Queens, NY-born, Long Beach, California-based emcee Ill Knob presents the music video for “Don’t Get Lazy,” his single produced by Elma Beats. Directed by Knob and Chauntra Burton, the “Don’t Get Lazy” clip is the latest in a heavy stream of releases since his 2006 debut For The Streets which featured Daz Dillinger, 40 Glocc, Jayo Felony and Bad Azz.
Bred in Brooklyn, Knob relocated to California with the Wu-Tang Clan family to California to work on albums from such Wu affiliates as Deadly Venoms, Wu-Syndicate, Shyheim and Sunz Of Man. Knob says “Don’t Get Lazy” is about “not giving up on your self or your dreams even when no one else believes in you.” “Don’t Get Lazy” is out now on Ill One Enterprises LLC.
How did you get your artist name? What’s the meaning behind it?
I got the name from what started out as a joke. The homies in the hood used to call me Big Kno (short for Knowledge) even though I was mad skinny. One day this girl I was messing with said in front of a few people “ his shit is big he ain’t no joke” my boy Shareef was like Big Knoooooob and everybody busted out laughing. Word spread and a few people around the neighborhood started calling me that for laughs. I rolled with it. After we signed with Wu-Tang Management I changed it to ILL because I was getting better and my style was sick.
I thought about changing my name over the years until I realized i it was unique and there was only one ILL KNOB, which is really great for SEO. So yeah no well thought out plan no acronyms or nothing but back in the days I said it meant knocking niggas out the box lol but really it wasn’t any scientific emcee well thought out plan behind it just some regular ole hood shit.
You’re an East Coaster who has relocated to the West. What are the primary differences in lifestyle and especially with regard to hip-hop that you’ve noticed?
The east coast is fast paced. Always something happening pretty loud and exciting like all of the time. The west coast is more laid back, slower moving, more spread out and to me it seems less crowded and condensed. I don’t know if there is a real difference in todays hip hop so much as it was back in the day. You can hear the difference in songs like Snoops “Gin & Juice” vs. Onyx “Shiftee”. West Coast hip hop seemed to have more instruments in the music while East Coast was more sample driven. The crazy thing about it though is when you put a West Coast rapper on an East coast track and vice versa it was always super dope!
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How did “Don’t Get Lazy’ come together?
So many times in my life I let the opinions of others influence my life situations. I took advice from people that didn’t know what the hell they was talking about. I let negative people talk me out of doing great things.I was like Bruce Leroy from “The Last Dragon”, I kept looking for some master who knows everything to help me get to where I was trying to go. When the master was me the whole time. Now that I know this I can’t lose because only I can see my vision and if I’m the only one who can see it then I’m the only one who knows what needs to be done to achieve my goals and bring my vision to life.
I wanted to share my newfound way of thinking with others who may need to hear this on their journey to greatness. “Don’t Get Lazy” means don’t let your vision slip away, some people stop working because all the negative energy puts that fire out that they have inside of them. It can kill your confidence, make you lazy so to speak. Keep going, keep working and keep believing in yourself even when no one else does.
You’ve been in the game for a while. What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned?
Listen to yourself, your gut, follow through with your plans. Work hard and understand that opinions from others doesn’t really mean much (unless these opinions are coming from your fans). It’s just you and your fans that’s it! Have enough faith and confidence to make your own decisions and never never ever let someone talk you out of doing what is best for you.
What releases can we expect from you coming up?
I’m about to shoot a music video for “Slept On” in two weeks. I released maybe 22 singles in 2020 and 5 so far in 2021 (available on all streaming platforms). Expect more singles and I plan to shoot music videos for almost every song I’ve released thus far. It’s going to be a busy year for ILL KNOB.
