Born Parker Gosselin of Prairies in Canada, from Regina, Saskatchewan, the young musical mastermind has created quite the buzz and name for himself as a curator of all things musically great. As a kid his life would change upon moving to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada when his father got a new job position. From there, he got his first introduction into hip hop listening to legends like OutKast and Eminem, which lead to his fascination with how simple, yet complex Dr. Dre composed his beats. This sparked his passion for producing and that only manifested into something greater when he became heavily influenced by Kanye West and Travis Scott. Projects like MBDTF, Watch the Throne, Days Before Rodeo, and Rodeo inspired and shaped the way he produces. Through both influential artists, Illin would find a connection with works of Mike Dean, which made him knowledgeable of synths and applying that knowledge into his own craft.
Today we had an exclusive chance to interview the rapper:
How did you come up with a stage name?
When i first started making beats in high school, one of my friends who was tryna start rapping at the time asked me to show him some beats cause he didn’t like what he was finding on YouTube. I played some for him and he said something along the lines of “yeaaaaa those are illin for sure”. And then eventually I was starting to want to sell beats and wanted to make sure to have a tag so people don’t steal them online and I thought about what he said and was like “Illin’ the buildin(Ill in the building)” sounds sick for a tag and then ever since then Illin was what stuck.
Where are you from?
I’m originally from the prairies in Canada, from Regina, Saskatchewan. Almost all of my extended family lives or lived around some part of Saskatchewan. I lived there but ending up moving at a fairly young age due to my father getting a new job position.
How would you describe the music that you typically create?
The music I typically create is more of a regular modern trap sound with some experimental RnB. However my favorite type of music to make is the really dark, grimy trap music that gets driven along with deep synths and haunting samples
Who influenced you most throughout your career?
I first got into hip hop when I was younger listening to OutKast and Eminem. I listened to them nonstop for years and was always fascinated by Dr. Dres beats, how simple yet complex they could be at the same time. That really got me into the idea of producing. Eventually as I started getting more seriously into the idea of producing I got really heavy into Kanye and Travis Scott and even though they may not produce all of their tracks, they have a hand in everything and that’s what pushed me and influenced me into wanting to be a sort of musical curator. Projects like MBDTF, Watch the Throne, Days Before Rodeo, and Rodeo are the projects that really shaped how I produce today and are massive influences. Just the range of layers and sounds, and for Travis’ projects, that dark, grimy, raw, trap. That also lead me into getting into Mike Dean who’s worked with them both a countless amount of times and that’s what got me super into synths and always trying to layer different synth progressions or things like that in my beats.
Talk about your latest release.
My latest release is out now, it’s called Lizzy. On it I got 2 really dope lyricists: Nat J from the United Kingdom and Zaucy(Lil Zaucy on Spotify) who’s coming out of Florida. It’s a kind of rnb/trap mix. It’s a really smooth, mellow beat(made by me of course) with a very catchy hook and well written verses. It’s the second single from my upcoming project Ill’n Friends which will be dropping sometime soon this year.