Back in the 80's, kids outside New York City, kids of every color were becoming enthralled with a culture called Hip Hop. Full of bravado, style and fun, Hip Hop was a new style of music but also a creative outlet for artists (grafiti), dancers (breakin' and poppin), and musicians (dj's and emcees). The art of freestyling, where an artist raps "off the top" of there head was a subdivision of the art of emceeing. Artists with the quickest wit, cleverest rhymes and best flow would take center stage in emcee battles across America. Enter "East Coast" Illson. With an amazing knack for crafting rhymes that were not prepared or written beforehand, Illson gained attention for his skills at the art of "freestyling" and soon his name would spread along the east coast as one of the best. After winning countless battles and making a name for himself, he would run into childhood friend, Jon Conner, and started recording songs. Its almost an unwritten rule that most freestylers are not good songwriters, but Illson is aiming to prove that theory wrong when he drops "Hunger Pains", his debut album. Illson adds "I've always been known as a freestyler, but now I want people to feel my songwriting as much as my freestyle, and touch peoples lives with my music." Fast forward to 2006 and you will find, when listening to Illson's music, he has fulfilled his goal. "It's definately been a challenge. Freestyling has always come easy, but I'm proud of the music I have been able to create." Illson has worked with such notable producers such as D Moet (Nas, C.N.N.), David Ivory (D'Angelo, Erica Badu, The Roots, Patti Labelle), Mike Tarsia (Gerald Levert), Tim Hill (HayStak, Young Buck, Bushwick Bill, Lil Jon, 8 Ball & M.J.G.) and Jon Conner(Jae Millz, HayStak, Hell Rell, JR Writer, Half-A-Mil, Spice 1, Joel Ortiz).
  Illson was born and raised in Wilmington, DE and has dealt with hardships since birth.  Born to an unwed 16 year old mother, his father was killed when his mother was 7 months pregnant in a freak accident. His mother, devasted by the loss, was thrown into a deep depression that manifested itself into drugs and wild partying that lead to him taking up permanent residence with his grandmother, who was already caring for two troubled neighborhood kids. Finally, when his mother cleaned up her life and her and Illson were getting close again, she died of a misdiagnosed heart attack. "My mom was such a free spirit, I know if she was here she would be my biggest fan. She never got to meet my son, hear my music or see me perform live. I miss her very much " It is that pain that Illson channels into his music that make his songs so powerful. "People would always tell me to put my heart and life on the page when I wrote my songs. That challenged me to take people on my journey and let them feel my pain. I hope people can take something away from my music and hopefully I can encourage them to get through their problems and hard times by sharing mine."
  Illson has appeared on over 40 mix tapes and 3 nationaly distributed compliations. After the success of his last mixtape "Can Of Whip Ass" and his new mixtape "Beast Of The East" which is making a huge buzz in the industry, Illson is ready to fulfill his destiny. With a deadly freestyle and an album full of moving, heart felt music, Illson is on his way to major success. He's got two angels in heaven to make sure of it. I am a member of Hellaware Inc., The GO-Hard Gang in Las Vegas & the Hellaware- UD 302  DUBB - Ultimate DUBB!!!

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