The first thing I notice as Chill Moody casually walks up to meet me at a popular breakfast spot in Drexel Hill, is his shirt. He’s wearing a black t-shirt under an open jacket which has the phrase “It’s a Philly Thing” printed in bold white letters across the front. I greet him with, “nice shirt,” and we both knowingly smile as we dab up.
Philadelphians have adopted the phrase as a new battle cry for their beloved Eagles football team who have just made it to the Super Bowl for the second time in five years – Go Birds! But I can’t stop thinking about how accurately the phrase represents Chill himself, a Philly born-and-raised hip hop artist, entrepreneur, and community activist, who has already accomplished what many may only dream of.
Residence at The Mann
The breakfast spot is too crowded, so we quickly move to a coffee shop down the street. While we wait for coffee, I ask Chill what’s been going on. He tells me he’s been selected by The Mann Center, one of Philadelphia’s most prestigious musical performance venues, as its very first artist in residence for the upcoming season. (I would later see the announcement on 6ABC News). He’s hyped because part of the gig includes him contributing to The Mann’s Voices of Hope: A Black History Month Celebration, spotlighting local Black music artists.
The Voices of Hope assignment holds special meaning to Chill because he grew up nearby in West Philadelphia. “It’s important because it provides a platform for Black stories to be told. It represents a chance to not only acknowledge what we’ve overcome, but where we’re going; a chance to celebrate what we’ve built and contributed to; to be bold in our Blackness.” On the first day of Black History month, he invites aspiring young musicians from The Mann’s Music Industry Training Program at Overbrook High School (his alma mater) to Milkboy Studio in Callowhill. The program teaches over two dozen students the ins and outs of the music business. Is anyone surprised he chooses to uplift young people first? Of course not … It’s a Philly Thing.
“The Mann Center is that quintessential place you aim for as a Philadelphia musician. I grew up down the block from there. I always dreamed of working with people there in any way possible – through partnerships, touching the stage, anything that might have to do with the venue.“
Philadelphia Eagles Game Day Playlist
Earlier that day, I also see on Chill’s Instagram page (@chillmoody) that he is Executive Producer for the Philadelphia Eagles’ Game Day Playlist hosted by Pepsi. One of his posts includes a music video release which features Chill rapping, while getting his beard trimmed, while sitting on a throne, on the football field, at the Linc [Lincoln Financial Stadium] … I guess that’s a Philly thing too. I ask Chill how this incredible opportunity came about.
“Before the season started, the creative director for the Eagles reached out looking for one song to change up a playlist they were putting together to play at home games. They wanted something different. They told me it could be creative, it ain’t gotta be Eagles rah rah, it ain’t gotta be cheesy, it ain’t even gotta mention football or nothin’. I had a new song, so cool. But just before the call ended, I asked him who he was getting for the rest of the songs. They said they had a couple of ideas and started naming some artists. I was like, how about you just let me do the whole thing. Let me executive produce the whole shit. I’ll pick the artists, I’ll produce the records, I’ll provide the whole service.”
“The reason I was confident in pitching this was because I pitched it to the Sixers 6 or 7 years ago, and they loved it. The Sixers project never got off the ground, but I knew it could be successful. So, I put a presentation together, with a whole bunch of artists and music, played it for the Eagles rep, and we picked the final songs for all the games together. Boom.”
I throw Chill a question about when he knew he was talented enough to choose music as a path. He reveals that he developed a passion for writing poetry at an early age, winning weekly school talent shows in the 3rd grade. Six weeks in a row, to be exact. He kept working on his craft as a teenager, adding beats and music in his parents’ basement, and developed a reputation in West Philly as an artist to look out for. After graduating from college, he chose to take a full year off and focus all of his time on making music. That decision paid off. The release of his 2010 debut record, wESTchilly, gained critical acclaim and brought him Philadelphia notoriety. Since then, he’s been named Philadelphia Magazine’s “Best Rapper,” is the city’s official Music Ambassador as appointed by City Council, and manages several other Philly artists.
nicethings Business Ventures
And while the music accomplishments are all impressive, Chill seems to be having even greater success with nicethings LLC, an umbrella company he created to house his entrepreneurial ventures. Those ventures include an independent record label and management company, water, clothing, kombucha, and his own beer called nicethings Hazy IPA distributed through his brewery, nicethingBEER. I dive into questions about the beer because, ironically, I just had the Hazy IPA at an Eagles game, and to get a product placed in stadium concessions is damn near impossible. I press the question and he simply responds, “It’s who you know.” Of course it is, and being an Executive Producer for Eagles Game Day probably doesn’t hurt either.
But what I really want to know is, why beer? And that’s when Chill shares one of his most interesting stories.
“I kinda just infiltrated the beer scene. About 5 years ago, the Philly beer scene was one of the fastest growing in the country. I had a little bit of influence, so was asked to host some beer scene awards. I was judging the Band of Brewers, which was like battle of the bands held at World Live Cafe. Local breweries had their own bands competing, and these guys were really talented. There’s a saying in the brewing business – somehow, every brewer is a failed musician [laughs]. Seriously, those were some of the best shows I’ve ever seen. So, I find myself being involved in this type of stuff for 2 or 3 years straight, I’m looking around … and there’s no Black people. At all. None. Not on stage. Not in the audience. I see this as an opportunity to make money and bring this culture to the Black community. Where I come from, you drink beer to get drunk. But this was a cultural thing, these were events. This was craft beer, and if you like to drink, it’s a healthier lifestyle. So, I thought, let me get in here and figure this out.”
“I soon met Vince, a brewer at Dock Street Brewery, who had a beer call Dock Street Beer Aint Nothing To Funk With, a play on Wu-Tang Clan’s song ‘Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuttin ta Fuck Wit.’ I grew up as a Wu-Tang fan, so loved the concept and marketing behind it. Basically, the beer, a saison [fancy word for pale ale], would be aged in chardonnay barrels. They would place speakers next to the barrels and pump Wu-Tang Clan music into them for 6 months straight. Doesn’t do shit to the beer but seems cool to everyone else. [we both laugh] Vince and I hit it off and he introduced me to the owner. I told her my I wanted to make a beer. They knew my reputation and that I was serious, so they said … let’s try it.”
Chill and I talk about more products under the nicethings brand and I’m surprised to learn that he originally started focusing on business projects because he stopped being able to make money off of his music. “Yeah, it became really hard to make money from just the music. Can’t sell CD’s anymore. Streaming only pays .oooo7% of a penny. You have to sell shirts and hoodies and other merchandise too. Basically the industry started stripping ways for independent artists to make money, so I had to figure another way.”
“It hit me when I would do concerts at local venues. I would meet with bar managers after the show and they would tell me, ‘hey man, we sold a whole lot of Jameson tonight.’ I started noticing my influence on other products as well. I reached out to Jameson who agreed to sponsor me for a couple of parties. That was cool, but they would never give us the cash we deserved. Suddenly I’m thinking … we need to create our own beverages, sell our own shit. I started with a water and called it Cerebellum H2O. About 5 years ago, I tried a beer we called nicethingsIPA, in collaboration with Dock Street Brewery. That was successful so I eventually started my own brewery.”
Community Reflections
As we’re finishing our coffee, we touch on how the city has changed over the years. He opines that poverty and gun violence are worse now than when he was growing up. “It’s worse because today it’s marketed. That’s what media and the music industry are pushing. People are being programmed to think it’s cool in some ways. There was also a lot of civil unrest in the city during the pandemic and after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. They had the National Guard here, in the hood, after the riots and looting on 52nd Street. That’s when a group of us local creators and artist met at Rec Philly, because we all knew we needed to do something. We decided we needed to change the optics. We needed to give people something else to see. So, we came up with The Big Clean Up. We said let’s grab a broom, some trash bags, and let’s engage with people as we clean up our neighborhoods. And we did it monthly. It’s nothing new really. We grew up cleaning the streets, [giving back to] community is just part of our lives.”
I ask Chill how he fits everything into his schedule and what a typical day is like for him. “There’s no such thing as a typical day,” he responds. He’s busy from morning until late night, every day, working on multiple projects, and wouldn’t have it any other way. “I never wanted a regular job. I never wanted to work for someone else. When I was growing up, we had family all around so we would have house parties and cookouts. I would always hear the grown-ups saying things like, ‘ah man I gotta go to work, I can’t do this job anymore, man I can’t make it cuz I have to go to work.’ Nobody felt good about their job. So, I started a candy store in front of my mom’s house; I couldn’t have been older than 10. That’s where entrepreneurship started for me. I had branding and logos. I would sell stuff you could get right at the corner store, but I would wrap it up with paper and make it look good. Once I got a taste of that, I never looked back.”
