When I first heard of Chicago based producer Dee Lilly, after listening to his latest compilation ObeyI wasn’t aware of his status as a true musician, beyond being a beat maker. After learning he attended the Duke Ellington School of Music in Washington DC for high school, Lilly found his way to Chicago and Columbia College to study Music Business. “I loved the networking opportunities here in Chicago. I feel like if you grind hard enough you will eventually be heard, there is just that pure competitiveness here.”

Now working on his next compilation project, the Columbia College pianist turned producer has worked with the 2008ighties crew, Murph Watkins, and other rising Chicago musicians, since arriving here from DC in 2008. “So this one day Legit was like, ‘man I need producers.’ So a couple months later I showed him some more stuff… he was like, ‘yo, give me that beat I promise I will make that the intro for COTL.’He rapped the verse he had for it and that was it.”

Lilly, struggled at first as a budding producer, jumping right into an industry he definitely thought was simpler than it truly was. After crafting his sound, Lilly is looking to make an impact on our scene, from here on out. Read on for our AEMMP Hip-Hop Record Producer Interview.