The Ill Chill Moody [Interview]

@BWyche March 8, 2011 0

A college graduate in Speech Communication, Chill Moody is now gaining a degree in the underground rap world of Philadelphia. Moody’s distinctive lyrical content is often compared to conscious rappers such as Talib Kweli, Black Thought, and Common, so much so that he was fortunate enough to meet and rap for Common at a performance at Millersville University, “ He (Common) really took a liking for my lyrics. (He) Liked what I was saying, liked what I was doing. He even shouted me out in one of his freestyles.” Even though, he’s probably cursed about four times in his last album, mainly so that his mother wouldn’t feel embarrassed playing his music in front of other people, he thinks that’s where people tend to draw the comparisons from Chill Moody to conscious music. Moody called out the labeling in one of his songs “I carry a back pack, but I’m not a backpacker. It’s just me being me, just Chill… I’m not in the streets, I’m college educated, so I can only talk about the things I know.”

In 2009, the novice rapper debuted his Ill Chill album on ChillMoody.com, which had 100 downloads in 10 minutes and overall cleared an impressive 3,000 downloads. “I didn’t know 100 people were looking for my music or like anticipated for it to drop. It just started buzzin’ and it was like a snowball effect and it was a blessing.” As the front man for a hip- hop stable called, “Tha ESTablisymynt,” that includes a team of producers, rappers, and singers. In addition, Chill has a show on YouTube called, E.S.Tv. and has also created a clothing line called, Moody Sunshine. Chill plans on getting his feet into many production projects as possible and plans on directing as well as pursuing his music career.

Currently, Chill has released a more recent album entitled, wESTchilly with producer, Wes Manchild who has worked with him on his last album, “We tend to stick to the same formula. I like to work closely with one producer and get a cohesive sound for the album.” His sound is distinguishable amongst other Philly rappers and carries a prolific sound that expresses the pits of reality that he has witnessed. He is without a doubt comparable to Nas, Common, and Talib Kweli for a reason and rightfully so, deserves respect for his art.

By: Mereb Gebremariam