Check out the interview with Illy Nada exclusively on Skilly Magazine Online.
Illy Nada: It all began in 6th grade when I took band. I played the trumpet and it progressed from there. I got into rapping because of my older brother. One day I put on a beat and started writing. This was in the 8th grade. From then on I told myself that I can do something with this. In 10th grade I quit playing baseball to pursue music full time.
I think some of the best ways to promote yourself are contacting blogs, keeping up with your social media, making great music, and doing shows with that great music. It's a system in my opinion. If you do all of those things in combination, I'm sure you will have success.
I think my ultimate goal is to become incredibly skilled at my craft and a person who influences the masses. I want to become more than just an artist. I want to help the world move forward.
I don't think there is anything hard about the industry. It depends on how you look at things. If you work hard then I believe you will have opportunities that others don't have. Opportunities and following through with those opportunities is what defines success in my opinion. Bottom Line, hard work always rewards itself.
Palm Beach is very laid back and slow compared to fast pace cities such as NY which I am also from. The music scene is saturated in my opinion mainly because of the fact that a major artist has not yet come out of this city. We do have our city dwellers who have a lot of juice here, but in my opinion no one has that "king of the city" influence.
I'm still coming up myself so it's hard to give advice. I would say to always remain true, work hard, and know and practice your craft. Those things are like words in the bible to me.
I had a gig in Sun Fest with a former music group I used to be in called Oval Red. We were awarded performance of the year and beat out Pit Bull and Wiz Khalifa.
My inspiration stems from everywhere really; Fam, friends, buildings, art, the sky, space. All of that.
Of course man. With the digital age you can do anything and everything you want. That combined with a little street promotion will help you make waves. I'm telling you.