Jeremy Allen has been a rap fan all of his life. A walk into his home and you’ll hear Jay-Z and the rich sounds of The Heatmakers produced beats for Dipset blasting at his crib. Yet, he never picked up a microphone a day in his life. That all changed in 2007, when he did a six year prison sentence for an attempted murder charge that according to the artist “saved his life.” While in jail he honed his craft by freestyle rapping and beat-boxing in his prison cell.  Fellow inmates were impressed and told him that he should consider a career in rap.

Fast forward to 2014, Allen, better known by his stage name of Castro has been blasting musical heat in the streets. Fresh off performing at SXSW in Austin, Texas last week, Castro sat down with The Source and schooled the unfamiliar with his brand of music.

The Source: What makes your music stand out?

Castro: Well, I’m from Chi-Raq, so everybody’s looking for a Chicago drill sound. I’m from where drill really started. You can expect to hear drill music, but you will hear a new form of it. It’s not just to reach a certain street dude, but a kid in the suburbs, a white kid and a kid in Arizona. We’re trying to reach the world, not just a certain city.

The Source: What is drill music?

Castro: Drill was started by my homie, PacMan. Rest in Peace to my homie PacMan. I guess you can say, it’s our form of “Turn Up.” Drill can be anything like, ‘man we can’t go to this party tonight-it’s a drill,’ or”I’m about to go have sex with this girl-it’s a drill.’ Drill can be used in the sense of turn up.

The Source: And that’s exclusive to Chicago?

Castro: Yeah. It started on the East Side.

The Source: Can you tell us a little bit about your story and how you started rapping?

Castro: I did a six year bid. I was incarcerated for attempted murder. I was on deck with my guys and we used to beat on the walls and just freestyle. It was our way to get away from our environment. Everybody was like, ‘You dope bro you should take this serious.’ So, from that day and point on I started writing and taking music serious.

The Source: What advice would you give someone who was or is in a similar situation like yours?

Castro: Don’t let your past hinder your future. Music is like everything else..it takes a lot of hard work, practice, persistence, determination and dedication. You gotta be dedicated and want this. You gotta go get this and don’t let nobody tell you that you won’t get this.

Casto’s Welcome Home Mixtape will drop on July 4th. In the meantime download his current mixtape F**K Da Industry 

Also, check out one of his latest videos