NandoSTL's ascent in the music industry reads straight out of a Gen Z movie. Just a few years after picking up a mic as a rapper and grinding it out in St. Louis’ local scene, Nando entered an online music competition hosted by T-Pain on Twitch.

600 entries were eventually narrowed down to just two contestants, with Nando making it all the way to the final before ending up as the runner-up by the slightest of margins. However, his talent and music left a lasting impression on T-Pain, and in a surprising turn of events, the legendary artist offered him a record label contract.

During the competition, Nando and his team developed a strong connection to Chicago, as they would drive to the neighboring Midwest city to record at the renowned Classick Studios following a referral from his high-school friend, Smino. Citing inspiration from artists like Chance The Rapper, Nando also discovered a nurturing environment in Chicago where he could develop the sound he was passionate about.

As the newest Nappy Boy artist, Nando earned the right to open for T-Pain and Tobi Lou during the ongoing Escape From Wiscansin tour. The star-studded show on the road is also an opportunity that he’s seized to introduce himself to thousands of potential new fans across the country.

During their recent stop in Chicago, just minutes after a high-energy and charismatic set that won over the local crowd despite the venue’s poor acoustics, Nando talked with These Days about his connection to the Windy City and Classick Studios, his experience throughout the Twitch contest, and his recent album, Year of the Ape.

So just to start off, Welcome to Chicago. I love that you're on stage. And you mentioned the connection between St. Louis and Chicago. How did it feel to be onstage in front of the semi-home crowd?

I loved it. Chicago is like the closest place for me to perform to St. Louis. And like a year ago, when I first came to Chicago, I started working in the studio out here, and I was like, “I'm gonna play some big shit out here.” And now I'm playing some big shit out here, so it's crazy.

Is this your first time performing in Chicago?

Yeah. I love Chicago's vibes. When you go anywhere else soon as you walk out on stage they screamin'. Chicago is like, "We're going to check this shit out first and then we'll decide at the end if we fuck with you."

You seemed to be winning them over…

Yeah, that's how I like it! Don't lie to me. If you fuck with me off the gate, you fuck with everybody. I like it when it's like, "I'm gonna listen to a couple of these first and then we got you." By the end everybody's hands were up, so I loved it.

Yeah, you definitely brought the energy. I was wondering, the tour kickstarted in Wisconsin and it was this big event, how did that first show feel?

That shit was wild bro. Seeing people like Chance, he was a huge inspiration in my music, and seeing Afroman, Larusell, Pain, Bow Wow, Scrappy...there was so many people and we were all back there together. The craziest part about the whole shit was, after it was over, people kept tagging all of us. [laughs]

This is all relatively new to you because you just won that Twitch contest last year. First, I want to ask, what was the contest like? And how did it feel to be in every week battling? I know that you actually had come in second place, but you ended up winning him over.

Yeah, I lost. It was fucking stressful, you know what I'm saying? Because I wasn't the person that would just send him music I made. I was making new music every week. So I would drive from St. Louis to the West Side of Chicago to Classik Studios and record new music.

Oh wow…

I was here every week. People who just left out of here, that's how we all know each other, making the beats and recording the shit. We fought through it and then to lose at the end? We lost by .8 so that shit was crazy. But then, I think, it felt better to lose and still get signed. Because if I had won, I feel like everybody would be like, "Oh, he won a competition. That's why he got signed." But the fact that I lost and Pain was like, "Bro, I've been listening to your music for months now. I'm not letting you go nowhere." So I was like, "Bet." And then I just told him what I wanted and he sent me a contract that had everything in it that I wanted.

That's wild that you mentioned Classick Studios because that's like a legendary studio here. How did you find it?

Smino! Me and Smino went to high school together. He stayed three, four minutes from me. We was in band in high school, playing drums and shit. That's kind of what everybody does, you either play basketball or drums. [laughs] In St. Louis it was really hard to find people that could really mesh with the sound I have. It's not like the usual "shoot them up, bang bang" shit so I just, on a whim, came out here and stayed out here.

I love that connection between you and Chicago.

Yeah, the sound is here, man.

What's it been like since that contest? I feel like things have been speeding through.

Yeah, crazy 'cause I don't fucking play. God damn, I came in on November 1st, and then by January I was dropping music every month. Me, Pain and Cash dropped in January, I dropped again in February, I dropped “Loud” in March, and dropped "XYZ" in April and I dropped the album in May and here we are in June.

What can you tell us about the album?

Yeah, it was damn near done before I signed. I think the only song we added was "On Everything," the one featuring Nelly which was crazy. But it was really just a journey through how my life was going. You can really hear the highs and the lows man. I wanted to like share that I wasn't just a regular artist. I'm kind of like an onion. I got layers and shit. sometimes I'm happy sometimes we don't turn up sometimes I don't feel like fucking talking. But through all of that, I feel like always had music. So I just wanted to be as vulnerable as I could to start this shit off you know.

What's ahead for you?

Yeah, so we got the second leg of the tour. I'm working on a few more features. We're dropping video for "On Everything" with Nelly, coming out pretty soon. I wish I knew what I had coming up, but I didn't even know this was shit was coming up for me, you know? So the fact that we here, if it ends tomorrow, I'm happy as fuck. But I gotta feeling that we got a long way to go.