The Illest Illustrator: Miggs Son marks 10 years since debut album with Starland Yard throwdown

 'Make memorable, honest, authentic art. When it’s contrived, it’s corny and not fooling anyone.'

LOCAL hip-hop artist Miggs Son will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the release of his debut album, “Son of a Gun,” at Starland Yard next Friday night. 

In terms of music, Miggs said that he was always the younger brother who wanted to keep up. Along with his older brother and friends, Miggs belonged to Four Elements & Beyond with Freak Tha Monsta and WRD Life.

He eventually joined another band called Word of Mouth, which became his sole music focus. After the group disbanded in 2013, Miggs was still hungry for music and on his own. 

“That’s when I felt it was time to step out and establish myself with a solo album, a self-portrait of the artist I’d become over a lifetime of drawing, rapping, playing trumpet, having deep relationships, college, touring, psychedelics, reading. I wanted to create an honest and entertaining piece of art for myself, my friends and family, and hopefully fans to have and look back on over the years. Well, here we are, 10 years later. I still love the album I created and people are still enjoying it, so I feel that’s cause for celebration,” Miggs told The Savannahian. 

Miggs had total freedom in creating his solo album. He stated that he didn’t face challenges when making his debut project. He noted that it was a blast working with his friends, former bandmates, and fellow artists to create a solo album. 

“Thinking of the creation process of ‘Son Of A Gun’ generally evokes feelings of freedom. I was at a stage where I was exploring different jobs - picture framing, service industry, childcare, freelance artist, touring as a solo artist/duo with another local MC (Dope KNife), revamping a record label (Dope Sandwich), doing house shows, opening for every big act that came through Savannah, single… total freedom haha,” Miggs said. 

                                                Photo by Valentin Sivyakov

The track, “Illest Illustrator,” holds the most significance for Miggs. He said that making art is all he ever wanted to do and he’s been obsessed with drawing, painting, and creating for years.

When he started rhyming, he admired the correlation between music, the spoken word, and visual art. After immersing himself in different genres, “Illest Illustrator” gave him the chance to explore the connections again. 

His most recent project and collaboration was released last year. Since moving back up north, he’s been working with his group, Four Elements & Beyond. They dropped a group album titled, Clock the Chemistry, and they are currently working on more music.

While he hasn’t released a solo Long Playing (LP) since ‘Son of a Gun,’ Miggs has released an Extended Play (EP) titled, Dragon Ball EP. He also released a mixtape called, The Miggstape Vol 3. 

He may release another album or an EP soon! 

He was influenced by lyrical, hardcore, street philosophical raps, mainly from NY, but he listened to others as well. A few of his influencers are KRS-ONE, Pete Rock and CL Smooth, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang, Common, Black Star, Pharcyde, Big Pun, and OutKast.

His music started one-dimensional because he was still learning the skill of rhyming. As he grew and matured, his music became influenced by other factors. His content started covering all of his obscure interests, artists, films, theories, planes, and dimensions beyond just slick talk. 

Miggs remarked that staying inspired and motivated to create music is easy. He loves writing, recording, and performing. However, he said that finding the time is the challenging part.

He’s inspired by his brothers who have children, but still create and sacrifice to make their vision a reality. They may not have time to create, but that serves as the reason why creating is a must. 

Miggs’s advice to new artists is:

“Do your thing. Whatever your thing is, whatever feeds your spirit, embrace it. Make memorable, honest, authentic art. When it’s contrived, it’s corny and not fooling anyone. Take your time with your art. Don’t force it based on “industry” or social media pressure. This is not “key to success” advice, but it’s what I believe makes the artist’s journey the most fulfilling," he said.

"Also, don’t rap over your vocals. Ever.”