MuzicNotez: First off, it’s an honor to be doing this interview with you Cahlil, thanks for taking the time to sit down with us.
What motivated you to start creating music? What age did you begin?
Cahlil Stokes: It is an absolute honor that MuzicNotez is taking that precious time with me to get to know me more! My passion and desire for music has gone early back in my childhood years growing up with my mother, sister, and grandmother, the energy and source of positivity I felt in every song my family would play gave me that sense of ambition to want to create sound for us human beings to laugh smile dance and just enjoy through all aspects.
MuzicNotez: Who were your musical influences, idols, or bands growing up that have helped mold you into the musician you are today? Or helped mold the music that you create?
Cahlil Stokes: When it comes to musical influences my range of taste is expanded all around, from listening to soul artist like Maxwell, India Arie, Erykah Badu, Sade, Destinys Child, Musiq Soulchild, to HipHop and underground artist like Charles Hamilton, Mac Miller, Hopsin, Jcole,Wiz Khalifa ,Jonah Cruzz Schoolboy Q Kendrick Lamar, Drake, The UnderAchievers, Mc Jenkins, Logic, Watsky, Jaden Smith, Flatbush Zombies, Jay Smith, Rocky Dimmonds, K.Eye.D, Torry Lanes, Supa Bwe, Earth Gang, Chance The Rapper, Phil Ade, Miguel, Club Heaven (Prod. by Laco) to industrial artist and bands such as Bonobo, Daughter, Gold Panda, Flume, M83, Dr. Dog, Shaggy, to even back in the day artist such as, Kenny Loggins, Paul McCartney and many many more I know I could spend a whole day naming.
MuzicNotez: Your latest single is ‘DFWM’, what motivated this track?
Cahlil Stokes: My latest single ‘DF.WM’ which has a positive vibe to it goes back to a personal situation that involved my image being portrayed negatively to a lot of peers that didn’t take the time to know who I am, if anyone decided to judge me/you/anyone without the means of wanting to know who you are inside as a human being then they have no business in your presence therefore ‘DF.WM’ is the mortality of that single.
MuzicNotez: You aspire to have somebody listen to your music, and for it to invoke a strong reaction or feeling. What would you like people to feel when hearing what you create?
Cahlil Stokes: My vision is for people to be able to play my music and be able to say that such and such song makes me think about this or feel really good about this or this song makes me think about someone or a great memory in the past, i want to be able to create a positive internal and external vibe within every song i make made for everyone to enjoy and appreciate.
MuzicNotez: Your personal studio has come a long way, what’s your next step there?
Cahlil Stokes: Working with what I have is such a blessing from the success it has gotten me, from this point forward my goals are to soon upgrade from what I have so I am able to provide a lot more to the few fans that I have now, hopefully in time I am able to proceed on into a professional recording studio where I can team up with producers and other artist and create powerful, influential, and quality music for all viewers to hear and love.
MuzicNotez: What else are you working on? What can we expect to see and hear from you in the future?
Cahlil Stokes: Well I am currently working on another single out of an EP which in my opinion will kinda define all the characteristics I have been stating about myself and my music, The song is called ‘Midnight Poetry’ a very soulful ambiguous styled song originally created and sampled by me, I tend to have this project finished towards late February- early March and I look forward to everyone tuning in to that single. You can also expect a lot more quality out of my music a lot more diverse songs that expand through many genres, expect to get a different vibe every time you hear one of my songs and also expect that all my songs are perceived as messages to the viewers of my music.
MuzicNotez: Anything else you wish to say about yourself or your music? Any message for your fans?
Cahlil Stokes: Music is a beautiful extraordinary way to bring people together, to find answers, to seek comfort, music itself is a tool to the human mind that expands our emotional and creative intelligence to a higher percentage of wisdom and knowledge, sound itself is the key to an emotional breakthrough where you find yourself and can become content with reality, i kinda like to relate music to drugs in a psychological perspective, as I’ve read in the past a book called “The Doors of Perception” which gets into the realism of drugs and how extravagant the mind can be capable of such intelligence under the influence of drugs, both music and drugs are abused daily, but using both as a tool to build the power of integrity and humanitarianism captivates my mind to an extent of wonder.