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Through all his ups and downs as an immigrant making it in America, Ez Mil offers three tips for those who are making that adjustment: stick to your core, don’t forget your roots, and keep being you
This story is published in partnership with SoJannelleTV, a magazine show about Filipinos in North America
Rapper Ez Mil’s stage name may hint at the effortlessness of making money, but his path to stardom has been anything but an overnight journey. The Filipino-American rapper, best known for his Ilocano/Taglish hit “Panalo,” has millions of views on YouTube, but had to overcome the difficulties of being an immigrant in America.
Ezekiel Miller, AKA Ez Mil, recently sat down with Filipino-American media pioneer Jannelle So-Perkins in Las Vegas for an interview with So Jannelle TV, a Filipino-American lifestyle magazine show which airs US-wide on cable channels The Filipino Channel (TFC) and ANC; as well as on local Southern CA digital channel KNET 25.1; and is also available on social media platforms.
Ez Mil, who grew up in Olongapo City, Philippines, moved to the United States as a teenager, and eventually settled into Las Vegas. He remembers feeling “culture shock” when he enrolled in school, and having other kids mock his “weird accent.”
“Some of the racial things, you just shrug it off but day in and day out it weighs on,” admitted Ez Mil. “Always the first days in school, getting picked on. But I didn’t let that sway me. At the time I just dealt with it because I was trying to make some friends.”
Now, Ez Mil has some influential friends on his side. This past July, Ez Mil signed with the record labels of hip hop legends Dr. Dre and Eminem, joining rap icon Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson on the short list of rappers to sign with both Shady Records and Aftermath Entertainment. He released his first album under his new deal, entitled “DU4LI7Y: REDUX,” on August 11.
He recalls meeting with Eminem and Dr. Dre and being impressed by how down to earth the larger-than-life artists were.
“When you meet them it’s like an out of body experience, and then trying to be there in the moment too,” said Ez Mil. “They were very hospitable, their hospitality was on point. Dre stood up and was like ‘Hey superstar.’ There’s so much of it that was like, this is so wild.”
Ez Mil shared how his musical taste growing up influenced his style. His father, Paul Sapiera, is a rock singer and songwriter whose band Rockstar produced hits in the early ‘90s, which influenced his early musical tastes. He later progressed to listening to hip hop and R&B, before getting into death metal in high school.
Through all his ups and downs as an immigrant making it in America, Ez Mil has three tips for those who are making that adjustment: stick to your core, don’t forget your roots, and keep being you. “Remembering the first two lessons, that’s gonna amplify your confidence when you just go about your life,” said Ez Mil. – Jannelle So Productions | Rappler.com
Rappler is partnering with Jannelle So Productions Inc (JSP), founded by Filipino-American pioneer and Los Angeles-based journalist Jannelle So, to publish video and written stories from SoJannelleTV about the journeys, successes, and challenges of Filipinos living in America.
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