IKON is no stranger around these parts. His Soundcloud may be slightly deceiving, with only a small collection of his work available to stream, but he's been at it for years. Producing for others and carefully crafting his own material, IKON has more than a handful of records under his belt, a proven track record that has us always itching for more. In his latest single, a loose release ahead of his upcoming project Auragami, IKON teams up with fellow Private Stock alumni and multi-platinum producers Chinza Fly as well Sherren Olivia, a relative new name to the mix, for "Ready".

The song's title really says it all. We're ready to listen and everyone involved in its creation is ready to for the single to take off, so do your part and click play! We spoke with IKON briefly below about his new single and his work ethic in general. Listen to "Ready" above and learn a little more about this Chicago based producer and what he has going on below.  

We know you're a producer, and one of the better ones at that, but this is your first solo track in a while. What direction do you see your music career going this year?

First I'm dropping a brand new project this summer called "Auragami" that has a very electronic influence behind it with a lot of layers and different aspects of my productions. Also I really want to focus on exploring different sounds, collaborating with new people, and DJ'n. Really just expanding the brand even more.

Will there be more self released stuff like this, adding onto your production credits for other people, or a combination of both?

There will definitely be a combination of both starting with the project then introducing more projects and remixes as the year goes on.

For "Ready" you worked with fellow producers Chinza Fly a vocalist Sherren Olivia. How do you go about finding the people you end up working with?

Im always at the studio and a lot of talented people come through there all the time and Sherren was one of them, so its really about connecting with those people that I feel fit my sound then get in the studio and make something happen. As far as Chinza goes those are my brothers and to be able to work with multi platinum producers its a dope experience and it puts me in a mind set where I can comfortably say I'm headed in the right direction.

You work out of Private Stock Studios almost exclusively right? It seems like you and the team are always discovering talented new names way before we're up on them. What do you attribute that early discovery to?

Yes I do. I would have to attribute it to the the community we built at the studio because its really where a lot of things happen. Relationships are built that later turn into records and then every one benefits from it especially new listeners lol.

We noticed this was labeled as an IKON and Chinza Fly track. Can we expect more from you and Chinza Fly in the future? 

Definitely will. We have a  ton of records together that are coming out before I drop my first single off of Auragami so be on the look out for that!