Introduce yourself
Hi! My name is Core REX and I’m 21 years old. I’m a vocalist/producer from Chicago.
When did you first start getting into making music?
I started with playing piano and trumpet throughout grade school. I then began producing when I got to high school and I’ve devoted my time to producing beats ever since. Crafting instrumentals was my first love.
Let’s take it back to the beginning of your music career, how did you Zen, Ibra, Sol, Julius Dolls, and Apollo come together to start Oracle?
So going into my first year of college in Fall of 2014, (still only producing at the time), Zen and Ibra happened to live in the same dorm and same floor as me! We instantly gravitated towards each other and would always link to just have jam sessions. We realized our chemistry was really special and we were like “Why don’t we just make a band?” So that’s what we did. Then we reached out to 3 of our friends at the time (Apollo, Julius, and Sol) and they wanted to join and were official ever since. It was also around this time where I began singing more. They’ve helped me with my confidence in that as well. We’ve all grown together. It’s more of a family than a band.
Although you guys all make music solo now, do you guys still make sure to work together and collab?
We definitely all still collaborate. We help each other out with our crafts as well as a feature on each other songs. Ibra and Zen we’re both on my recent project ‘Gloey Huew’. Both went absolutely crazy. I’m so proud of all my family. Apollo, Sol, and Julius have been creating some insane music as of late and I can’t wait till they share more of it with the world.
Are people familiar with your early solo project, ‘Gold Samurai’?
To be honest, not really. And that’s not a horrible thing either haha. I have released a few projects on Bandcamp that I put out to practice the art of creating cohesive projects. I’ve always found concept albums interesting because there’s so much thought that goes into them and if executed right, it can create a truly immersive experience.
What was the story you were telling with this project?
‘Gold Samurai’, to me, is a story of a person who goes through different emotions thought his life, but in the day they stay strong. But for the listener, it’s really about whatever they see when they hear the songs. It also was an attempt to make a collection of instrumentals that sounded very dreamy and chill, but still went hard.
Fast forward three years later, this past month you dropped Gloey Huew. Taking some time off, what did you look to do differently this time around?
My ‘time off’ was dedicated to simply getting better at music. During this time off I made a few projects that I’ll never release just to practice the art of concept albums. So with that being said, the main thing that was different this time around was the addition of vocals to my instrumentals. This simply allowed me to become a better story-teller with my music. I think its been a game-changer for me. I’ve never been more proud of something I’ve done before.
You’re apart of WORLDOFi. How important has it been to have them in your corner?
WORLDOFi has helped me in many ways. They truly do whats best for the artist. Their main focus is to be able to support local artists and help them get where they need to be with their craft & audience. The founder of WOi (Liiko Willis) is also my manager so outside of being a good support base, he’s helped me connect with people I wouldn’t have met otherwise. I’d recommend artists in Chicago or Miami to check them out. Nothing but positivity there.
Chicago Creatives 