Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Okwegba.
Hi Paul, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Ever since I was 4, I always had the ability to sing. I was very shy, and I didn’t really express that artistic side of myself. I’ve been in front of big crowds at a young age, which is ironic. Some of my earliest influences were Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, Pharrell Williams, Des’ree, and various artist from Nigeria and parts of Africa. When I was 13, I started my journey in music production. I leaned into Hip Hop early, around 9/10, listening to rappers like Kendrick Lamar, Lil Wayne, and Wiz Khalifa. I focused on the beats they used and built a sound for myself based on what I liked in their music. At 15, I took music production seriously as I began crafting several instrumental albums and working with other underground producers. By 16, I started adding my own lyrics to my beats, making myself an artist & producer. At 17, I graduated high school and, within a week, released a free album. I ended up going to UNT and met a variety of different individuals with a wide range of music interests. In 2019, I co-founded my label Rated Under Entertainment, followed up with a release entitled “Dangerous, Vol. 1”, a hip-hop mixtape with 7 tracks. 2021 saw the release of my latest album, “EVERYTHING I$ LOVELY 2,” which is possibly one of the best pieces of work I have done by far. I teamed up with my other co-founder of Rated Under Entertainment NoChillSaint, and we released the respective collaborative album “Take Your Time” with music videos for “Higher” & “Beach House.” The latest releases I have out are “Phases,” which I released on my birthday, September 1st, followed up with “At The End of The Day,” with the latter being released near the end of September. Entering 2024, I plan on releasing at least 2 albums, the first being “Dangerous, Vol. 2” release date to be announced at a later point in time. The second album will be revealed once “Dangerous, Vol. 2” has been released.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road I’ve traveled has been everything but smooth. I’ve faces plenty of challenges. As a child, I lost my home due to foreclosure and was forced to move to Houston, TX. This has always been a big part of my life as it felt as though my childhood was taken from me, and I had to force myself to adapt to a different environment, location, and community. It took years for me to get comfortable in my own skin. I used to doubt myself and my own abilities. I was afraid of standing out and being different. At one point, I wanted to fit in with everyone, but the more I tried, the more I couldn’t help but notice the differences between myself and those around me. For a long time, I have been without a car. I realized that I had to be mobile in order to appear at shows and events, and I was getting frustrated with not being able to do things I should be able to do. My parents are not from America, and I would always be in disagreements because we both had different outlooks on the world. It has and always been a challenge, but I also had a knack of rising above adversity.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a musician, a content creator, and a co-founder of Rated Under Entertainment, an independent record label based in Dallas, TX. I specialize in music production, and I also dabble in singing and rapping, and I play several instruments, including the saxophone, bass guitar, and a little bit of piano. I am most proud of my craft as I have spent a decade of my life constantly and consistently improving my sound and finding out what I like in terms of the timbre of music. I love music. It has saved my life more times than I can think. I know that I am truly blessed because I am able to work with a variety of different individuals with music tastes that are both similar and contrasting to my own. My work ethic, personality, knowledge, talent, experience, and willingness to keep moving forward sets me apart from others. I am a firm believer, however, that you must see things with your own eyes so you can have your own concrete understanding. I’ve done this for free countless times and even when I make it, I’d still do this for free because I genuinely love music. Money was never my motivation, and I understand that it can be a bonus. It is a dream of mine to make a living off my music, and as I progress and learn new things and apply them in my life, I can see that the idea is not that far-fetched as most people think.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me are the connections I have with real people, the feeling of being alive, being able to touch people’s hearts and make them feel alive as well. As an independent artist, I am able to achieve this due to the fact I have all the creative freedom to express myself in the music, and I put my own life on display, not to talk down on others but to display just how similar each and every one of us are, no matter who we are, what we came from, where we currently may be in life, where we’re going, or how we were brought up and raised.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @itskingapollo
- Twitter: @itskingapollo
- Youtube: itskingapollo
- SoundCloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/yfuv84AUVTNBQaHs6
- Other: TikTok: @itskingapollo
Image Credits
@parteeography
@14thshooter
