Today we’d like to introduce you to Ridgio.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
At the age of 17, I started making music with my cousins in my aunt’s attic with a piano, T-pain Autotune microphone, and an iPod to record it all. We made 5 songs a night. Just singing and rapping to one another. I wanted to take it all a bit further and started recording my own songs at 18 at a professional studio. With a few life-changing events, a miscarriage from an ex of mine, being cheated on, using drugs, and a lot of answered prayers, all made me know the true enlivening God and has quadrupled my faith in him. These things were incorporated in my music from the age of 20 until now. At 23, I’m set to spread my personal story and others around me, to everyone to help increase their faith in God and show he’s not only real but relevant to each of our lives.
Please tell us about your art.
I rap and produce hip-hop music and has been falling into different genres like house music as of late. I started rapping 5 years ago. I produce and record everything in my bedroom and started producing last year. My art and story are intertwined. so, with every aspect of my artistry, I try really hard to place my story within. Most of my music is about how I used to do drugs, be disrespectful towards women, dishonor my parents throughout my teens, and how it all changed once the Lord came into my life. I couldn’t think of any reasoning on looking back into the past from that point at age 19 because it seemed obvious that I shouldn’t fall into the same melting pot as others around me because I had a choice to make righteousness my destiny. I hope the listeners of my music take the ups and downs in my message and use that as fuel to believe in God with full confidence.
What do you think about conditions for artists today? Has life become easier or harder for artists in recent years? What can cities like ours do to encourage and help art and artists thrive?
Nowadays I believe it’s much easier for an artist to make a living from their music and cities like Chicago make it that much easier for you. If you take advantage of the open mics, networking events, listening parties, and the vast array of concerts from limitless genres within the city you can easily grasp an opportunity. Social media within the past decade has taken everything to a different tier. I sell beats out of my bedroom almost weekly and I use Instagram to meet new people and just conversate with them while following up with showing them my work. So now, I think there’s plenty of space for the artist to thrive and no real excuses to just flat out not make it anymore.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Most of my work is on SoundCloud you only have to look up Ridgio. I love Instagram so it’ll be cool if everyone went ahead and followed my page @ridgio_ because that’s where I’m most active as well. I also have music on Apple Music, Spotify, and Google Play. YouTube is where all of my music videos are too!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ridgio.com
- Email: ridgiomb@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ridgio_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ridgio
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Ridgio__
Image Credit:
Amoz of Art
Psa Productions
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
