Monster Mill is a hip-hop artist from Louisville, Kentucky.
History[]
Beginnings (2000 - 2004)[]
Starting in 2000, before becoming a rap artist and taking the pseudonym Monster Mill, he played the guitar. Starting in 2003, Mill began a year stent in a Jazz band called "The Conservatory of Music Quintet" playing the rhythm guitar. The conductor/instructor for the band had stolen money from the members of the band through promising t-shirts and gigs but disappeared before the band saw either. The band broke up shortly after. In 2004, Mill took a computer class when he was in 8th grade. In the class he learned how to use music production and editing software. Mill produced his first instrumental as part of a class assignment in which he received a 100% on.
Local Music Years: J-Mill & The Inferno Clique (2005 - 2006)[]
Mill began rapping in 2005 under the pseudonym J-Mill. J-Mill also lead a hip hop group/label/street team called The Inferno Clique which consisted of high school friends from Charlestown, IN (where J-Mill resided during high school). J-Mill, Mayhem, Ice, Tazz, A.M. Geezy, & B-Tomp all rapped for the group and acted as part of the street team while, T. Rand, Cheeks, & Chef W just played roles in the street team. J-Mill released three mixtapes under The Inferno Clique label which featured tracks produced by J-Mill, freestyles, remixes created by J-Mill, diss songs towards students at his high school, and features from other members of the group. J-Mill released his first mixtape titled "The Demo" in October 2005, this mixtape was followed by "They Can't Stop Me Now" mixtape (December 2005) and "As Time's Movin' I'm Improvin'" mixtape (September 2006).
Net Emcee Years: J-Mill (2006 - 2007)[]
J-Mill took his music to the next level in the last half of 2006 by signing with a Net Emcee agency WL Productions and a underground label Gangsta Island Records. J-Mill began to focus his music on more serious and mature lyrics and spanned out to working with artists outside of his local area. However, J-Mill did continue to make music with Mayhem and formed a hip hop duo group with Tazz called Derby City Stunnaz. As a Net Emcee, J-Mill collaborated with underground artists from across the world such as Calibre (Germany), OhBoyJ (Trinidad), Kwills (United Kingdom), among many more. J-Mill's improvement in this era in both lyrics and rapping allowed him to start accumulating a fanbase. His style of music started to transcend from street hip hop to hardcore rap and horrorcore along with self-concious songs. J-Mill released two mixtapes during this era, "Tryna Stack a Mill Volume 1" (October 2006) and Tryna Stack a Mill Volume 2" (December 2007). J-Mill made 100 physical copies of both mixtapes upon their releases, he would carry a grocery bag full of the CDs and sell them at his high school and the local mall, where he worked at during this time. Both mixtapes sold out. J-Mill left Gangsta Island Records after releasing Tryna Stack a Mill Volume 1 due to label scams and WL Productions ceased to exist after the release of Volume 2.
Underground Years: Mill (2008 - 2009)[]
Mill changed his named from J-Mill at the beginning of 2008. This changed symbolized a new beginning for Mill and him taking his music to the next level. Mill released one mixtape under this pseudonym called "Music Is Living Life" (October 2008) under his own underground label The Dungeon Records. Mill made and sold 500 physical copies of this mixtape, again through carrying around grocery bags full of his CDs everywhere he went. This mixtape featured a new level of lyricism for Mill and a variety of hip hop styles from hardcore hip hop to positive vibes to horrorcore. Shortly after releasing Music Is Living Life, Mill went on hiatus.
Underground to Independent Transition: Monster Mill (2009 - 2010)[]
While on hiatus, Mill changed his name to Monster Mill. This change symbolized a newly created Mill that he considered to be a product of his life and environment. Monster Mill began recording again in 2010 but did not make any public releases. While recording in his underground home studio he began to make plans to transition his music to the next level, independent music. Monster Mill formed his own publishing label through BMI, Monster Mill Publishing, and hooked up with some established independent producers then he began to write and plan for a professional career as a hip hop artist.
Independent Musician Years: Monster Mill & Death Before Dishonor Dynasty (2011)[]
Monster Mill writing lyrics.
Monster Mill formed an independent label, Death Before Dishonor Entertainment, under his publishing label, Monster Mill Publishing, BMI, at the beginning of 2011. Monster Mill formed a business partnership with Amanda Chiamulera, an aspiring singer. Monster Mill managed most of Death Before Dishonor Entertainment and provided a large sum of the financial support and Amanda provided the other part of the financial support for the label. The label signed Monster Mill and Amanda Chiamulera as solo artists. In addition, Death Before Dishonor Dynasty, a alternative hip hop & pop group composed of Monster Mill, Amanda Chiamulera, and Mayhem, and Brotherhood KYIN, a hip hop group composed of Monster Mill and Mayhem. For the first time all the artists on the label began to record material at a professional studio, Downtown Recording, located in Louisville, Kentucky. After releasing his first official single in March 2011, Monster Mill released his first studio EP "Redemption Trilogy" (April 2011). Death Before Dishonor Entertainment became defunct after this release due to copyright issues with the name. However, Monster Mill Publishing, BMI and all the artists remained active. In May 2011 Monster Mill was accepted into the Conquer the Industry program and Krayzie Bone from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony became his mentor. Krayzie Bone reviewed all of Monster Mill's solo work from this point on and provided detailed feedback so Monster Mill could continue to improve his work. Monster Mill's fanbase was growing and demands from fans led to a seperation between Monster Mill and Amanda Chiamulera in July 2011. In July 2011 while finalizing their separation of business partnership they released a compilation album of their work, Monster Mill presents Death Before Dishonor Dynasty "Any Last Wishes", which featured tracks from Death Before Dishonor Dynasty, Monster Mill, Brotherhood KYIN, and a solo track from Amanda Chiamulera.
Solo Independent Years: Monster Mill (2011 - 2014)[]
After parting ways with Amanda, Monster Mill began to focus on his solo career and his first full-length studio LP, Deadly Ambition. Monster Mill took his music to the next level by collaborating with established independent artists, some of which had experienced mainstream success, in the latter half of 2011. Monster Mill released his indie single Get Behind Me which featured DJ Paul's and Lord Infamous's (both from Three 6 Mafia) nephew Locodunit (known at the time as Lil Loco) and Mayhem. The release was this single was the first time Monster Mill experienced radio play both locally and outside the region. Monster Mill collaborated with Locodunnit on another track, Abyss, and collaborated on a song with upcoming indie artist BOYS LiKE BRiTAiN. Monster Mill received a distribution deal from Fontana and then had the opportunity to record a song with one of his biggest influences, Lord Infamous from Three 6 Mafia. Together they released the single Cut From The Same Cloth which featured production from the highly-established independent producer Sinima and electric guitars from L-Wren. After Cut From The Same Cloth Fontana moved Monster Mill's contract to Tunecore. Monster Mill was seeing some success as a independent artist but it was not without cost. Monster Mill became exhausted from the music industry, it was taking too much time away from his school work, he was in college at the time, and it was starting to cost too much to maintain a growing independent label. Therefore, Monster Mill went on hiatus not long after the release of Cut From The Same Cloth. This hiatus would continue through the end of 2013 when Monster Mill decided that he would soon retire his publishing label and quit the music industry to put all of his focus on his education and research. Before ending the label or his music career Monster Mill wanted to release his first, and now only, full-length studio album, Deadly Ambition. Monster Mill attempted to release Deadly Ambition in February 2014 but ran into issues with Tunecore which was handling distribution for the album. Again he attempted to release Deadly Ambition on Halloween 2014 but Tunecore completely ignored his request and would not process or distribute the album. After this incident, Monster Mill dropped Tunecore and decided to release Deadly Ambition solely through his independent publishing label. Deadly Ambition was released on December 16, 2014.
Private Music: Monster Mill & Brotherhood KYIN (2015 - Present)[]
After releasing his first independent album, Deadly Ambition, Monster Mill wanted to quit music to focus on his professional career, which he has chosen to not share with the public. However, Mill found it impossible to quit making music so he decided to continue to create music for himself and not share the music with the public. There has been a few exceptions. On Halloween 2015, Monster Mill released the song "Bloody Murder," which is available for free download on Reverbnation.
Monster Mill also recorded a series of 9 freestyles in 2 hours with Mayhem, the other member of Brotherhood KYIN, on Christmas night of 2015. The freestyles, along with 3 skits and an unreleased freestyle from 2012, were released via a mixtape by Brotherhood KYIN called "KYIN Mobbin: A Night of Freestyles" on January 6, 2016. The mixtape is available for free on DatPiff.
In March 2017, it was announced the Monster Mill's second studio album, Kentuckiana King, will be released on May 26, 2017. The album features songs written and recorded between 2010-2012. It is the last release for studio recordings.
Style[]
Monster Mill blends a midwestern and southern hip hop style. His songs are mostly within the styles of horrorcore, hardcore hip hop, alternative hip hop, and melodic hip hop. Aside from these main themes, Monster Mill has done songs that range from positive vibes to rap rock to club rap. Monster Mill's flow is typically precise pronunciation and fast-paced and his lyrics center around lyricism ranging from messages of life struggles, love and heartbreak, violence/horror themes, among many other concepts. Monster Mill is known for his adlib "RRRrrr" which can be heard in many of his songs.
Discography[]
Studio Albums (LPs)[]
Deadly Ambition (2014)
Kentuckiana King (2017)
Extended Plays (EPs)[]
Redemption Trilogy (2011)
Compilation Albums[]
Any Last Wishes (2011) - as Monster Mill presents Death Before Dishonor Dynasty (with Mayhem & Amanda Chiamulera)
Mixtapes[]
The Demo (2005) - as J-Mill
They Can't Stop Me (2005) - as J-Mill
As Time's Movin' I'm Improvin' (2006) - as J-Mill
Tryna Stack a Mill Volume 1 (2006) - as J-Mill
Tryna Stack a Mill Volume 2 (2007) - as J-Mill
Music is Living Life (2008) - as Mill
KYIN Mobbin: A Night of Freestyles (2016) - as Brotherhood KYIN (with Mayhem)
Singles[]
Day by Day (featuring Mayhem & Amanda Chiamulera) (2011)
Get Behind Me (featuring Lil Loco & Mayhem) (2011)
Cut From The Same Cloth (featuring Lord Infamous) (2012)
