Today we’d like to introduce you to WaviLevato.
Hi WaviLevato, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was originally born in Greensboro, North Carolina in 2003 and moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 2007 when I was three years old. I’ve been in Atlanta pretty much my entire life. I was raised on the south side aka Clayco that’s where I met a lot of my childhood friends and found my passion for music. I started rapping in 2016 with my uncle JRoc aka “Da Public’s Eye” he has/had a record label at the time called Work Grind Hustle, inc and was working with young artists such as my cousin Luh Kav and my boy Tray5 and Cousin Corrie that summer and I so happen to come around at the “perfect timing” I would like to call it due to the fact that I thought being a “rapper” was lame. I was only like 12 at the time but quickly gained inspiration from my uncle and everyone who was around and by the end of that summer decided music is something that I wanna do. This wasn’t my first time recording or nothing though because my uncle was doing his thing back in the late 2000s, early 2010s working with an artist by the name of Lil Jazzy and I would see what they was doing not really knowing what’s going on as far as recording and how it the whole thing worked so one day I told my pops to take me to uncle’s house and I made a song called “Wizard Man”.
Looking back on it, it was a very corny but catchy song, lol. I was repeating the same bar over and over, “You gotta be in the club, like a wizard man” 4x as I can remember, I had to only be like five at the time. I tried sports in my early teenage years and realized I wasn’t really feeling it and picked back up on music after summer of 2016. I started off recording on different apps on my phone such as BandLab and remixing popular songs on RapChat. I would literally sit in the corner of my room recording into the microphone of iPhone headphones and think I was really doing something but hey ask 13 years old me back then and I guarantee you I would say I was doing something. I started taking music seriously in 2018 during my freshman year of High School. Still recording on my phone, I was recording on this app called Allihoopa and would rap on Pluggnb beats, Plug Beats or SSG Splurge type beats. That’s how I learned how to freestyle all my songs because I used to write all my songs in my notes on my phone but when I would record, I couldn’t keep switching from screen to screen. It was a struggle at first but I quickly figured it out and started doing what most people call “Punching in” which is basically freestyle recording but you take breaks in between to think about your next bar. I would continue doing that and start working releasing music seriously under the name “Rahn Wavi” I released a song in early 2019 called “Wophearts” which is one of my biggest songs til this day. I made that song accidentally to be honest. When I had first heard the beat, I didn’t like it but I somehow loaded the beat up to Allihoopa and boom! “WopHearts” was created. I dropped the song on New Year’s Day on SoundCloud and people instantly starting messing with it. That’s what kind of sparked my fire because after that, I would drop numerous EPs and Mixtapes.
Some of them are still out some of them I took down, one of the Mixtapes that I dropped in 2019 is called “Hearts Filled Wit Wop”. That was my first ever studio recorded mixtape ever. I would say that Hearts Filled Wit Wop is one of my most diverse projects because I was new to recording on actual studio equipment and I tried out so many different flows while recording this project. I would later on drop a song called “Dirty Diana 2.0” in the summer of 2019 and that was another song that I would say people instantly messed with due to my flow and beat which was produced by Kahlil4MB which is also one of the first producers that I really locked in with and made consistent music with which is insane with me and him being in two different states hours away from each other sending songs and beats back and forth. I later would keep releasing singles that year to start preparing for the next year and then, yeah we all know the whole Covid-19 thing happened and shut everything down and I had to start from square one all over again.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like anything else in life, nothing is ever a smooth road. You have your ups and downs. You have moments where you feel like you’ve lost it all, you know basic natural human emotions. Like I said before, I had to start all the way over one Covid 19 hit in early 2020. I was still in school at the time wrapping up my 10th grade year and everything went virtual as far as my classes and what not so I had to come up with a balance with that but they ended up ending the school year for some reason. Later on, in the summer of 2020 before I went into my Junior year, I had got my first real job at Walmart with one of my closest friends “Hati2Hard”. I was 16 at the time making $11 an hour which isn’t bad at all for my age at the time. I started planning out ways to save money towards buying my own studio equipment and eventually bought a computer, microphone, and an interface and immediately got to work. Still being in the situation the world was in at the time. I found different ways to be creative with making music such as making my own beats, and locking in with Hati2hard and Vlone Meechie and going back to learning how to really work everything I had bought. I had dropped an EP called “V3 Vol. 2” which is another one of my most creative and diverse projects that I have made.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am the Founder of Ruthville Records. I started Ruthville Records in 2018 but didn’t take it seriously because at the time, I was still under an internship/mentorship program as an artist with Work Grind Hustle, inc. So after that was over, me and my cousin Luh Kav had a conversation and we talked about things that the music industry was missing as far as it came to labels and that was artists being 100% independent. My whole thought process behind is to take some young artists thats around my age and our goal is to show people in our generation that you don’t have to be in your 50s to wait to start being on the business side of music. We already have two artists signed to Ruthville Records (Lil Yoga and Big Stann) and we are looking to sign more. Both of the artists that are signed already is from North Carolina so my next goal is to bring in an artist from the south side (Clayco) or just from Atlanta in general on the label and really lock in with that artist and we’re looking for other aspects as well such as photographers, videographers, graphic designers, etc. I make music of my own of course and I’m still constantly making and releasing music. I’m actually working on a tape right now with my cousin Luh Kav called “RudeBoyKlan” and I’m not gonna lie, y’all folks are in for a treat with this one. We’ve been working on it for the past year maybe year in a half and taking our time with it. We plan on releasing it in June as of right now. We just dropped a single off the mixtape called “Bank Closed” to give our supporters a taste of what we have in store for them.
I also have other business ventures. I own two clothing lines called OFF 1 and Money Over Fame clothing and those are mostly the only two clothing brands I really wear. You might catch me in something else like Nike or something here and there but that’s pretty much it. I own my own pressure washing service as well doing things like pressuring washing driveways and sidewalks and things of that nature. That’s something I plan on keeping in the family or making it to where I can bring in people who are in need of a job like teenagers who may be looking for a summer job or just someone who’s really in need. I would say the things that I’m most proud of is me becoming me and what I mean by that is me learning from mistakes I’ve made in the past and not allowing people to determine who I am as a person no matter what I’ve done. I’ve seen a lot so and have always hung around people older than me so that was something I had to pick up on early. I can’t be no lame or do anything lame around them and they held me accountable for everything which made me into who I am today. What sets me apart from others is that I am really really genuine, I can sometimes care for people too much especially the ones I have love for. My ma dukes always tell me that I have too big of a heart and that sometimes I’m willing to give my last to people too often but that’s what I’m here for I feel like. Something else that also sets me apart is that I actually listen, lol. I’m only 18 so a lot of the things that I’m told, I sit back and think about it and come up with my own way or maybe might use your way of doing things. So I would say I’m a very observant and genuine individual.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Most definitely, I’ve always had both of parents in my life and I’m the youngest out of seven on my dad side and the youngest out of two on my mom’s side. So I’ve always had a solid support system with in my family especially with my pops he’s one the most important piece on my team for real. I’ve had the bros of course like Nas, Hati2Hard, HiiiPam, Luh Kav, Rick, Stunna, Stunna Javarr, and my boy Malik and, etc. they’ve showed constant love from the jump, stayed on top of me about accomplishing my goals and there’s no doubt in that. I’ve also had my big brother E.K.C he’s someone you’ve guys interviewed before. He’s been with me since I was a little kid, we’ve both watched each other pretty much grow up and he really showed me how to take my music to another level and that I can bring the studio to me. My Uncle JRoc, I got nothing but love for him. He really showed me the ins and out of the music business and is one of the main reasons I’m at where I’m at today with my music. All the people I’ve met and that I’m still locked in with til this day over social media people like RetroisDead, Dizzani, SmhRacko, etc. The producers who really gave me a chance to show of my gifts without them there wouldn’t be no me and I’ll always remember you all. To my supports, I don’t really like the word fans so I call them my supporters. I can’t forget about y’all, y’all held it down for sure and I’m forever grateful for all the love you guys show on the daily. Shoutout to the Atlanta I love the A they and they messing with the movement. Last but not least, I wanna thank god for sure. He’s guided me through my trials and tribulations and I know I’ve done things he’s probably not proud of but he constantly forgives me and I will forever show nothing but praise to him.
Pricing:
- Features – $250 but I work with budgets
Contact Info:
- Email: wavilevato@gmail.com
- Website: https://zez.am/wavilevato
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/wavilevato?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/backroadshawty1/status/1366148595116871685?s=21&t=gBhVwIuiMjIh6MFmpl6JBw
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCaGwIAt2fMQ0hrZZ-tMzG2A
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/1rZzar6xsPsXAe9AA
Image Credits
Da Public’s Eye (JRoc) Luh Kav Elyon King Carleone (E.K.C) Hati2Hard Jonathan Vlone Meechie Stunna
