BIOGRAPHY

 Ryan Pope, known professionally as Illyboy Pope is an American rapper based out of Tallahassee, Florida. Tha Illyboyz —Thatz Illy ENT is a group formed through Andrew (Dru) Williams, also known professionally as Dru4rumThaIllyboyz, Pope’s older brother. Other members are childhood friends.

 All of Pope’s family, with the exception of his grandfather, attended church regularly. Pope and Dru’s mom was the head of the church choir and always had the best performances. Williams’s father, was the lead singer of a locally famous Gospel group. Pope’s Father, was very politically motivated and business driven, but he was not overly musically oriented. For the majority of their lives they only had their mother’s side of the family, and Pope believes that she subconsciously predisposed them to the lifestyle of an artist. 

As a child, Pope was born deaf and was unable to hear for the first two years of his life, which left him with a speech impediment. As a result, he was pushed away from making music and began to express himself inwardly through poetry. However, once he entered high school, he was approached by his friends who happened to be rappers. When he was in the 10th grade, they would frequently ask him to freestyle, and one day he decided to put away his insecurities and start participating in little cyphers. By his 11th grade year he was established enough to start performing. By 12th grade he had an established artist name and hosted a locally famous cypher called "Freestyle Friday.”

Pope graduated Leon High School in 2012, and graduated from Tallahassee Community College in 2014. He attended FSU, majoring in Philosophy and minoring in Education. Pope was more focused and levelheaded in regards to schooling. Because he excelled in school, when it came to music his family’s support was skewed toward Williams, as they expected Pope to focus on academics and become a lawyer or doctor. They believed that music should not be the priority for him.  

On the contrary, Williams was more rebellious when it came to school, dropping out of school at 15 and getting involved in the streets. Originally, Tha Illyboyz were a numerous group, consisting of members close to the size of the Wu-Tang Clan. But as the streets began to infest the dreams of their musical career, a lot of members started becoming incarcerated or trapped in the street lifestyle. Which in-turn put Tha Illyboyz on the back-burner as a group. Although individually, Williams maintained his foot-in-the-door with production credits and a couple of features with local artists. He decided to pursue music with Tha Illyboyz full-time around age 19. Williams grew up watching Michael Jackson tapes that his grandfather video recorded for him. He also tuned into Yo MTV Raps and everything on BET which pushed him towards the hip hop music and culture. His favorite artists are Michael Jackson and Tupac. He is influenced by a plethora of time periods, everything from the late 80's going on to the 90's and early 2000's of Hip Hop, and even dive as far back as the R&B, soul and pop music from the 60's and 70's. However, the main core and foundation of his production ability is derived from Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, and Dr. Dre. 

Pope’s love for music was sown by Williams. Williams was the first true musician in their family. He was so naturally good at singing, dancing and impersonations that Pope became enamored by his talent. Williams always made it a point for Pope to be exposed to hip hop culture and the harsh realities of being black in America. Pope’s favorite artists are the same his brothers’: Michael Jackson and Tupac. His main influences and the foundation of his rapping abilities are Jay-z, Gucci Mane, Kanye West, Eminem and Curren$y. He claims to be a lover of eclectic beats and eccentric flows. When it comes to his song making ability he is similar to his brother in that regard. Pope pulls inspiration from so many forms of music and art. He listens to anything, from grunge to classical. He especially loves video game and anime OST’s (original soundtracks).  He even dabbles in ancient tribal music, culture and dance. As most artists should, he loves expanding the mind and experiencing new aspects of creativity. He pursued music full-time as Illyboy Pope at age 22.