In honor of Black History Month, Atwood Magazine has invited artists to participate in a series of essays reflecting on identity, music, culture, inclusion, and more.
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Today, acclaimed South Los Angeles rapper and phenomenon WIL$ON shares his essay, ‘I Deserve It All,’ reflecting on his journey as an artist while navigating life, as a part of Atwood Magazine’s Black History Month series!
WIL$ON aims right for the soul with his music, hitting the mark with intentional, intricate, and inimitable rhymes rooted in raw truth. He grew up in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods of South Los Angeles, known as “The Hundreds.” Living with his mom and three sisters, he never met his father, but music surrounded him. After two years in college with ambitions to be an ESPN anchor, he picked up a pen and decided to write poetry. With the encouragement of friends, he cobbled together a D.I.Y. studio with a microphone and spent countless hours spitting over internet beats. Producers cook&jango invited him to their Compton studio where they unlocked undeniable creative chemistry. He built buzz across a string of projects, namely ‘Extended Family’ EP [2018], ‘A Blue Phase’ EP [2019], and ‘Lil Boy’ EP [2020].
“Heartbreak Anonymous” represented a turning point, gathering 1.8 million Spotify streams and setting the stage for 2022’s ‘1-800-HEARTBREAK.’ He expanded the story with ‘Method Acting: act I’ EP and ‘Method Acting act II: The Blue Note’ in 2023. In between, he opened for everyone from Smino to Kalan.FrFr and received acclaim from Complex and The FADER who praised how, “Wil$on himself isn’t afraid to get personal in lyrics that cover struggles, social consciousness, and the unshakeable feeling that he’ll win.”
Boasting a big screen-worthy vision for hip-hop’s future, he now delivers an enigmatic, engaging, and elevated body of work on his Def Jam Recordings debut, ‘Method Acting: act III.’ By doing so, he emerges as the outlier 21st Century rap needs.
“Real music ain’t dead, man,” he declares. “You never have to conform to what you think the masses want to hear. The biggest artists in the world all make music with substance. They make music that people can relate to, and I’m just trying to do the same thing. While I’m at it, my music is always going to have soul above all.”
Read WIL$ON’s Black History Month essay below!
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I DESERVE IT ALL
by WIL$ON
All my life, I’ve been very lucky – a loving mother and sisters, good friends, and I’ve always found myself at the right places at the right times.
I remember back in school (when the Clippers sucked), my entire history class was taken to a game and when the usual t-shirt cannons came out, I inexplicably caught a shirt. My classmate at the time turned to me and said, “of course you of all people caught one,” and for some reason that sentence has always stuck with me.
No, seriously, every time something even remotely good happens, I see her face and hear her voice saying, “You of all people.” I’ve never necessarily been the hardest worker or the smartest person so when good things happen, I get this strange tinge of guilt.
“Why me?”
When I signed my first modeling contract the voice got even louder. “People have worked their entire lives to get here and you got signed because of Instagram?!”
Or when I signed to Def Jam, I was embarrassed to tell people in my everyday life because I didn’t want to sound like I was bragging.
Insert “Man At The Garden.”
I grew up in one of South-Central Los Angeles’ worst neighborhoods, named “the 100’s.” I’ve easily known 30+ people who have been slain in my lifetime – from family, to friends, to the kid I saw biking around the neighborhood. So, I guess it’s been hard to enjoy the fruits of my labor when I know so many who didn’t make it this far.
I deserve it all.
This past year I lost one of my favorite cousins, Lamont, who would say every time I saw him, “Mark, you gotta stop the humble act cuz sometimes it’s alright to let N*gg*s know!”
I deserve it all.
I still struggle accepting things as they come, but now, I look at it as I’m living for those who couldn’t be here – and the best way to honor their memory is to live and stop calling myself “lucky.”
I deserve it all. – WIL$ON
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:: stream/purchase Method Acting: act III here ::
:: connect with WIL$ON here ::
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