Artist description With a refreshing lyrical style and delivery, not your average down-south rappers, these are UNIVERSAL EMCEES.

Music Style Universal

Musical Influences Jay-Z, The Lox, Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek, Common

Artist History ILL Universal, a hot new independent label based in the south (Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas) is about to take the industry by storm. With a refreshing lyrical style and delivery, these artists are not your run of the mill down-south rappers, they are UNIVERSAL EMCEES. The 1st official release from ILL Universal, ILL Universal: Instrumentals, Life Lyricism is about to hit the streets this fall. This is the first stage of the Global ILLimination of all the artists not worth the beats they spit on. Copies of the first single from the sampler are being sent out to every hip-hop radio station in the Southeast US along with other ILL material, which will all be used in the current promotional storm. You may not be aware of it now, but the talented young black entrepreneurs behind this effort are the ILLest in the Business. From the label's inception on January 1, 1999, there has been something special about ILL Universal. In 1998, these lyrically gifted individuals met through the internet while posting lyrics in various online chatrooms and message boards. After months of trading verses with an online following which grew to over 100 lyricists, the founding members decided to take their skills to the next level and be heard by the world. Through a competition calling for the survival of the ILLest emcees, the roster of the record label which is now ILL Universal was chosen: The Threat (Pyromaniac, L, and Zer0) of Crystal Springs, MS; Deadline (Kamakazie Killa, Cortez, and O'So) of Whiteville, TN Soon after, the label was introduced to the Timbaland influenced sounds of the Texas based producer Morpheus while visiting his website. One quick e-mail resulted in a unique chemistry between the artists and produced their first single. Most of the contact between the two groups that make up the label has been achieved through the internet. Entire tracks were produced by e-mailing vocal files to the producer who then mixed the vocals with a beat using computer software. Since the beginning, the technology used has advanced, other artists have started to produce, but the basic method remains the same and they have yet to meet in person. ILL Universal: Instrumentals, Life, Lyricism will be available in late August/early September on the official website - www.illuminatirecords.com, via mail order (contact ILLuminati_Records@yahoo.com for info) and will be hitting a street near you very soon. These eleven blazing tracks with trunk rattling beats and lyrics that will keep your hand on the rewind button will bring the South to the forefront of hip-hop lyrically. Forget mainstream. Forget underground. Forget every other name you have even seen or heard in the game. There is only 1 name you have to remember now - ILL Universal.

Group Members Pyinfamous L. Zer0

Instruments Instrumentals, Life, Lyricism

Albums ILL Universal: Instrumentals, Life, Lyricism

Press Reviews February 2002. www.Tennsfinest.com interview with Pyinfamous and Kamakazie Killa of ILL Universal Entertainment 1. Introduce yoself to everyone, let'em know what yall do and who yall be. We are ILL Universal Entertainment, an independently owned and operated record label based in the Dirty Dirty South with members in Mississippi, Tennesse, and Texas. We have aspirations do a lot of different things in the game, but right now we are concertrating on making hot music, which is what we do best. Our main goal is bringing some recognition to the South for real hip-hop and lyrics. In time, we will expand into clothing and a lot of other areas that have been explored by those who have preceded us, but we also want to go into different areas with the talents we now possess and the talents we will gain in the future. We want to do comic books and all sorts of other stuff, so we have really big plans for the future. We are the ILLest in the Business. That's our motto, and it basically sums up how we feel about our music. There isn't anybody better than us out there, or at least they haven't proven it yet. The first three letters of ILL are always capilizated in ILL Universal or ILLuminati Records (the recording division of ILL Universal Entertainment) because each letter is one of the three pillars we stand for. I is Instrumentals - the hot beats that are a tradition in the South, but we also come with different type sounds to keep the game on its toes. L if for Life - this is our life. It's our entire being. It's what we love. It's why we are in the game. The last L is for lyricism, which is what we pride ourselves in the most, spitting hot lyrics. The L for life is between Instrumentals and Lyricism it is closely connected to both, and everything that happens to us in life affects our beats and rhymes. As far as personal intros go, I'm PyInfamous a.k.a Pyromaniac, one-third of The Threat, and co-founder of ILL Universal Entertainment (Real Name: Jason Thompson). Rounding out The Threat you have my brothers, L. and Zer0 (Ahmad and Saddi Thompson). Of course you have my man, K.A.M.A.K.A.Z.I.E Killa (Chris Jones) and his cousins Cortez and O'so (Charles and Rod Roberson) making up the group, Deadline. 2. How old are yall now and at what age did yall start this empire? Pyinfamous: I am 19 (I'll be 20 in March), and Chris is 17. My brothers are both 16, and Cortez and Rod are 19 and 17 respectively. Kamakazie Killa: When we started in 1999, L., Zer0, and I were 13; Py and Cortez were 16, and Rod was 14. 3. How did you two find out about each other? Pyinfamous: Chris really met one of my brothers (Zer0) first, through Excite chat I think. They were in keystyling one day, and they just linked up like that. After a while, it was a regular thing for all of us, so we got to know each other that way Kamakazie Killa: For those of you who don't know, keystyling is like the online version of freestyling. You go in a chatroom and start typing lyrics off the top of your head like you would in a face to face cypher. 4. How long were yall partners before physically meeting each other? Pyinfamous: We started ILLuminati Records (Now ILL Universal Entertainment) Jan. 1, 1999, and we didn't meet in person until the fall of 2001. So it was over 2 years. 5. What exactly is "ILL Universal Entertainment"? Pyinfamous: Like I said earlier, we are the ILLest in the Business, but moreover, we are a family. That is another reason why we chose to start an independent label. The talent is there. We could have had deals a long time ago, but we don't want to get the run around from big labels. And we really don't want to compromise our music. ILL Universal is a lot of things, but if I had to use one word to describe it, I would say we are UNIVERSAL. Our music is for North, South, East, West, Asians, Jamaicans, Europeans, Australians, aliens, whatever. Everything about us is universal, which is another reason for the name ILL Universal. 6. What does the logo symbolize? Pyinfamous: The Aum symbolizes creation among other things, and we feel that we possess the type of gift to create top notch music in the industry. Kamakazie Killa: The Aum also symbolizes preservation, because we we feel that we have the staying power and longevity to last in the game; It also symbolizes destruction, which refers to the total annialiation of all oppososition. We will let nothing stand in our way to reach our goals. 7. Who all is in the ILL Universal crew and what are they're locations? Pyinfamous: There's me (PyInfamous), L, and Zer0 located in Mississippi; K.A.M.A.K.A.Z.I.E., O'So, and Cortez located in Nashville, Tennessee; and Morpheus the Beat Villain out of Texas. We also have street team members in MS, PA, NC, TN, and a lot of other places. 8. How did yall go about rounding up artists for the label? Pyinfamous: For the most part, it was pretty easy because we had a lot of talent already when the idea was conceived. What we did was have a contest entitled Survival of the ILLest, and we got material from produers and emcees all over the net. We chose from the best of what we received and now, minus a few cats who we started with, here we are. 9. How do yall pull shit together without a studio? Pyinfamous: The technology that is available now in the music business is mind-blowing. In the beginning, we ran everything through Morpheus. He would send us a loop, we would record it and send it back to him. Then, he'd mix it down. For the Instrumentals, Life, Lyricism album, we were supposed to record most of the tracks in a studio, but due to time constraints, we were forced to do otherwise. But basically we just used a lot of different music software programs, computers, and mics. That's it. 10. Who all has projects currently out? Pyinfamous: Right now we are really focusing on promoting the Instrumentals, Life, Lyricism album, which features the whole family, but Morpheus's first full length album is available on mp3.com (http://www.mp3.com/morpheustd/) and O'So's album, Ermon Rd., is also available on mp3.com. 11. What kind of promotional tactics are yall using? Pyinfamous: We do any and everything we can think of. We send promotional e-mails, distribute flyers, give out free singles, do contests (ILLuminati Mami of the Month), throw parties. Whatever it takes. 12. Yall got any kinda shows planned? Pyinfamous: Right now, we don't have anything set in stone. We are looking at having a big show in the spring, in colloboration with a couple of other indie labels. That should be pretty big. To start the year off we did a show in MS. We are still in the planning stages. We do look forward to performing a lot this year though. 13. So whats the next move for ILL Universal Entertainment? Pyinfamous: Right now we are still trying to get our sound to the ears of the public. The next big move will probably be the first album from The Threat. We want to hold that back though, so we can get the best possible beats and rhymes and the best public response. But like I said, right now we are really trying to push our first single It Don't Matter, and album, Instrumentals, Life, Lyricism. 14. Is there anything else yall would like to say to end this interview? Pyinfamous: I think everything has been covered, but I just want everybody to know that we aren't just another run-of-the-mill independent label content with making music. Kamakazie Killa: Forget mainstream. Forget Underground. Forget every other name you have ever seen or heard of in the game. The only name you have to remember now is ILL Universal. Prepare for Global ILLimination.

Location Crystal Springs, MS - USA

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