Apollo1027 we have been trying to get you on Nefarious Supply for a while so we are super excited for this interview! So to get started, introduce your self who is Apollo1027, what drove you to become a musician, and what is your long term goal as a rising underground artist?
Happy to finally make this happen man. Apollo1027 is an artist with a lot to offer. Simple as that. In high school I started really getting into music, so I joined the high school choir. Eventually, I moved my way up and became a part of the school’s a capella group. I was really on that! Then I met a guy who goes by the name of David Sulky, through our mutual friend Tiffani, and Sulky would try to get me to come through and record a joint at his crib for years but I guess I was too afraid to try it out, but then senior year rolled around and I was just like “hey why not?”. The rest is history. Shoutout my brother Sulky and the rest of the RX team.
I got a lot of long term goals. I want to establish myself as an A-list artist within the industry, I want to sign a big record deal with a major label, all that. But I’d say that my main long term goal as a rising underground artist is to leave a legacy on this earth. I’m trying to go down as a legend. I want people to be able to take my stories/experiences and learn from them. Or even just relate to them.
Who or what has had some of the biggest influences on your, and your music, and how have they done so?
My music is influenced by so many different things and so many different people. I grab inspiration from the highs and the lows and just use it to fuel creativity. My parents are two individuals who really have a large influence on who I am as a person today and on the values that I live my life by. As far as musical influences go, I get inspired by your basic mainstream artists of course: Drake, Carti, Travis, Bieber, Bad Bunny, Post Malone, Party, Frank, Nav, Juice, Don Toliver, X, and Brent. But I also draw a lot of inspiration from lesser known artists like Lil Keed, Lil Gotit, Mykel, FLEE, etc. and that’s just Rap and RnB. I grew up listening to lots of hard rock; bands like Def Leppard, Journey, Van Halen, U2. Way too many artists and bands to name. I wish I could name everyone that’s influenced me musically.
I usually make what I’m in the mood to make in terms of music. Some songs I make will remind some people of Drake, other songs may sound like something Keed would get on. Just depends on my mood or the things going on in my life really. It’s also fair to say that my close friends that make music also influence me. Artists like jusLo, David Sulky, 561Renzo, C3, Mark Richards, BACHI, Uncle Ricq and 777Villain are examples of people whom I hang out with that just so happen to make amazing music as well.
So tell us about your time as a rising underground artist, what lessons have you learned since you've started, and if you could give some advice to a new artist what would it be?
Some of the main lessons I’ve learned as an up and coming underground artist are that you have to learn to fall in love with the process of everything, that patience is key, and that when you’re not working, someone else is. Always put in work. Whether that’s studio time or music videos or photo shoots or promo, do at least one thing daily that’ll help you get closer to your goal.
Don’t let the end goal cloud your mental though. Don’t lose your sense of self. It’s easy to say that you want the money, the material things, the fame, the record deal; who doesn’t want all that? But at the end of the day it’s the grind that will get you there. So if you fall in love with the grind, with the process, then all you’ll be doing is grinding 24/7. That’s when you’re dangerous, cause you’ll reach your goals and clear em quicker than everyone else. Fall in love with the process that’s the key. And never give up. Stay true to yourself and your dream even if the whole world is against you.
So where are you from, and how has this location played an influence on you, and your music, and allowed you to grow as an artist?
I was born and partially raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but I’m from Orlando, Florida. I got one Spanish song out right now titled “Azulado”, that’s directly influenced from the type of music that’s popular back on the island. But Orlando itself doesn’t influence my music per say, like people that listen to my music don’t say “oh he sounds like he’s from Orlando”. Some songs sound like Toronto, some songs sound like Atlanta. However my life experiences and the people I’ve connected with over the years in the Orlando inspire me to just work hard and continue to put the city on the map. Orlando has always shown mad love to the kid. A few people here and there have been hesitant to (and that’s normal), but I could probably count those individuals on two hands. Overall, the city got my back, and I got theirs.
Tell us about your name bro, how did you come up with Apollo1027?
I remember back in summer of 2018 I was kind of going through a mental slump. I went to Puerto Rico and going there to me is like therapy. I was driving around one of the neighborhoods I spent a lot of time in as a kid, where my aunts and great grandmother used to live. The neighborhood is called “Apolo”, located in the city of Guaynabo. So I took that, added my birthday to it, and ran with it. At first it was just Apollo, but there are tons of Apollos on streaming platforms. So I added the 1027. Some people clown it because it sounds like a club penguin handle, but when you hear the crowd screaming the “ten two seven” chant it’ll change your mind. It’s unique, it’s different, and it pays homage to my childhood. Fun fact, Apollo is also the name of the Greek god of music, which is pretty cool.
Okay, so music. You are never not working which is amazing and your work ethic shows with a discography is extensive. My personal favorites gotta be “Madagascar” your newest song “Hellcat”(produced by LouBeats), “Sweetheart“( produced by LONESXME), “Riot” and “DESIGNER SNAKES” (produced by TRVPYYY). Tell us about each song, how they came about, and how they add value to your discography?
Madagascar came about after one of the many studio sessions I’ve had with Cosmic (the producer). Cosmic has this thing where he always wants to make beats more complex and crazier than they need to be, which works for him! But I like more simplified beats and loops. I pulled up to his crib and told him I wanted to make a song that was stupid simple, goofy, to the point, but hard. Something we could throw on tik tok. The beat was made in less than 10 minutes. I went home recorded it, mixed it, mastered it in under 45 mins, and boom the song was done.
“Hellcat” I made for performance purposes only. I always like to perform it as the last song of my sets. Makes people go nuts. I was scrolling through YouTube when I came across the beat (shoutout LouBeats) and I fell in love with how hard and how often the 808’s were hitting. I slept though because someone purchased the exclusive instrumental for it before I did. NAOquelly has a song called “Let My Hair Down” and it’s to the same beat. It’s love though his team was cool about everything and they asked us to take it down so I’m currently in talks with my distributor to take it down from streaming platforms unfortunately. But I just shot a video for it and I’m keeping it on SoundCloud. No more YouTube beats for me though. Just gonna try and stick to producers I personally know like the Freddy Leone, Trvpyyy, and Cosmic to name a few.
“Sweetheart” was my first song under the alias Apollo1027, so it’ll always hold a special place in my heart and in the hearts of the day ones. LONESXME exclusively produced my very first project and that was the single off of it. I remember when I first heard the beat and how he sampled the second half of Drake’s “Fancy” off of Thank Me Later. I was blown away because that’s one of my favorite Drizzy songs and LONESXME slowed the sample to perfection. Knew I wanted to get on it immediately. LONESXME has since become one of the most reliable producers to go to for me and for other artists that I work with closely. But yeah he played an extremely important part in laying the foundation of my sound as Apollo1027 down.
“Riot” was one of my personal favorites off of the 1027 album. I remember I was super close to the deadline, and I made that song like a day or two before I had to submit the album. Also produced by LouBeats. The song itself has this energy to it, it just makes you wanna jump around and mosh. It’s a feel good song where I’m just flexing the whole time. That’s a song you crank when you wanna be lit. I’ve started some shows off with that song because it gets the energy levels way up!
“Designer Snakes” is the song that changed everything for me. I went from being ignored by everyone to making my small little mark within the industry. Even though it’s just a blip compared to what I got planned in the future. I remember I was in my dorm room in January of 2019, just scrolling through YouTube for beats. It was like 4 am. I came across that beat and it was produced by Trvpyyy. The hook came to me almost immediately so I wrote it down, and went to bed. Woke up the next morning and instantly recorded the verse. Dragged the hook over again (right after recording the verse) and I remember looking at my manager Ty and telling him that I wasn’t feeling it at all.
He thought it was fire and told me that if I want feeling it anymore, to just drop it how it is on SoundCloud only. So after a little bit of back and forth, I posted the song, unfinished. Couple of months go by and it got featured on a NELK prank YouTube video for like 10 seconds (Ty sent them an email with my music attached). The song started going crazy, so we contacted Trvpyyy, let him know what was going on, and we put it on all platforms. Right now the song itself is still doing numbers hitting over 1.2 million streams on Spotify alone. I’m grateful for my manager Tyler for making that move to send the song to NELK, for Trvpyyy because of how hard that beat is, and for NELK since they helped put me on in a way. I was able to establish a relationship with Trvpyyy too that’s my guy. Crazy talented and he already has placements with Keed, Gotit, and even Lil Nas X.
So you have two EPs out right now “Summer Solstice '' which featured production from Freddy Leone, Fuagnem, and LONESXME. And your debut album “1027” both of which sound so different from one another. Tell us about each one, what was your goal with them, your creative process behind them, and the importance of each one on your image as a whole?
“Summer Solstice” is one of my favorite personal bodies of work. Short, concise and straight to the point. My goal with that tape was to set a summer vibe and fill the tape with bops. Freddy went crazy on Poolside Queen. I feel like that’s the summer banger off that tape. LONESXME absolutely snapped with the production of Ksubi. He made David and I’s job super easy. One of my favorite beats ever. And of course Fuagnem, (now known as 100Graham) produced the rest of the tape. It was an opportunity for him to showcase his versatility. “DNA” is ridiculously hype, but the he could hit you with the softer, smoother vibes on a track like “Birthday”. Spooky vibes like “Grave” with the jusLo feature to round that track off nicely, and Under My Skin is an absolute underrated classic in my opinion. The guitar compliments my vocals in a nice way. Overall, the tape feels complete to me and I was very satisfied with it. “Summer Solstice” as a whole is just me going through the motions throughout the course of an entire summer; more positive motions than negative ones.
The crazy, sporadic, all-over-the-place self-titled “1027” was my debut album. 19 songs total, and each song was very different from the next. I didn’t want this album to have a theme like how Summer Solstice did. I wanted every song to be different just so I could showcase my versatility as an artist. Got pop songs, rock songs, rap songs, rnb songs, and even a ballad on there to round it all out. It was a crazy, grueling process to complete the whole thing. I made it in about two weeks time; recording, mixing and mastering everything myself on my laptop. That’s how my recording process has always been. Learned that from Sulky. I personally never had the money for studio time so I learned how to try and do everything myself. I lost a bit of weight while working on the album, lost plenty of sleep, and was a bit antisocial as well, but it was all worth it.
Bro you are honest to god a networking demon, your name is literally everywhere and you have worked with many artists and producers including; Freddy Leone, 561RENZO, 777villian, ROSERYHILLS, HYPRWORLD, Izak, and much more. So tell us about how you meet everyone, your experience working with another creative, and what type of qualities do you look for in artists or producers before you work with them?
My pops always emphasized the fact that life is all about relationships. I’ve met all of these people through either mutual friends or just school really. Freddy was introduced to me by David. And Freddy is the hardest working man I know. Cranking out beats and concepts like a machine. Renzo was my roommate in college last year. We got randomly paired but, I don’t believe in coincidences. He helped instill confidence in myself as an artist. Villain is a younger artist I met after a show I did in Tampa. Young legend in his city with crazy talent and crazy potential. Hyprwrld and I linked through YouTube! His production quality and production overall is remarkable. So smooth you wouldn’t even expect for his sound to be on YouTube like that. Rosery is an RnB king. He approaches songs in ways that no one would ever even think of, but it works and it works so well. Met him through my RX boys and Instagram dm’s. Same with Roni. Roni is another RnB artist from the DMV that goes crazy. We got some unreleased together. Some smooth type stuff. C3 and David obviously. jusLo and Cliff. XVX PARIS and Shane. Cosmic. All my brothers in Hotblock, bunch of visionaries and creatives. Stylists, videographers, photographers, producers, etc. So many people to name.
When I wanna work with somebody I look for genuineness and value. Everyone has something to offer, but not everyone has something to offer Apollo1027. When it’s for music, I only try to work with people that’ll push me to that next level. I wanna work with people who inspire me.
When can fans expect new music from you as well as another EP or full-length album?
As far as another EP or full-length album, I’m not entirely sure right now. Maybe a Summer Solstice II? Maybe just a project in the fall? Maybe even a Winter Solstice? Maybe all? Or maybe none. Point is, in terms of a project, I don’t know yet. But when I know, everyone will know too. I’m focused on recording and finishing tons of songs so I can have a lot of vibes to choose from overall. Also trying to push some music videos out within the next few months. Maybe drop a few singles as well.
Okay so it's a whole new year as well as an entirely new decade what are some of the goals you want to accomplish by the end of the year and where do you want to be by the end of the decade?
By the end of the year I hope to have at least one other project out and I hope to gain a larger following than the one I already have now. By the end of the decade I hope to be living off of my music, and living VERY comfortably off of it.
Who should we feature next on Nefarious Supply drop their @’s below?
@itsjuslo, @561Renz, @davidsulky, @777Villain, @yaboy_c3, @xvxparis, @cosmicbeats_ to name a few!
Any last words?
Just a big shout out to the Hotblock Collective and to the Rated X family. And a big shoutout to Nefarious Supply for allowing me to be a part of their catalog. If you took the time to read all of this, I genuinely appreciate you for making it this far. Expect new music and new content very soon.
Blessings.
⁃ 1027