Ill Massacre Music

We caught up with Ill 'Efek to talk about his music. At Indiy we champion musicians.

Let's get to it...

What do you enjoy most about being an independent musician?

I love that I can be free with anything that I create, without any hassles from anyone in the industry.

I can just be me and being me is all I want.

If we were to peek over your shoulder, what does your studio look like? What gear do you typically use?

If you were to pay me a visit, you would normally find me looking for ways to improve my sound, mixing and producing.

I own a home recording studio based in my garage

I use a maschine MK1 & MK3, an M Audio MPK mini, an M audio oxygen 49, a Scarlett 6i6 for my interface and two pairs of studio monitors.

1st pair being the KRK's Rokit 7's for production and 2nd pair being the Yamaha's MS5's for recording and mixing.

How would you want people to describe your latest project in a tweet?

Something like..."Wes craven horrorcore hip hop coming soon."

What makes a good song in your opinion?

What makes a good song in my opinion is the topic.

You see to me, I'm a big story telling type of person and when I hear that in a song, I stay tuned in, not only to the song but to the artist as well.

How do you know that you want to work with an artist, group or band?

I'm constantly updating my playlist with various artists in different genres.

When I hear something that makes me want to pause the song, start it over or even look up more of their info.

Whether it's social media, google, etc. I contact the artist directly and start brainstorming.

Do you plan your music releases, or do you just finish a song and release it?

I'm independent, so I don't rely on anyone to release my music.

When the time is right and I'm ready to release, I release.

What can we expect from you within the next 6 months? Any releases planned? Future gigs?

Well this year I have a few projects coming out.

I am in the process of working on a collabo album with various artists, a few instrumental albums and hopefully my second album by the end of the year.

I also have a few production projects with other artists for their albums that are coming soon.

Are there any collaborations, past or future, that you are excited about?

I have a list of talented individuals that will be a part of the collabo album.

I am very proud of my work in the past but I feel that I have grown so much over the years and decided to take a different approach on things when it comes to my music.

What inspires your creative process?

When it comes to inspiration, there are so many things that inspire me.

It could be a distant memory from my past, a certain sound I hear outside, something someone said in conversation or even a quote from a movie.

What are your top three favorite albums of all time? Why those albums?

Big Pun - Capital Punishment
This album taught me how to be a good lyricist and stack words together.
Plus Pun is Puerto Rican, and with me already being in love with hip hop, knowing that someone from my culture was killing it, I wanted to be a part of that!

DMX - Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood
This album made me want to run the streets with my friends at the time.
It gave me so much energy, if you hear the skits transitioning into the songs it almost felt like you were watching a movie (A gangsta movie for the streets). X made me believe in myself when my own family didn't.

Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
This album was the most insane, creative, and animated album I have ever heard growing up. Em showed me that you don't have to be what everyone wants you to be. That you don't have to be scared to speak out and be yourself. Even tho his attitude was "F*** it" and his humor was very dark, it grew closer to me because I was going through a rough time with my family and every time I put on my headphones and sat on the front stoop with my cd player and popped in that album, I would zone the f***out!!!

Where can we find you on social media?

IG: @illmassacremusic/
And Twitter: @Illmassacremus1