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The ILLZ was born Delgis Jose Mustafa Rodriguez on July 6, 1986 in the town of Jarabacoa (La Vega Province), Dominican Republic. His
parents Jose Mustafa and Katia Rodriguez split up when ILLZ was still very young and eventually his mother came to the United States seeking a
better life. After working tirelessly Katia was finally able to attain the proper paperwork to bring her son to the United States, he was only 4 years
old. Growing up in Hudson County, NJ ILLZ would slowly develop his love and skill for Hip-Hop. Artists like Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Mobb Deep, & AZ
would serve ...read more
The ILLZ was born Delgis Jose Mustafa Rodriguez on July 6, 1986 in the town of Jarabacoa (La Vega Province), Dominican Republic. His
parents Jose Mustafa and Katia Rodriguez split up when ILLZ was still very young and eventually his mother came to the United States seeking a
better life. After working tirelessly Katia was finally able to attain the proper paperwork to bring her son to the United States, he was only 4 years
old. Growing up in Hudson County, NJ ILLZ would slowly develop his love and skill for Hip-Hop. Artists like Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Mobb Deep, & AZ
would serve as his earliest inspirations. What first started as a game of rhyming certain words together with friends as they walked home from
school would end up turning into his life’s passion. His first encounter with actual “rapping” was due to his best friend at the time. They would
record 18 second long songs on Windows Sound Recorder over Hip-Hop beats that they would download on Napster. ILLZ was only 11-12 then,
however he knew this was more than just a way to kill time. His love for music was slowly taking concrete form.
Fast forward to June of 2005. ILLZ is 17 and has a life changing choice in front of him. He would either move to Miami, FL with his parents
or stay behind living alone in a one bedroom apartment. He had grown up all of his life only minutes away from New York City, a Mecca for all
things music related. Without much thought he decided to stay behind alone and for the first year he worked and attended NJCU majoring in
Video Production. Film was a love that was slowly building inside of him identical to the way music once did, so he happily attended school until
he could no longer afford it. 2005 was a difficult year for The ILLZ. In August he would lose his father due to a tragic automobile accident in the
Dominican Republic and in November he would lose fellow emcee and longtime friend D-Mobb to a fatal shooting. Musically the years that were
ahead of him would be barren. ILLZ had grown tired of the Hip-Hop music he had once loved so dearly. He was tired of his sound and decided to
step back from it. He needed something new, something that would inspire him. No longer did the essential, golden age Hip-Hop that he was
making quench his artistic thirst.
“I was just searching for new music on iTunes and then I came across it.” Smashing Pumpkins: Greatest Hits. Music had always been the
main focus of his life, and now in the spring of 2009 ILLZ almost felt as if he had to move on from it. Still searching for something new, refreshing,
and unexplored by himself he decided to download this particular project. What happened next was pivotal in respect to ILLZ’ music career. He
fell in love with music again. He began buying albums from The Killers, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers and from then came on the early
experimentation with Progressive rock instrumentals. That was the sound behind his first project, “This is…” That project earned him his very first
placements on premier blogs all over the internet. After releasing that project he began exploring with Trip-Hop, Ambient, Chillout and Dubstep
music. « hide |
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