We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rilla Force a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Rilla, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
Being a Full-Time Musician is one of the most amazing/scariest things one can experience in their lifetime, for me it’s second nature. I’m an artist, record producer, DJ , & audio engineer on and day to day basis. The beginning was simple, yet super unexpected, in September 2016 I dropped my first solo body of work. A few months later I was thrown into some huge Spotify playlists, and in the beginning of 2017 I received a huge royalty check! At the time I thought something was wrong so I thought nothing of it until I received another check, and another. Well into 2017 I could say I was making a few thousand off of my music, no label, no PR team, just me and the connections I’ve made over the years. I decided to take the leap and quit my day job and make my dreams a reality. I traveled to LA, MN, NY, TX, & more throughout the years for shows, studio session, networking, & interviews throughout 2017- 2019. I’m still very fortunate enough to be able to support myself through music, I’m no where near where I want to be but I’m working hard to take myself to the next stage in my life. One thing I think that would’ve sped up the process would have been having some sort of backing, whether it be capital or resources. I know I am the future and I know once people see what I can do and how I do it there’s no stopping my shine!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Rilla Force, I am an artist, producer, DJ, & engineer. I specialize in my own sub-genre I’ve coined ” RNBNDM” – a mix of RnB, Electronic, & Hip Hop. I’ve been creating music for almost 20 years, and been working as a professional since 2017. my day to day/night life consists of , songwriting, audio production, audio engineering, content creation, admin work, and Djing private/public events all for myself and clients. I starting making music through dance, my homies and I would Krump in high school, after school we’d go to the local boys & girls club to dance as well. The club had a small recording studio where kids could learn how to produce music and record, we tried to learn how to make beats but I was the only one who stuck with it. Slowly I learned how to produce Krump music then eventually taught myself how to make other genres. I would say I’m very proud of the fact that most of my music career has been a self taught journey!
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
Honestly I just want to put on for my family and loved ones.
Have you ever had to pivot?
2018, I was producing, writing, & engineering for about 7-8 artists at a time and all pro bono. I dedicated a lot of my time to helping develop a roster’s worth of artist and working on their albums. maybe 6-7 months went by I noticed my royalty checks started to dip now by 100’s of dollars. I had to make a change and decided to go back to putting myself first.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rillaforce.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rillaforce/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RillaForce
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-major-paschal-307045183/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/RillaForce
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/RillaForce
Image Credits
Joakeem Gaston Andrew Allen Creator K