Recognize the Unknown: King HelioS
November 11, 2011
MusicSwagger: Hello HelioS, first of all thank you for reaching out to me with your music. I really like what I hear from such a young artist and I can tell you really have a passion for what you do....First of all, what is your real name and what is the story behind your artist name Helios?
HelioS: Ooh I don't like to put my real name out there because if you listened to my last project Petals, you'll realize that my parents aren't exactly pleased with my music. Luckily, at the moment they're cool with it but that's because they're kind of oblivious to what I do with the music I make. So all I'll say is that my first name is usually shortened to Wole. It's kind of pronounced like the rapper WALE( we're from the same country), but with an 'aw' sound where his 'a' is. Before HelioS, I had gone by MustListenTo(M.L.T) since I was 14. But when I was 80 percent done with my upcoming mixtape, attaching the name M.L.T to the songs in my iTunes Library just felt and looked weird. You'll fully understand when you hear the whole tape, but suffice it to say that I just changed. Let me put it this way: If M.L.T blew up, he would be the prototype of a rapstar- some heart-felt songs, some party-bangers... with HelioS, things take on a more ethereal, spiritual feel. There's a certain unusual vibe to the name and the artist and you'll see that to its full effect on the mixtape. On an aside though, I don't have a PS3 and a few years back, I would just watch the God Of War 3 walkthrough on youtube (nerdy? thank you very much) and there was this particular scene that I always revisit in my head where Kratos shoves a spear through the Sun god Helios and when the god does not co-operate and insists he is of no help to Kratos, Kratos literally rips his head off in graphic detail and what was really cool about it was that even with his head ripped off, the power of the sun was still present in the decapitated head.
MusicSwagger: Very interesting, where do you live and where are you attending college?
HelioS: I live in New Jersey but at the moment, I'm in Daytona Beach, Florida attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
MusicSwagger: Awesome, I attend UCF here in Orlando, are there any musicians that inspire your work or would you say you are bringing something totally new to the rap game?
HelioS: Maybe we'll meet up someday haha.
At the moment, I'm a big Kendrick Lamar rap fan...I mean i always have been but with section.80 he brought back an element of poetry/rap that I feel has been lost for awhile. Emotion as well as attention to sound. That's something that I feel I'm bringing to the game. When I rap my verses, i want the listener to hear the anguish of the killer I'm portraying, the disturbed wife about to poison her husband, the heart-broken high school senior and whatever in between. Think of J.Cole's last verse on 2Face. Gave you chills didn't it? You could feel the guilt and pain through the earphones. Now think of that being showcased in each one of my songs. It gives the rhymes and the songs more value especially in our mixtape saturated corner of the internet. I feel like something I'm also bringing or rather taking from the table is the extreme vulgarity that sometimes permeates my favorite songs. No rap fan should ever have to turn their music down when their parents/ girl they're trying to impress comes into the room or have to succumb to the clean version of things. I will always touch on sensitive topics...but with respect to my listeners and my craft. 'The music over everything else' is my motto. Shoutouts to Some other artists that have are Immortal Technique and Tiron and Ayomari. Those guys always exemplified
MusicSwagger: Good to know you listen to real hiphop also, have you ever performed live before? Or still working up to that?
HelioS: Nah, that's still a dream of mine. I've torn up my share of lunchroom tables and boring wedding receptions though haha.
MusicSwagger: Hey, all rap greats have a humble beginning. What do you want to achieve with your music?
HelioS: With the music I make, first and foremost, I want to always relate to listeners everywhere, whether it be through the stories I tell or the emotions I convey. I want to make music people can go to sleep to(in a good way), music that pumps them up right before they ask a girl out, music that they can listen to at 4 in the morning, when the party's over and all the doubts and insecurities that plague all of us return in full force. I'm in college now, but I have plans way bigger than an engineering course, and I know that my music could be a way out. And even if it isn't, I'll keep on making songs that will always elevate the culture- you think Nas is a great storyteller? Wait until you hear what I've got to say in the near future.
MusicSwagger: Really anticipated for what you have to bring to the table. Would you say you have a favorite song of yours?
HelioS: I don't think i really have a favorite song of mine. But I will say this: the one song that I am really excited for people to hear (and they will somewhere between November and December) is a track called AiL(Mandy). "AiL" stands for Art imitating Life. Plus the word 'ail' is a double entendre. I'll let you draw your conclusions as to why that's the title. Anyway, I really do believe that I outdid myself on that one song and the beat is like nothing you've ever heard anyone rhyme on before.There's three sides to a coin when it comes to AiL. I really hope people get it.
MusicSwagger: Can't wait to hear it, explain your upcoming project for us. What are we going to get from it?
HelioS: It's funny, i was hoping there would be a question like this. I...hesitate to give out the title but I think it's time I released it. My upcoming project is titled Animus Session: The Dead Of Winter. I drew my inspiration for the structure of this project from a video game series that in recent times, i have been very enamored with: Assassin's Creed. On the surface, the game seems to focus a lot on the long dead ancestors of the main character(Desmond), so much so that sometimes fans tend to ignore Desmond as Ezio and Altair(the assassin ancestors) are more interesting; they scale buildings, leap across rooftops and assassinate historical figures. Oddly enough, the only way we could even play through these ancestors' lives is through Desmond's 'genetic memories' as he is the one descendant that connects them all. Now the concept of genetic memory I could go into but i think people would rather prefer a visual explanation...skip to 07:23 of this video and all will be explained:http://www.youtube.
MusicSwagger: Can I just say I fucking love a hip-hopper who is a video game nerd. Thank you for your time HelioS, you are one interesting person and artist. I'm sure our viewers will have a good read.
HelioS: No problem, it's been a pleasure Mr. Clark.
Now here's what you are all interested to hear, check out some of HelioS's work.
Just This Once
Animus Sessions (Intro)
The Burning Bush
HelioS on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
Youtube: http://www.youtube.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/
Posted by Ryan Clark. Posted In : Recognizing the Unknowns
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