Listen to “Time for Me” here: https://soundcloud.com/ellseasons

Buy “Time for Me” here: https://ellseasons.bandcamp.com/

“I really want the new Taco Bell Quesalupa,” Ell Seasons’ webpage reads. “Please purchase my music so I can afford it.”

Ell Seasons is the rap name for Elliot Williams of Abington, PA. He is a senior communication major, and he recently released a music single called “Time for Me feat. Clif Porter.” Williams wrote, recorded and produced the song over the course of six months and is now in the process of creating an album called ELLVANIA to accompany the single.

Williams is not new to creating music, recording or performing. He grew up in a musical family in which his mother plays the piano and his father has a great singing voice. While Williams’ parents listened to classical, jazz and country, Williams discovered rap on his own when he recorded his first rap record at age 12. “I actually found that CD in my car the other day of my very first single,” Williams began. “It was this really corny rap, and my voice was like ten octaves higher, and I didn’t even recognize the voice. . . but I also discovered my passion. . . Being in front of the mic was the coolest thing I’ve ever felt.” Throughout Williams’ school career, he participated in talent shows and rap battles. 

What does Ell Seasons mean? “It’s funny, because people are always like, ‘Oh, you’ve changed your rap name like five times,’” Williams laughed. “And I have.” His first rap name was No Face. In high school, his rap name was his nickname: Boi Ell. “I changed it to just Ell when I turned 21, because I’m not a ‘boi’ anymore,” Williams added. Seasons refers to one of his favorite rap lines by Kanye West: “They say people in your life are seasons.” Additionally, Williams’ father taught him that difficult times in life are just seasons. 

“Time for Me” is a plea for reflection and prayer. 

All I need all I need Is some/ Time for me/ Everyone wanna find out what’s/ Right for me/ Everybody wanna find out what I’m tryna be

“The lyrics just kind of—they didn’t come at first,” Williams explained. “The more I free-styled with it—that’s sort of what I do a lot of the time, and then I pick the best things from whatever comes to me. The motive for ‘Time for Me?’ At the time, I didn’t really know what I was going to do after graduation, what I really wanted to be . . . but I had a direction. So the song is like me saying, everyone wants to find out what I’m trying to be, but I kind of need some time for me. There’s also this sort of retrospective part, where I’m looking at the world, where we are now. . .and then saying that I need time to reflect and pray.”

Williams recorded “Time for Me” over a series of sessions in Saint Mary’s practice rooms. “This is probably one of the hardest songs I’ve created, because of all the beats, different sounds, different vocals,” Williams said. He uses the program, Logic, to mix all of the layers of audio. The song originally had no feature, that is, until Williams spotted Clif Porter rapping a Chance the Rapper song at an a capella showcase. “I saw him, and I was like, ‘Yo, I need him on my song, because he’s got the energy that I bring to the song and a whole ‘nother aspect,’” Williams recalled.

Williams believes his Catholic roots ground him and separate him from other artists. “With rap, it’s about bravado and bragging rights and saying you’re the best,” Williams said. “I think part of me is saying I don’t want to put [myself] above God or lose who I am. . . Most of my music is clean. I want everyone to be able to listen to it without feeling like they are supporting anything negative.” Within the scope of campus, Williams acknowledges a handful of “hard-core rap fans” within the student body and revels in their understanding that rap and hip-hop don’t need to be negative or violent. 

Between graduation and his start date at Syracuse grad school for journalism, Williams expects to finish the full album in June. In the past, you could find his music for free on sites like YouTube and Sound Cloud. “Time for Me” marks the first time his music can be purchased online, specifically on Bandcamp. “I liked putting my music online for free,” Williams explained, “but it’s almost as if people don’t see the [artistic] value in free music.” 

In Williams’ room, a Bob Marley poster on the wall reads, “Don’t lose your soul for silver and gold.” While Williams admits he is “cool just making music for the rest of [his] life and not being in the spotlight,” he also looks forward to the chance to gain recognition and some pocket-change from his music. “I don’t expect to make like stacks of money from my music,” Williams explained, “but a few free meals at TBell would be solid.”