Bekoe Discuss Starting Illanoize Radio Station, Transitioning From Music to Media, and More

By: Mary Jhay

Illanoize Owner, Bekoe shared his inspiration behind creating the Illanoize brand and transitioning from a musical artist to a media personality on The Chocolate Baddie Show with Mary Jhay. Bekoe originally made a song called “Illanoize” because he wanted to create something to represent the city. But what started off as a song, turned into a multimedia platform for creators in the city. 

“I just made the song a brand….not even intentionally. I just wanted to push the song so I was thinking about the marketing…and then I started selling the shirts…..”

Illanoize album was the last musical project Bekoe released and promoting the album helped him lock in with Illanoize as a brand. He says he was selling merchandise and curating events to push the album but it was his supporters that inspired him to build the Illanoize website back in 2016. The website was created to support other rising artists in the city due to the lack of support from prominent media platforms. 

Bekoe didn’t just stop at blogging, a year after he launched Illanoize website he started Illanoize Radio show with co-hosts Illinois Jones and later added, PrettyRiot. The show gave artists and other creatives an opportunity to share their story and promote their art. 

“I stepped out of artist mode and into my journalism point of view and I just started showing love even if those artists didn’t show love back I would still blog about their music….I started losing my focus on music… I wanted people to understand that I’m actually trying to make stuff different!”

After hosting Illanoize Radio show for 3 consecutive years, Bekoe transitioned from creating a weekly radio show to a full blown radio station. He bought the station and went live right before the pandemic. It didn’t take any time for Bekoe to develop the station and grow his team. 

Illanoize continues to grow as a multimedia platform that provides genuine support to artists, entrepreneurs, and other creatives. 
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Check out Bekoe’s full interview below!