Building a music career in today’s world is similar to a double-edged sword. While it is easy to pick up a music career as all the tools and channels are easily accessible, making it to the top is where the hard work lies. Thus, for any music career to be successful, it is usually a combination of talent and hard work, and for Ray iLLa, he’s not taking chances with either of the two.

Ray iLLa is a songwriter, producer, visual director, and audio engineer. He encompasses everything needed for the music creation process and handles his music distribution as an independent artist and record label owner. Describing himself as a modern-day renaissance man, Ray iLLa looks like a rapper but his music offerings border on slick motivational talk and street-conscious storytelling. 

Some of Ray iLLa’s song releases include “Party at the Crib,” “J Down,” featuring King Louie, “Sick N Tired,” and “Loyalty” featuring Dreezy. Ray iLLa has shown his many sides in his released records ranging from his boastful side to fun, slick-talking, relatable, and motivational sides. His music exudes a great deal of personality, and that’s what Ray wants the world to see and experience.

Ray iLLa runs his own record label, Supa Ugly ENT, like most independent artists. He handles all his music promotion, release, royalties, copyrights, collecting, and logging metadata for ad revenue spent and everything in between. He also has two other businesses he runs alongside the record label and his music career, which gives him quite enough to handle for one person. However, he gets up daily and is motivated to pursue success in an industry he is passionate about, so all of the work comes naturally to him.

Since he released his first single, Ray iLLa has garnered more than 14 million streams across Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud streaming platforms. His video views on YouTube have also reached 1.4 million, and all these details are the things Ray iLLa takes pride in as an artist still looking to break into the limelight. Besides pursuing success as a musician, Ray iLLa aims to motivate his audience ranging from 18-year-olds to 38-year-olds. “I feel like that’s the age range where people are trying to find a strong footing in the world and figure out what they want to do with their lives.”

Ray iLLa is confident in his music and believes that’s what sets him apart. “My content and sound are not like anything people are used to. Like everyone else, I say what I have to say, but I make sure I throw in some gems. I strive to bring a new representation to artists and prove that we are more than we look. There’s a lot more we don’t show that we express in our music. So pay attention to the music because that’s what we are about anyway,” Ray said.

Ray’s passion for his music has grown alongside his brand, and he’s now working around the club to set things up brand-wise. “I know brand awareness and representation can be a lucrative thing, so I’m willing to explore that area,” he said. In a few years, he also sees himself becoming a well-recognized artist putting Chicago on the map for positive things and climbing the top music charts in the United States.

Learn more about Ray iLLa on his YouTube Channel.