Two chairs sit in a small room crowded with audio equipment. A trumpet is set up on a stand on the floor next to a folding table with a MacBook on it. The walls are covered with noise-muffling black foams pads, posters of Thelonious Monk and the Newport Jazz Festival and a signed Mac Miller record.
This is where local rapper Adam Williams, who performs under the stage name nochilliams, records. It's the home studio of his self-taught producer, Logan Reeves.
Williams is from Chicago and started rapping and making music on his laptop while still in high school. He also raps as one half of the duo whytenoys.
He recently dropped a mixtape called “Fuck the World” on March 7, which is available on all streaming platforms. He’s also releasing a music video in early April for his track “It’ll All Make Sense.”
His music touches on drug use and addiction. He said rapping helps him to express his struggles.
Williams is currently a junior studying media advertising at IU but plans on transferring to DePaul University after this semester in his hometown of Chicago. He wants to help grow the lo-fi scene in Chicago. Lo-fi is short for low fidelity or low audio quality indicative of DIY music.
Reeves and Williams say they formed a symbiotic relationship after working together since last summer.
“I write the rap, he makes the beats,” Williams said.
Reeves has been playing trumpet since sixth grade band class and started making beats in high school. He was given a laptop with Ableton 8 already downloaded on it, a music production program popular with many DIY rap and hip hop artists.
“Nowadays kids are making music on the laptop, not just recording music on the laptop,” Reeves said.
But being prolific in the studio doesn’t mean Williams is very active in the live show scene.
Bloomington really champions the live band, Reeves said, and not many people will go out to see one guy rapping in a basement.
Reeves and Williams also said house shows seem to be more about the alcohol than the music. Reeves recounted a time when he hosted a show at his apartment, a night fueled by $1 shots that resulted in trashed and stolen property.
Williams said he feels his time is better spent making music in the studio or making meaningful connections with other musicians and fans.
When asked where he wants to take his music, Williams said he wants to gain respect for his art and make a living off it.
Williams also said he knows there must be hundreds of thousands of other rappers, but he just has to be better than the rest. Some people don’t want to listen to local music or anything that isn’t on Spotify, he said.
Rapper Mac Miller is Williams’ hero. Williams says that when he listens to his music, it feels like he’s speaking to him. He wants to do that for other people and maybe gain some respect too.
“I made a promise to myself, like I gotta make this happen,” Williams said. “This shit is all I got.”
