebrothers and sisters, cousins,
aunts, uncles, grandparents,whatever who was playing the

(17:50):
music in the house?
And then what types of musicwere you listening to?
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 NewYork, in Albany area, and I
lived there for like the first13 years of my life and and I
mean ultimately, musically, itall came from my mother.
She listens to like everything,like it would be like Sting,

(18:23):
the police and then Anita Baker,and then it would be like she'd
be listening to like you twoand Luther Vandross or you know,
it's just was like such a crazyarray of music that she would
listen to where my father wasn't.
The same Like.

(18:46):
The way that my father listensto music is that it's kind of
just like in the background.
I know there's things that helikes, but it's.
If you asked him the questionof what's your favorite album of
all time, couldn't give me oh,what's your favorite artist?
Oh, no, I couldn't give himLike, oh, what's your favorite
Like?
Do you don't have like a like afavorite song?
It's not like, no, like there'scertain things that I like.

(19:09):
I know that he likes that, Iknow he fucks with, but like
it's.
He was never that like.
The musical resource wasn'tcoming from him, it was coming
from my mother, ultimately, overeverything.
And when I was younger it wasvery much a thing where with me.

(19:30):
So my sister is a year olderthan me and as a kid it was very
much like of a follower kind ofmentality that I had as a kid
because I was like trying tofind friends and was like, oh,
if I like in sync or backstreetboys, they'll fucking love me,
right, like they don't like meor whatever.
And then like something kind ofhit me around, like maybe the

(19:56):
fourth or fifth grade, and I waslike I don't really love, like
love this music.
I don't.
I say that like look, I DJ for awhile to play a lot of their
music and stuff like that.
Of course I listen to musicagain.
I have no, no, no, love loss.
Like I'll play back to you boyssong right now.
It's fine, right.
And it wasn't until then thatlike I started searching and

(20:19):
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 electriclike radio that was like had
like these like fake wood panelsand shit on it.
And it was like and I rememberjust kind of it was.

(20:41):
I think it was 96.3 was thestation in Albany and it was.
It was hip hop station.
I think the first thing I heardon the station was ludicrous.
It was the first thing I heardand obviously I had heard
through terrestrial top 40 radiohip hop records in the 90s.
I'm born in 1992.

(21:05):
I'm not an 80s baby, yeah, Igot 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 hoprecords that trickled into top
40.
Not a lot though, but it waslike, if I, if it was, it was
obvious that okay, Biggie andPock are going to play on radio,
because obviously the spectacleof that time, so that stuff

(21:35):
trickled into the top 40 radio.
I think, like Coolio, you knowGod rest the dead.
He was, you know, also anotherperson that I would hear a lot
through through radios like that.
But it wasn't until like aroundthat time that it hit me.
But even earlier than thatthere was, it hit me like when

(21:56):
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 OGSpace 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 untillike years later I was like, wow
, this kind of shaped me alittle bit of like where my
music is Like like this wasJay-Z, before Reasonable Doubt.
He wrote the.
He wrote the Bugs Bunny buggingsong on here.

(22:32):
He Ghost wrote it.
He told my people don't ask forWow.
Uh, you know, obviously, likethe B real Buster, ives Coolio,
l Cool J, method man hit himhigh record.
That posse cut with the nuts.
But like D'Angelo had a recordon here, I found my smile again
and he's my easily my favoriteartist of all time.
He's like the goat to me andthen obviously redacted, we

(22:56):
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 thatthat's that kind of brought me
into it first, like that recordwas such a moment where I was
like, oh okay, like, but itdidn't hit until probably years

(23:23):
later.
Oh okay, now this is, this issomething that I'm into and I
like it and I fuck with that.
That has me intrigued and hasme 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 likeso 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 beanything close to the original
Right.
Like you know, obviously, withtechnology and all the media

(24:05):
rights and all this shit, thatthey got all this character in
there and all that, I'm likeokay, cool, like whatever.
But it was an enjoyable watch.
Ultimately, I would say the newone.

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 alot, I think a lot of people, a
lot of you know, a lot of myguests, feel like D'Angelo is
like top notch man amongst youknow some of the, some of the

(24:37):
normal names that they name islike you know, like a RZA J
Dilla, you know like you knowany of one of them is a
prominent beat makers and stufflike that.
But D'Angelo, what is it aboutD'Angelo?
That's like got you, he's, he'sjust 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 likethat.
There's definitely a list there.
But you know, I just fell inlove with his music, especially
like when I hit high school andwhen I heard like Brown sugar

(25:19):
for the first time and justhearing how, like like that
record is interesting becauseit'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 eraof like the jingy era and you
know that was something that was.
You know it was kind of like anoutlier type of record and you

(25:42):
could hear like kind of where hewas 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 sugarmore when I was in high school,
but it wasn't until I got tocollege that voodoo like hit for
me on another level, like Ithink I got it.

(26:04):
I think it might have been likeone of another, one of those
like high epiphany type thingswhere, like, I was sitting with
a buddy of mine His name is MattPhillips, he's an artist in
North Carolina.
To kind of to kind of like toshow my trajectory Like, yeah, I
lived in New York for first 13years of my life, moved to North
Carolina when I was in aboutthe eighth grade, did my high

(26:28):
school in college years in NorthCarolina in the Greensboro area
and then moved up to New Yorklike a few months after I
graduated.
But I remember like one nightwe like sat in my room we had
smoked, we went to cook out.
If you ever go to NorthCarolina in the South, cook out
is the shit.
Get a $5 tray.

(26:50):
I went down recently.
It's more expensive now, whichis stupid.
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 wasjust like, just like
Questlove's drumming and likePino Paladino's, just like bass

(27:15):
lines, charlie and Hunter, youknow, d'angelo just being such a
like, just kind of like the waythat that record was made,
especially where it's like, oh,I'm taking like they're playing,
like you know, earth, wind andFire records, or you know Jimi
Hendrix records or gang star andstuff like that, and they were

(27:36):
track and they were buildingsongs off of, just like covering
people, and I thought that wassuch a wild thing.
And you know, obviously, youknow Dilla had a huge influence
on that.
He was, you know, probably thebiggest influence on that record
, you know, to like, especiallyfrom, like the drag and like all

(28:00):
that type of stuff.
Like it just was such a that inthat moment, listening to the
album at that point was justlike a crazy experience and I
can just was like, wow, this isjust like there's.
There is nothing wrong withthis record at all and I still
listen to it to this day andwe'll find new things, like I'll

(28:21):
hear certain things and heardifferent sounds of like that I
never noticed before and incertain ways, that they kind of
like arranged those songs andit's just fascinating and I
don't have that really with anyother album Like that.
That is the one album that Iwill always go back to and I'll
be like like, oh, wow, like I'venever noticed this, this type

(28:44):
of thing.
I do this.
Other records too, like what'sthe song?
When we get by, yeah, when weget by, on Brown Sugar, the bass
line is One Nation Under aGroove and I never, and I didn't
realize it until a few yearsago, and I was listening to it
and just hear the and I'm like,wow, that's fucking nuts.

(29:15):
Wow, dude, is I mean likehonestly, like he, he's so, like
it's just like the mystery ofhim and like all this stuff.
I saw him in concert years agoin Atlanta when Black Messiah
came out and it just happened toabsolutely floored, like, like
I allowed myself.
I cried afterwards because Iwas like I was just so blown

(29:39):
away by it.
And just to see him like yearslater, just like coming out and
doing these songs and you know Idon't give a shit about the
whole like oh, he got sad.
And like he's not like the total.
I'm like I don't give a shitabout that, I care about the
music, right, but but he like itjust was I could talk about him

(30:00):
.
This is how long is this?
Do we just want to talk aboutthe 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 ona lot of us Like and and the
crazy, the great thing aboutmusic is there's somebody that's
brand new, that's going to pickit up.
Let's play today and become anew fan today and then follow
for and go back into thisgeography and start listening to

(30:29):
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 usbeat makers.
You know we want to sell beatsand we want to sell, you know,
cds and albums and stuff likethat.
But hey, one person gettingyour joint and then another.
You know what I mean.
It's just a stacking man.

(30:49):
That's how it happens, man.
So like the same thing for theangel man like we all.
You know my mom was playingD'Angelo and then I came up on
D'Angelo, so I'm like I havenever seen him live.
So I can imagine like I'll be alittle 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 pointin like 13, 14 years, it just
was like jaw dropping and justto see him having fun.
You know, like the band that heput together is like
unbelievable, like he had hadPino Paladino and you know,

(31:31):
chris Daddy Day he's on drumsand like all that Like.
I can't remember her name rightnow, but she wrote a lot of the
songs on Black Messiah with him.
Ah, she was like a backup singerfor like Parliament Fugadelic
for a while, but she was alwaysfantastic during the show and it

(31:52):
was just was like two hours ofhim just like jamming, like
doing these like elongated, likejams of these songs that we
know, like like him doing like a15 minute version of like left
and right and it's just likewhat, like it's so nuts, and
like, like even the end of theshow where he does on title

(32:13):
which I think that when hestarted touring again like he
was kind of fighting it yeah, hedidn't really want to perform
it, he did it in a way that Ithought was so, was so beautiful
, where it's just him on theroads and then everybody's
playing their parts and thingslike that, and then it was like

(32:36):
literally a 10, 15 minuterendition of it and like
everyone has their own part andthen they just start like
leaving the stage.
So each person started walkingoff, so like the backup singers
walked off, and then the andthen Pino walked off and and
then, like you know, it's justlike everybody just kind of goes
away and like until it's justD'Angelo on the stage and he's

(33:01):
just playing acoustically ontitle, has a feel, and it's just
like and he's trying to get thecrowd into it and like all this
stuff, and it just was likeliterally I'm just sitting there
like wow, wow, wow.
Nuts man, I hope, I hope, tothe graces of God, that he puts

(33:24):
out a record again soon.
I know he just put out a singlethat was with with Jay-Z
recently, but you know, I hopethat there's something coming.
I know there is.
I know there's something there,but it's just a matter of when.
When the tour happens, throw allof your money at it, because it
is worth it.

(33:44):
It is so worth it.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
What's that?
What's that that Atlantaepisode where it was like he's
so like you can't find himanywhere?

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 amD'Angelo.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
Yeah, yeah, man, but he's like yo, he's a goat man.
So shout out to D'Angelo Everymisses 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 fromhere.
Like I could, I could shootdown 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 aboutsome of your you know your
beatmaker, music producer,composer, inspirations, man,
like who, who would be on thatlist?
And they can be, you know, youknow older beatmakers.
It could be current beatmakersin 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 wasthinking about it.
I mean I know he's redacted atthis point too, but uh, but
Kanye was such a huge influenceon on me in terms of like

(35:05):
sampling and things like that,because around high school that
was when I started to get moredeeper into it.
Like around that time it waslike when I was living in North
Carolina it was around the timewhen, like the Gucci's and the
Waka's and the and the soldierboys and all of them were like
really big and I like nodisrespect, I love their music

(35:28):
and stuff like that.
But at that time I wanted tofind something different and you
know, it was at a point where,like, I would always hear and I
went back to like do my homeworkand like listen like 90s hip
hop music and then, like hearingall these songs, I'm like well,
where do these come from?
And like understanding samplingand finding where many samples
come from and all this stuffLike uh, that was kind of what

(35:52):
brought me to it and Kanye wasdefinitely one of those because
he was it was a guy who, youknow, heavily sampled and
sampled a lot of really off thewall type of things that I just
was like really interested in.
And that's when, like you know,I think, like obviously I look
like I love DJ Premier and Ilove P Rock.
You know Vila was also somebodywho was huge like for me and

(36:19):
definitely is something that youknow, you know it.
It everybody tries to emulatehim but they never will.
Yeah, it's only one there's onlyone and I you know I I'd be
lying if I said I didn't try toemulate him in my music.
You know it's, it's somethingthat like he's just always going
to be there and you know,obviously I found him at the

(36:42):
time when, you know,unfortunately after he had
passed, but but it just was some.
His music was so interesting anddonuts was such a an
interesting album to me when,when that had come out and and
just kind of listening to it andyears later with you know, kind
of digging deeper into it, oflike where a lot of it was like

(37:04):
you know his last kind of willand testament and kind of like a
you know his last words, almostyou know, yeah, but Dilla is
definitely one of thoseknowledge is somebody that
definitely inspired me a lot,especially during a pandemic.
That was like his music wassomething that really was

(37:24):
inspiring at that point, likeI've known his music before that
, but definitely like duringpandemic, I dug into his catalog
a lot more and Deffo was aninspiration.
Rza, rza too, like he, likehe's fucking nuts, like he's
always like one of the goats andsomeone that I like man, like I

(37:48):
wish I could make an album asgood 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 PeteRock, rza, you know Kanye
Jadilla, knowledge, those were,those are the guys, those were

(38:19):
the people that were like, oh,they kind of inform my music for
when I'm making beats andthings like that.
And you know, obviously, likeyou know, I'd have like favorite
artists and things likeD'Angelo and stuff like that,
but that also are veryinspirational.
But yeah, like I, just those,those are, I would say that's

(38:42):
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.
Yeah, I catch man.
Man, you can't go wrong withthat list.
First of all because all ofthem influence and they still.
You know, even J Dilla man hewas.
I don't, I hate, I don't liketo say rest in peace, because,

(39:08):
let's keep it honest, man, his,he's still living, like his
music still lives, like hisimage, still lives, like he's
still going around this worldright now, like you know.
So it's just, you know, maybehis physical form is not here,
but still he's still living man.
So everybody knows his Dillamonth.
So shout out to everybodyputting out them Dilla mixes and

(39:29):
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 therebecause 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 bookthat came out.
I met him like a like a yearago and like got to tell him
like dude, that book wasabsolutely fantastic and like
something I've been waiting onsomeone to do, like a deep dive
into his, his life, and and hewent even farther than you know.

(40:33):
Stuff about Dilla like wentdown to breaking down like his,
just like his timing and, likeyou know, like going back into
like just like early history oflike Detroit and shit like that.
Like it was like really such awild ride of a book.
I definitely need to read itagain.
But yeah, but it's fantasticbook.

(40:54):
If people have not read it, youshould.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
Yeah, Got to recommend that one man Dilla
time.
I think that's the the life andmusic 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, thelights and afterlife of J Dilla,
the hip hop producer whoreinvented rhythm.

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Yeah, yeah, that's the bill.
I'm not that.
I'm a link in the descriptionto show everybody, so y'all can
just go ahead and tap into thatman.
Um, but man, let's, let's keepit moving.
Man, let's, let's talk aboutyour 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 formusic and I'm not sure if you

(41:49):
YouTube dig, I'm not sure if youactually go to the vine I think
I heard you.
I see you mentioned a onerecords and some other record
stores in the New York area.
What is that process like foryou 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 knowbecause it's just such a kind of
easier accessible kind of thingto kind of dig through the
crates and find like differentchannels and things like that,
just because also, like justvinyl is it's just very

(42:27):
expensive right now, yeah, sothat's also kind of difficult.
But you know, there's a lot ofgreat spots in in New York that
like like a one superiorelevation, blue sun, you know,
trying to come.
There's another one that I'mfreaking out time ahead that I

(42:49):
really really love Human head.
I think that they're still.
They're still operate.
I think they moved at a spotthat they were, they were in.
They are also really dope andhave like a lot of like like
Brazilian and like moreinternational 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 oflike reading through some notes

(43:12):
and seeing who plays on whatand if it just kind of looks
cool like it like sometimes Ijust take a shot in the dark.
Sometimes I'll sift through thelike the dollar bins.
They fuck up your needleprobably because of how bad they
are.
But, like you know, I'll gothrough that.

(43:33):
I'd say, like another, anotherperson who really was in that
one of the things that I alwaysdo when I go to a record store
and it's it's every single timeI go is the first thing I do is
I go to the jazz section and seeif there's any a Majumal
records.

(43:53):
He is somebody who, when I wasgoing through and doing my
homework and like kind of likelearning about, ok, where are
these samples and shit comingfrom?
Because, like, the two songsthat were like big for me was
Stakes is High Day, last Souland World is Yours, nas and Pee
Rock, and they're all in both ofthem sample Majumal records and

(44:19):
they are like it's.
And when I heard them like theactual source for the first time
, it just was like blowing away.
And then every single time I goto a record store I'd like go
to that section, see like dothey add something that I don't
have, something that I don'thave?
And like I have like a wholededicated, like cubby of records

(44:42):
here.
That's just his records andthat's it.
But like that's, that's the onething when I go in the record
store, but like everything elseis just like it's, just like I
could be there for like an hourjust like kind of sifting
through things.
There might be some, somethings that are like tweak in my
mind, like maybe like that I'mthinking about and I'm like, oh,
I should probably probably snagto see if some some things on

(45:05):
it.
But you know, honestly, a lotof it's been, you know YouTube
it could be.
You know, going through likelike sample library things like
or like a like a drum, likedrumbroker, is something that
I've gone through before to findlike compositions and things
like that.
You know it's it's who sampledor not who sampled.

(45:30):
What's it called track lib?
Oh, yeah, yeah, like track libis something that that I've used
before to and have tried tofind some things.
I think their catalogs got alittle bit better from when I
had first kind of like forayinto it, but but like, yeah,

(45:52):
basically it's it's, you know,when it's like if I have the
special moment to go out and godigging and go record shopping,
a lot of times I take thatmoment whenever I travel, like
if I'm, if I'm leaving the cityand I go back to like North
Carolina or you know, I think,when I yeah, like I was in like

(46:15):
Asheville like recently and waslike was like going through
records and stuff like that withmy family and me and me and my
cousin Molly went to one of theone of these spots.
He was in the Asheville area andjust kind of just was like dig
into some stuff and found somestuff and I was like, all right,
like this, I need this.
And he did and like break inthe bank.
But but basically, yeah, it'sjust basically kind of just off

(46:38):
a feeling, like whenever I gorecord shopping, but also like
because of how you know, vinylis such an expensive thing now
Even news records are kind ofthe 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 inmy profile, like, yeah, so many.
And then we got Spotify.
Spotify, you know.
I mean we got like Apple meetlike yo.
If you can't find samples intoday's Asian and like from all

(47:23):
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 ninthwonder like ninth wonder, I
would listen to a lot of beatsof his and he would be sampling
a lot of like modern stuff too,like stuff that like not like
completely like biting it andjust like, oh, I just found a

(47:46):
loop and I'm just going to playit, like whatnot.
But like I've heard him fliplike ran, like things from like
Kendrick records and stuff likethat and I'm like what, yeah,
how did you even think of this?
Like oh, I also said it wouldbe of his today.
I had to go to the post officethis morning and like he sampled

(48:08):
the second childhood recordthat Nas has and made it like
this bouncy, fucking like like,oh my God, it was like it was
like third child boogie orsomething like that I think
that's what it's called, butlike I was listening to it on my

(48:28):
walk it was like snowingoutside.
I was like God, this shit isnuts 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 aMaggie Rogers record and there's
a, there's a.
There's a EP of music that Iworked with a friend of mine.

(48:51):
He's a, an R&B artist, it'salso 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.
Like it's something that thatthat I've also been trying to do
because it's good, it's goodreps.
Like to try to see, like, okay,can I find something different
from this?
You know this, this recordthat's been sampled like 50

(49:40):
times.
Like, like, let me see if Icould do something with it.
Like, can I take this ChakaKhan record and try to see if I
could flip something out of it?
Like, that's also somethingthat you know.
To try to kind of test yourself.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
And that's the challenge.
Yeah, yeah, yeah man, you knowhow many times Chaka Khan's
discography has been flippedLike 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 abig supporter of Bandcamp music,
by the way.
And you got six volumes of illilly flips, is it?

(50:33):
Ill flips, ill flips.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
So ill flips.
You got six volumes of illflips.
Where did that?
Where did that start from?
Like you got six now.
So how did that evolve into sixjoints?

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 tapesix into two.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (50:57):
Yeah, yeah, I think I just feel it in the moment.
But, there was like another onethat's like unreleased Lucy's is
what I called it.
That has some stuff on theretoo.
But yeah, basically it was justbirthed off of, like you know,
I wasn't really working with alot of artists and you know, it
was like me trying to test firstoff arranging that's.

(51:23):
That was the first thing,because I mean, you could make a
beat, yeah, but can you arrangeit?
Can you add different things sothat it's something that you
can?
That is like that people willwant to listen to.
Because you don't want it.
I don't, you don't want it tobe repetitive, right?
Like you want to have differentthings in it.

Speaker 1 (51:43):
Variations yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:44):
Variations and all that.
So ear candy all that stuff,yeah, little things here and
there.
And that's kind of where I waslike, okay, I felt comfortable
with these remixes that I had inthe can and I was like you know
what, I'm going to put this out.
And then, ever since, I waslike you know what, I'm just

(52:06):
going to keep as I collect songsand make more remixes.
I'm just going to continue todo it.
I'm sitting on two right nowthat I hope maybe tape seven
will come out in March, and thenthe other one I've kind of
still kind of building off of itright now at the moment, but

(52:29):
hopefully that will come out atsome point this year.
But yeah, like basically justbirth off of like I'm not really
working with many artists andit's something that like, okay,
let me test myself to bearranging and mixing and
producing and try to see if youknow, can a rapper or a singer

(52:50):
do anything on this?
If I do send it out to themjust the instrumental or
whatever.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
So, man, who's doing your cover art man for these
joints, Because these joints arehilarious.

Speaker 4 (53:01):
Man, it's all, me it's all me Like I ended up.
It just was like because Ididn't really have like anybody
like taking photos and thingsfor me and like all that stuff,
but like it'll just be randomphotos and stuff, like some of
the cover art, like man, like Icould have done so much better
with some of these, but yeah,like some of them I was like you

(53:24):
know, just kind of like.
I think my favorite one isprobably the.
I think it might be either itmight be tape three or it's just
like me as a kid and I'm justlike an ice cream cone, ice
cream cone, yeah.
I can't even.
I just look like nuts.
That's probably my favorite.

(53:44):
But you know, obviously, like Ithink that with covers and
things like that, it's just likethe thing that I have in my
mind is like, obviously, likethe music is very serious and
the music is something that Itake a lot of you know, pride in
and work on and all this stuff.
But like I think like more ofthe covers is more of like the

(54:06):
attention grab and just to likekind 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 goingto link it in the description
of the show as well.
So y'all can just click on thelink for me to take you right to
his band camp and actually endhis link tree too.
So I'm going to put all the airin the description of the show.
Don't even sweat it.
But, man, like, out of all sixvolumes, man, you know what.

(54:42):
It's hard to pick, just becauseyour sample selection, the way
you chop them, the drums, thevocal, the vocal joints you put
in there, man, and then it'sbruh like yo like.
I can't, I can't even pick.
I like all of them, man.
But like, speaking of speakingof cover art, the attention
grabbing man, you got an albumcalled Farts.

(55:03):
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 youcan 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 ofthe music was made during a
pandemic.
I think that the pandemic kindof helped a lot with me to focus
more on this music andsomething that you know.
I'm very grateful for that timebecause it's you know shit, I
don't know if I ever will havethat time ever again, right, uh,

(55:51):
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 workon a lot of music and focus on
it and kind of just kept me sane.
During that time I had acollection of music that I was
just kind of sitting on and, um,and I was like you know what, I

(56:26):
feel like this could be thefirst thing that I put out on
streaming, because most of thestuff that I put out has been on
band camp and I've just left itthere and obviously, like a lot
of the remixes of it, I can'treally put that on streaming
because you know they, they,they come after me, yeah, uh,
but I was like I feltcomfortable enough with the

(56:47):
project that.
I was like you know what, likethis, I like I want to put this
out there on streaming.
I want to have this out thereand around we're not put.
That was like 2021 and aroundthat time I was uh, like I think

(57:08):
it was like April and I hadasked my sister.
I was like hey, like can youmake me an album cover?
And like, cause, she does likecross stitch, um, and I think
that's what that's called, Idon't know She'd like some sort
of sewing thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, um, and Iasked her is like, can you make
a cover for me?
She's like yeah, I guess.

(57:30):
Yeah, like what do you?
What do you want the cover tobe?
I was like I don't know, I justwant my logo below it.
And then I just want the wordfarts with like a poop emoji
next to it, and then it's likesurrounded by roses, and she was
like All right, I'll give it toyou tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
What.

Speaker 4 (57:53):
So, so, like literally, it was like, and I
was literally was like I toldher I said, alex, you don't have
to like just take your timewith it, whatever.
Like she was like, and then shehit me up the next day and she
sends me photos of it.
I was like, holy shit, wow.
So I basically she like, shesent me, like I think, a

(58:16):
postcard and had it in there,like actually I can get it right
here.
This is the one of one righthere, wow, wow, and that's a wow
, probably backwards on there,but maybe if I ever make no,
it's clear stuff like that.

(58:37):
That's that'll be the one of onethat's there.
But yeah, like it just was, itjust was like like I could be
like a cool kind of attentiongrab type shit, and then I just
kind of went through, collecteda 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 whereDJing was very helpful to me,

(59:00):
where sequencing was somethingthat I attest that to DJing,
because as a DJ, like knowingBPM matching and, you know,
knowing keys and things likethat, you know I'm I don't, I
don't know music theory, I don'treally.
You know I didn't go to schoolto learn music and like I

(59:22):
couldn't play a song for you ona piano right now, but it helped
me, especially with sequencingthese tapes and things like that
.
So I just collected all thatstuff and tried to, you know,
kind of teach myself a littlebit through through mixing and
mastering during that time too.

(59:42):
And that was this was the first,the first project, and you know
I'm working on another oneright now for streaming it's,
it's.
I have a bunch of songs, butlike I think my mind has just
not been in the place of like Idon't know if it's ready yet.
I don't know if it's ready yet,and I think that that's like

(01:00:02):
the thing that always as anartist 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 feellike it's in a lot better place
than it was and I think there'sa lot of beats that I've been
playing out through shows.
That has been getting goodreaction and I think that we're

(01:00:27):
getting close to the next one.
I don't really know what thetitle is going to be.
I don't know what the cover isgoing to be.
I don't know if it'll be asnuts as this, but yeah, maybe in
the moment, once I get close tofinishing the record, I'll have
a better idea of what that willbe like and all that.
But definitely this one issomething that holds close to

(01:00:51):
the heart for sure, because it'slike the first thing I put on
streaming and put out there andI felt like this was good enough
.
Where, like, okay, let's getthis to the people.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
Man, everybody, if y'all haven't listened to Farts,
you got to listen to it, man.
I think it's 14 tracks, 18minutes of just pure dope music,
man, for real.
So just check it out, man, Iguarantee y'all going to be
following King John Eil Allright, everybody King John Eil

(01:01:30):
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 evenjust go ahead and put them on a
thumb drive and then sell thethumb drive.
Yo, I'm your guy, man, I'mnumber one, number one man.

Speaker 4 (01:01:45):
I got to get that man , that's definitely something
I'm trying to figure out too isgetting to some more physical
stuff Like.
I have a bunch of like.
I have a four track taperecorder that I utilize and run
sounds through it, because itjust adds a different flavor and

(01:02:07):
it's definitely something thatI love to get some stuff on like
maybe on vinyl, maybe on thesets Consets are probably a
little bit cheaper to press, butI just would love to have the
physical thing out there forpeople to be.
Like that I also thought aboutkind of doing like a collection
of the best of the ill-flippedstuff.
So a lot of ideas, a lot ofideas that kind of come to mind,

(01:02:32):
but definitely the physicalrealm, for sure for this next
streaming record.
That's a promise.
Like that's definitely what Iwant to do for the next
streaming record, but hopefullyto get more into that world.
That would be something thatdefinitely needs to happen, I
would say.

Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
Gotcha.
Yeah, man, you'll definitelyhave 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 (01:03:18):
Next question.

Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
Next question.
Next question Okay, yeah, I gotto ask you about because we're
talking about DJing and showsand knowing BPMs and stuff like
that.
Like you perform all over,actually, but one of the shows
that you did which I'm a bigsupporter of is Donut Lounge,

(01:03:41):
right, so I'm not sure how manytimes 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 DonutLounge and because I think World
MC is the one that puts that on, is that yes?

Speaker 4 (01:04:01):
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 ofthat.
That kind of sets, all thoseshows up and I would say, like

(01:04:23):
you know, in terms ofperformance, like it's I was,
was like one of the big plansfor when I was making the music
was like I wanted to startperforming and I wanted to play
out my own music.
It's kind of why I stepped awayfrom DJing, because I was like
I wanted to focus on on my music.
So so I remember like they hada like Donut Lounge does like an

(01:04:51):
open aux, so they'll have likepeople come out and play like
five minutes and stuff like that.
And I did it I think this wasin the end of 20, kind of kind
of in the end of 2022.
And did the open aux?
They really fucked with it.
The crowd really loved it andthey had asked me back to do a

(01:05:12):
show in February in the nextyear, in 2023.
And I was like, oh shit, hell,yeah, let's do it, because, like
I've been wanting to do moreshows and put myself out there
and try to get on more bills andand yeah, like it basically was
a wild night Like the.
If I know, my links will be outthere, but if, if you want to

(01:05:36):
see the live show, I was able toget like a lot of footage from
like they took like footage fromlike the Twitch stream that
they had and then kind of editedit all myself where you know,
it's a clips from people's likeiPhones and things like crazy,
that's crazy how you did thattoo.

Speaker 1 (01:05:56):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:05:57):
And like edited and put like other like little
things in between and all thatand and and.
It was such a crazy night likereally, really awesome night,
like that's the first time I metMagnus Andretti he went on
before me.

Speaker 3 (01:06:14):
And I was like God.
I got to follow that.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (01:06:19):
God, I was like so like he had like some Kendrick
remix that he played and I justwas like God damn, man, come on.
But now, like he's, but he isfantastic, but yeah he but
basically like it went out, didlike 20 minutes and it felt
really good and you know, eversince then like just been trying

(01:06:43):
to get out there more.
I just did a show recently withanother producer's names, tom
Yanks.
He sets up a show out inWilliamsburg area kind of the
same vein do some open ox andthen also having some like build
people, play some sets and man,like I still got a high off of

(01:07:05):
that show, like it still was.
It was like such an incrediblenight.
And recently I got to performlike in my home.
I call Greensboro my home, likelike I know I'm from New York
originally but like Greensborois my home, my family's still
there.
You know North Carolina is thehome for me.

(01:07:26):
So I got to play recently inGreensboro for Beats Batch Shots
of Kate Boulevard.
She's fantastic, it sets upthose shows and it's, yeah, just
absolutely was a surreal kindof experience but just, you know
, kind of getting myself outthere, putting myself out there

(01:07:46):
doing open oxes, networking andconnecting, but that was the
plan.
Out of the pandemic, I was likeI want to start performing my
own music and performing thisstuff and figuring out how to
make sets of what I could play.
So that was something that Iwas really trying to push as I

(01:08:10):
was getting out of that and aswe were getting back into normal
life, and I've been able to dothat.
From a DJing standpoint, it'sdefinitely a different process
with an SP, because the Mark IIhas a DJ feature in it, but I

(01:08:31):
haven't really worked with itthat much.
And when I have, it's just notthe same feeling of having two
platters and having your mixingboard and all that.
It's just not the same.
It's not the same.
Yeah, and I think it could bebetter.

(01:08:53):
I think that they could improveon it and shit like that.
It's a lot easier for me tojust load it up into pads, know
how I want to sequence it, knowhow to BPM that, things like
that, and it's something thatjust is with the process.

Speaker 3 (01:09:15):
And the.

Speaker 4 (01:09:15):
Mark II has been fucking phenomenal so much since
it came out.
But that was the plan man, justgoing out and doing these shows
and hopefully there's some more.
Hopefully I'll get back on thebill at Donut Lounge this year
I've been hitting them up to seeif I can get back out there and
do a show.
But yeah, man, love all of themout there and then they have a

(01:09:38):
show next weekend.
This is like the first one forthe year and I'm excited to go
out there and support.
There's some dope artists outthere Frank Passions, who's shot
to him.
He was actually at the lastshow that I was doing on
Williamsburg.
He's a phenomenal producer.
He's doing a show, sodefinitely going to pull up with

(01:10:00):
support.
Support him for sure.
The Donut Lounge man.

Speaker 1 (01:10:05):
Armadillo with the bars too.
I see you, armadillo, on theWorld MC channel, man, I see you
, bro man.
Okay, so as we round this jointout, man, I always got to ask a
very deep question for some new.
You said we weren't gettingdeep.

Speaker 4 (01:10:27):
Just a little deep, just a little deep.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
For the beat some new , Because we got some new
beatmakers coming into the photoright now.
And they're going to comeacross the balancing challenge.
Balancing, working or going toschool, creating beats and
having time with the family andstuff like that.
So I got to ask you what's oneof the challenges that you've

(01:10:56):
had during your music journey,that you've had to come to grips
with, and then how did youovercome that challenge?

Speaker 4 (01:11:05):
I mean, the one thing I say is, like, don't get
discouraged by the day job.
Like that's something I wouldsay.
To put it honestly like look, Idon't the music.
Like I want to live off themusic, like I want to make money

(01:11:25):
off of this and make some breadoff of this, so that I'm not I
haven't worked a day job, but Ido.
I work a day job right now.
Is that something that you knowthat I should be judged for?
No, absolutely not.
And I know that there's a lotof producers out there, maybe
people that are starting andwanting to get into it, that you

(01:11:45):
know it's something that's likethere, but, like you know,
don't let that discourage you.
Like that's something that youknow, even in the moments where,
like you know, it's tough andit's hard like you're going to
find those times, you know it'sdefinitely like forcing yourself
to kind of work on somethingand if it's bad, okay, like just

(01:12:08):
save that shit.
Because there have been so manytimes that I've like made
something and it might not soundgood 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, Iknow how to fix this.
I come back to it.
There's been so many of thosemoments like there are records.

(01:12:29):
I think there's like a recordon parts that I think that I
remember.
When I made it I was like thisis awful, like what is this?
What was I thinking?
Like what was I thinking?
But then I go back.
I went back to it and I waslike, oh okay, wait a minute, I

(01:12:50):
think I know how to make thiswork.
And you know it's just keeppushing, keep moving.
You know it's not an easy road.
Like being an artist is neveran easy road.
I mean, look, and I've beenthrough it in so many different
avenues Like I was like,obviously, as I said, I went to

(01:13:11):
acting school.
Obviously, you know I don't dothat very much anymore, but it's
not something that's left mybody Like I still love it.
But like my thought processchanged.
I got into production.
But you know, I knew when Icame up here, when I was doing
acting stuff, I knew it wasn'tgoing to be easy, I knew it was
going to be very difficult,especially as an artist.

(01:13:35):
Like it's not an easy road butyou got to find inspiration.
You've got to.
You know, fight through it andkeep pushing.
You know, even in those roughdays, you know there have been
days that I'm like I get off ofwork and I'm like this is just a
dog shit day.
But I come here in this space,right here.

(01:13:57):
This is where I work.
I have my push to like I'mworking on my SP, you know,
maybe I'm digging through somerecords, maybe it's just
listening to records.
You know, maybe I don't samplesomething or make something,
maybe there's nothing thatintrigues me, but just something
that just to find little things, that that just like still work

(01:14:21):
and still like work the muscleso it doesn't atrophy.
I know I'm rambling a littlebit.
No, you can.
You can.

Speaker 1 (01:14:30):
But I hope you know.

Speaker 4 (01:14:32):
I just I think that you know it's always like you
know, if it's, if this issomething that you love, fight
for it.
You know, and, like you know, Isaw something the other day
where it was like would youstill be making this shit if you
, if no one, heard it?
Yeah, you know, yeah, and I100% would you know.
I mean, like, I know thatthere's like a not a lot of

(01:14:54):
people that listen to my music.
I want everybody to hear mymusic but, you know, not
everybody's gonna love it.
Some people will, some peoplewon't.
But you know, as long as it'sfeeding you and feeding feeding
you and you fuck with it and youlove it.
That's all that fucking mattersat the end of the day.
You know people are going tocome, People are going to find

(01:15:14):
it.
Yeah, Like me and my dad.
Now you're making me get deepLike fuck man.
No, so, I say this.
I'll say this Me and my fatherevery Christmas.
I don't know what started thetradition of it.
There's two movies that wewould watch.

(01:15:36):
One of them it's not aChristmas movie, it's called
Field of Dreams.
Okay, and it's a Kevin.
Costner movie Kevin Costner yeah, yeah, like he builds a
baseball field, if you build ithe will come.
And there's a, you know, it'sdefinitely one of those things
that, like there's a monologuethat James Earl Jones does at

(01:16:00):
the for the end of the movie andhe's talking about like people
will come right, like he's aboutto have to sell the farm and
shit like that.
It's like this monologue wherehe's like, basically they almost
like predicting the future andyou know, telling him like, you
know, like people will comeright, people will most
definitely be here, like andlike just walking through it and

(01:16:22):
like painting the picture.
And I think about that in thatmoment of like, you know, it's
like keep working on it and keepbelieving in it and something's
going to happen.
Something's going to happen.
You know it might not be theway that you thought it was, but
you know people will come,people will most definitely come
.
That's what I'll say.

Speaker 1 (01:16:44):
What's the second movie y'all watch?

Speaker 4 (01:16:48):
He loves this fucking movie and I hate it.
The.

Speaker 3 (01:16:51):
Lampoon's.

Speaker 4 (01:16:53):
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 likea, he's like an artist and he's
in a band that works once ayear because they play Christmas

(01:17:13):
music and he's doing a gigduring Christmas and he gets in
a car accident and dies.
But he comes back to lifemiraculously through a snowman
so that he could be a goodfather to his kid and it this
movie.
Just it's not a good movie, butmy father loves it.

(01:17:36):
And I've had deep conversationswith my father about this movie
and I just like it.
It's just nothing thatintrigues 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 thosetwo movies it's Feel the Dreams
and it's Jack Frost, jack Frostman, wow, man.

Speaker 1 (01:18:01):
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 in2023?
Well, 2024, man, wow, 2024.

Speaker 2 (01:18:20):
In 2024.

Speaker 1 (01:18:23):
I know you were talking about some, some new
releases for the L flips andstuff like that, but do you have
anything like set so far, oreverything is just fluid right
now?

Speaker 4 (01:18:34):
Yeah, everything's pretty fluid right now.
You know, hopefully gettinggetting to do some more shows
you know I've been.
I was hopeful that I was goingto be able to go down and do
this show at Baltimore next weekbut things kind of fell through
the cracks.
But hopefully at some pointthis year I definitely will try
to get down there for one ofthose shows, that's for sure.

(01:18:55):
But definitely very, very fluidwith in terms of like the live
shows, but just kind of puttingmyself out there, going out and
supporting people and trying tosee if I can do some more things
.
Projects wise I am, yeah,basically right now the goal is
for tape seven to come out ofMarch.
Tape eight for ill flipsdefinitely come out sometime

(01:19:20):
this year.
I definitely want to work onfinalizing this, this next
streaming project, to kind of dolike a a sort of roll out for
it.
But it's but it's mostly justpretty fluid.
Like I'm going to stillcontinue to work on some music.
You know, record videos like, doa lot Like obviously like

(01:19:41):
through my social media to seethat it's a lot of stuff that
I'll be like posting and editingand tweaking and stuff like
that.
So definitely going to be a lotof of just doing a lot more
things on social media andshowing that off and hopefully,
some of these projects that willcome to fruition this year and

(01:20:02):
get them out there.
There's like a lot of beatsthat I've been playing out of
these shows that you know I'vebeen getting really, really good
responses and I'm like you knowwhat I got to get these
collected on the record and putthem out there.
So that's really really theplans at the moment.
You know, I wish I had somemore definitive things right now
, but, but I would say at thispoint, as we're rolling in the

(01:20:23):
second month of the year, youknow I did, you know, a show for
a friend of mine, Jaleel ShastaJaleel, back at the top of
January.
This show, that show atWilliamsburg with Tom Yanks and
you know there's such a.
That was such an incrediblenight to be with so many awesome
producers and it was incredibleto be there.

(01:20:45):
And hopefully, hopefully, morethings kind of coming down the
line and maybe they will andline 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 todo as well.
So, definitely trying to getout to North Carolina.
There's a lot of things likeLofi Lounge out in Raleigh,

(01:21:07):
shasta LD Beats.
You know a lot of those guysout there just tearing it down
in North Carolina.
So I definitely would love toget out there with them and chop
it up, for sure when I go downthere to see family.
But yeah, very, very fluid atthe moment.
But I know this year's, youknow you're going to hear a lot
from me this year, that's forsure.

Speaker 1 (01:21:28):
That's you.
Yo, y'all heard King John L man, stay tuned, stay tapped into
his socials.
Man Like and whenever you dopost man, I always repost anyway
, so you might be.
I think you're on Instagram.
I know you're on Instagram, notsure if you're on Twitter or X

(01:21:49):
rather, but I have a Twitter,but I rarely use it.

Speaker 4 (01:21:55):
It's cooked, anyway, it's cooked anyway, it's like,
basically I'm just like I scrollthrough, looking at like
wrestling things like earlybecause I'm big.
I'm big WWE, aew guys, so I'lljust be like scroll through that
.
That's really it.
That's all I use it for.
But most of my stuff is throughInstagram.
At DJ King, john underscore ill.

(01:22:16):
You'll find my stuff on bandcamp SoundCloud.
Obviously, fark is on streamingservices everywhere.
If you want to check that out,youtube has a lot of some of my
like flips and like videos andthings like that.
Youtube will also be able tosee the set that I did for for
donut lounge that I that I endedit and put together there.

(01:22:36):
That's that's also somethingyou can find me at.
But I would say domino.
You're finding most of my stuffthrough Instagram and in my
link tree and all that type ofstuff.

Speaker 1 (01:22:49):
So yeah, you got, you got a dope.
I think you put together aplaylist on Apple music, right?
Yeah, so, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:22:58):
So I was actually working on one today Like I it's
.
I've got a few like themed onesthat I'm trying to wrap up to,
but I've been a little bitslacking on the it's that I
usually would do like weeklyones called the middle radio,
and I haven't done one in awhile it's been a it's been a

(01:23:19):
minute since I put out the lastone, but there's a lot of like
themed ones Like there's onethat 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 otherthings that I think kind of like
fit and shit like that, butlike like a lot of like
different like types of mixesand things like that that I put
out there.
So definitely, definitelyfollow me on on Apple music and

(01:23:44):
Spotify to like Spotify has hasmy collected playlists and
things like that too.
I don't know if Apple musicdoes.
I think it's like a separatelike profile you have to find me
.

Speaker 3 (01:23:54):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:23:55):
Like Spotify.
That's the great thing aboutSpotify is like I can link all
of those playlists to my actualpage and it's like it's listed
as artist playlist.
But I don't know why Applemusic doesn't really have that
kind of feature.
But you know, but you'll find.
But you'll be able to find alot of those, a lot of those
playlists on there Just waitingin my, my link tree.

(01:24:15):
I definitely link to those ifyou guys want to check out those
playlists too.
So for sure, that's like theone little, one little inkling
of a foot I still have in thelike the DJ world and things
like that.
So I got you.

Speaker 1 (01:24:28):
I got you.
So you know, king John Ilman, Iwant to say thank you for your
time and before we, before we,before we go, is there one final
thought you want to pass alongto all my you know, my mutants
man, my beat makers, my musicproducers and composers.

Speaker 4 (01:24:49):
That's, that's.
That's a.
That's another deep one.

Speaker 1 (01:24:53):
Last last, last thing .

Speaker 4 (01:24:59):
Keep building, keep creating.
You know, this is like like Iwas a fan first before any of
this shit and you know it's alldone with love, like as long as
you got that loving your heartfor this shit.
Like, continue, keep building,keep pushing, keep working, keep

(01:25:22):
making things.
You know, keep like jawdropping the world.
Like you know, like I keep.
You know it's so many peoplethat just like floor me and just
shock me with some of thethings that I hear and I'm just
like man, like music is gonna bein a good place, it's gonna be
in a great spot, like you know,just keep creating, keep

(01:25:43):
creating.
That's all I can tell you.

Speaker 2 (01:26:15):
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 Ineed to put the mask down.
Man, see the fans now they findus, find us, find us.
We can Go and be a guest.
Go and keep watching me.

(01:26:35):
We'll fall.
Still be real man.
Dance with the dogs in thenight time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,yeah.

(01:27:15):
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, wegon' harm.
When you free, watch me, we'llfall.
Still be real man.
Dance with the dogs in thenight time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah In the kitchenrest.

(01:27:37):
Twist like it's girlfriend Withit in the kitchen rest.
Twist like it's girlfriend Withit in the kitchen rest.
Twist like it's girlfriend Withit in the kitchen rest.
Twist like it's girlfriend.
Move, hold them bands down.
Let it hold your bands down.
Who told you come around?
Who told you to try to find ajob?
Sign a code so fast.

(01:27:59):
Show, show, try, show, how, how, how, how, how, how, how, how,
how, how, how, how, how, how todraw the bag now.
You don't need to brag, now Ineed 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 mewhen balls still be real.

(01:28:20):
They find us, we'll dance inthe night time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, in thekitchen rest.
Twist it like it's girlfriendWith it in the kitchen rest.
Twist like it's girlfriend Withit in the kitchen rest.
Twist like it's girlfriend Withit in the kitchen rest.
Twist it like it's girlfriend.

Speaker 3 (01:29:07):
The block like it's aerubics.
She fighting by my diamonds howI'm shining Stanley Kubrick
Trip.
Like Alex Mack, I spent themracks and turned to fluid Park
is looking.
Now she's blowing money likeit'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 ahanger for these racks.
The beef is crotch time.
Turn the niggas to a packBacking white diamonds.
Man, my wrist should be onblack, all my bracelets and

(01:29:30):
watches on my arms.
I look like Jax Came up in theland of me and mama had the
struggle.
Nerdy nigga.
But I'm fucking just a zone sixMcLovin'.
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.

(01:29:50):
Fuck around and find out.
Fuck around and find out.
Fuck around and find out.
Fuck around and find out.
Fuck around and back up on mybull shit and beans.
Got me geekin' throwin' moneyon these strippers like they
chickens gettin' seasons.
I got bitches across theuniverse.
I'm pippin' like I'm Steven.
Hit me with them giggles almostmade me have a seizure.
Shake a run up if you want them, chop up what I'm holding.
Shots, finna, stop you whileyou talkin' like a college Face

(01:30:13):
off with the gang.
Now your faces saw someclothing hollows.
Had that nigga, foggin' Drakewill turn up to a model hit and
poses.
Yeah, I can't never stop, bitch.
I can't quit all my niggas fromthe gutter.
Bitch we with the shit.
I been out the pockets since amotherfuckin' dick raised my
hand up in the class and toldthe teachers suck my dick, fuck
around and find out.
Fuck around and find out, fuckaround and find.

(01:30:35):
Fuck around and find out.