Welo

Born Jerrad Lee Richardson, but otherwise known as Welo aka El Chappie. Born and raised in lovely Honolulu, Hi and 24 years young.  I started off writing short stories, about 100 pages long.  Right then, i knew i had a talent for storytelling, sharing what others were either blind to or afraid to speak on.  From that standpoint i went to poetry.  From their it grew to writing my own "raps".  My inspiration comes from artist such as Mac Miller, Kid Ink, Childish Gambino, A$AP Rocky, Joey Bad@$$, Future, Drake, Travis Scott, to even my older brothers.  I saw how talented they were, and it sparked my own creativity.  Singing is something i'm slowly tapping in to (that's where my church background comes in) but mainly right now I'm focused on building my sound, my name, Welo.  Its the street i grew up on, where I've had some of my most memorable childhood experiences, things that I've talked about in my songs, touched on.  Its a way for me to remember I'm doing this for not just my city, my family or friends, but for me.  I've spent my last four years in San Diego, California where I've got a decent buzz for an indie artist.  I've done collaborations with big named local artist LXMB, Briss Mula, 2TooMuch, Von Dream and Haydo, to artist booming in Indianapolis such as Fazle and Mula Khan.  I've hosted club events at F6ix, one of San Diego's up and coming venues, opening up for Joe Moses, RJ, Nef The Pharaoh, and Adrian Marcel to name a few.  My brodie 2TooMuch and I took part in the Get Money Stop Hatin' Tour this year, hitting Indianapolis, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania from August 5 - 16, making a huge impression on the local hip-hop scenes and building a gathering along with it.  Right now I'm working on my first mixtape titled "JUBANTAI", setting to drop in the beginning of March.