Ill Poetic Interview

Ill Poetic has been a slept-on indie Cinci staple for a number of years now. As a producer, you have to respect the guy's creativity and willingness to experiment outside of his genre but within his boundaries. I was lucky enough to get an interview with him half a year ago, and he gave me some pretty interesting answers. You can find the interview below in it's entirety.

For those that don't know who is Ill Poetic?

This is a pretty deep question. Who is anybody? Are we all joined as one? Who knows? I might be an alien, but i'm not sure yet. I think I'm still human right now.

Drop a background history for us. Where were you born? Where did you grow up? How did you grow up?

I was born in Dayton OH, and lived there til I left for college. I grew up in a lower/middle class area called Trotwood, which was a really great place. I grew up kinda poor (not, "i don't know where my next meal's coming from" poor, more like, "on the free lunch program wearing old hand-me-downs" poor) but had really great parents. So the lack of funds was compensated for by genuinely cool parents.

How did you get into hip-hop?

My friends in the 3rd grade made me a mixtape with LL Cool J "i'm bad" and PE "don't believe the hype" as well as some other more forgettable shit. Then he hipped me to ice cube's "The Predator" and that was about it for me. I used to write little corny grade school rhymes with friends, and we kept it going all thru jr. high and high school, until we started getting into lunchroom battles and stuff.

Lately you've been getting a lot of attention for your mash-ups, how do you choose the artists to mash-up? Or maybe I was the only person to think that Outkast and Nine Inch Nails were a strange coupling...

Outkast and NIN just happen to be two of my favorite artists/groups. They both blow me away pretty equally, so it seemed logical to me. Basically, I did the Budden/Portishead one first, and to tell the truth, i wasn't a real Die-Hard fan of either of them. Not that i didn't think they were each dope, but I figured, Imagine how much more i would love to mash two artists up if i really knew their shit in and out. I made this mash-up as a fan letter and business card to a couple of my favorite artists.

Why did you choose to mash-up Joe Budden's MM3? Is it a special album to you, or was it a spur of the moment thing?

This was very spur of the moment. It wasn't even my idea. A label out of Cincinnati wanted to pair me and their producer up to go in on it together. I thought it was a good idea, because the Portishead record was coming out, and it'd be the perfect time to do something like that. Then, after I dropped all my damn drums in their MPC, they got ghost on me, so I did it myself. My friend Zone convinced me it was worth it, so i knocked it out in one day out of aggrivation. I'm very glad he convinced me. I have wise friends.

You also put together a EP with Illogic, how did that come along?

I've been doing shows with illogic for years and years now. I honestly started out as a genuine fan of his (and all of weightless's) work. Eventually we built more and started working on the LP. The EP was kinda made during the LP production. It's really an honor, coming from a fan's perspective, and it makes me work harder to make sure i don't fuck him up lol. Following kats like blueprint and Dj Przm who did full records with him that people know him for puts pressure on me. But good pressure. Pressure to push further and further. I just don't wanna be like Solaar to Guru after Premier left (no diss, i'm just sayin).

I have to ask about the album art for The World Is Ours. How did you find the picture and what's the story behind it?

I originally took a picture of my friends baby sitting in front of they're living room screen door. And i thought, 'he must think this front yard is the whooole world'. And that's where the vision kinda took form. So I just re-created that pic and flipped it a little bit. So now, the kid is looking at downtown Cincinnati in black and white, but he's in color. So it's like a baby looking at his world, and the world seems so black and white. But he's full color, because i figure, none of us are just black and white. We're all 3 dimensional beings with a full color spectrum.

The album title, is it a twist off Nas? Off Tony Montana? An original Ill Poetic saying?

Twist off nas. The first song i made before this was an album was "cincilluminati". I just tried to carry that theme thru the project.

How did you pick up the name Ill Poetic?

I had a horrible name in high school, but i had a group name with a friend called ill poetics. We weren't really using it, so i asked him if i could have it. It still reeks of late 90's "lyrical assassin, yada yada" backpacker type shit, but i learned to love again over time. There was a time a couple years ago where i was really sick of it, but then i found out most rappers were sick of their names. Then i realized alot of my favorite rappers didn't have the flyest names, but their music was so dope i didn't care. So my name actually pushes me further to try to make a good legacy of music.

Where do you feel most comfortable: behind the boards or behind the mic? Why?

I only made beats to put something under my vocals. I don't feel like i've perfected either, which is an exciting feeling. I always feel hungry to evolve in both areas. It's alot cheaper to evolve as an emcee, though. Paper is cheaper than a Triton. I feel like emceeing is 1st nature to me. I think i have a lot more to learn as a producer, because i'm amazed when i hear ALOT of other peoples shit, local and national.

How do you manage to include such a wide variety of genres into your instrumentals?

I used to be caught up in trying to get at one crowd of people to like my shit. Then i stopped caring, and started having alot of fun with everything. I like letting all my influences show. I have alot of good friends who turn me on to such dope music, and i like using their inspiration and my inspiration to twist something new.

I gotta ask, how did you come up with the concept for Soul Electric? It sounds so different from the rest of the album...

Nothing to deep. I loved the sample, and it's by one of Dean Hummons sr.'s (the guy who played keys on it) favorite jazz artists. He used to play in alot of funk and soul bands from Ohio (SUN, Dayton Sidewinders, Heatwave) and these were the artists that inspired him. So i like flipping shit that I know he'll dig, and then having him play keys on it. i wrote the song to the sample (i do that alot). Then I kinda flip the sample around my lyrics...like ping ponging back and forth between producer and emcee.

Who are some of today's artists that you would like to work with?

So so so many. Most prominently Outkast, Sade, and Trent Reznor. On a more logical level: kid cudi, BOB (before they were on XXL, i've been following both of them for a miiiinute), madlib, the killers, just blaze. Really, anybody dope to me. I'm not too concerned with the name factor. I wouldn't put a kanye beat on my LP if was from the c-list. It's not even worth it. There are still some kats from Cincinnati i wanna do more work with.

Who are some older artists (dead, retired, forgotten) that you'd like to work with?

There's a couple i'm working with on my next album from the jazz and soul arena that i'm very excited about. Way too many to mention here. Wow. hip-hop wise, dilla of course. As far as less obvious choices, George Duke, Billy Cohbam, Ron Carter or Stanley Clarke. Kats that i could orchestrate dope melody's to. Then, get a really dope singer on it (i can't say who yet, because i'm still working on getting her on my album).

Is it easier for you to create a beat or write a song? Why?

Lately, writing songs is way easier. I haven't made a beat not designed for a project damn near all year. Now i put orchestration into effect. I'm more into getting session players, horn sections, guitars, live drums, and all those things take time. I really wanna get my engineering game up, So writing is happening way more right now.

Has Hi-Tek been an influence on you (coming from Cincinnati too)?

He was an earlier influence. I moved to cinci when Reflection Eternal dropped, so he definitely had influence for a minute. I think he's dope, but he hasn't really influenced me in the past 4 or 5 years.

How do you feel about Chad Johnson, I mean Chad Ocho Cinco?

I support the bengals because i don't wanna be one of those dudes that hops on when shit's good and hops off when it's bad (it's usually bad). I'm not a super-sports head, But the way Chad handled the bengals in the off season, and the way Cincinnati handled him were both stupid. It's like watching a dysfunctional couple fight. It's lame.

So tell us about The World Is Ours. How did it start? How did it evolve?

It started as a few songs. Then it just kinda all fit together as an LP. Only record i made with no real concept per se. I had a record before that called "illumination". And that one had a concept, and it was more personal, and i had all these plans for what i wanted to do with it. But i wanted to do too much, so i had to use it as a stepping stone to TWIO. Hence why TWIO doesn't have a concept. It was just the new joints i was making to rock at shows. I realized it was too late to push "illumination" because it felt stale performing at shows by that point.
Now I dont have expectations for any of 'em. That way everything that happens is cool.

You can check him at

www.myspace.com/illpoetic