Neil Robert Hatherall, a.k.a iDLE is a Canadian rapper and music producer. Hatherall was born on September 1 1984 in London, Ontario Canada where he currently resides. He stands 5'5 tall, has dirty blonde hair, and blue eyes. He has lived, schooled and worked in London Ontario most of his life; which has featured an on/off residence at his parents’ house, several high school placements, drugs, alcohol and; of course, music. Hatherall had a particularly unbalanced, difficult relationship with his family. Incessant altercations resulted in him being kicked out of his parents’ house various times. He has never been very close to his family, unlike his other siblings. When he was approximately 15 years old his older brother stopped speaking to him, and the two have not spoken more than a few words to each other since. The majority of Hatherall’s family conflicts were a result of decisions he made, as he hung out with people, and got involved with activities his parents disapproved of. In 1999 he broke into a neighbours’ house, which resulted in the police knocking at his door. He was also interrogated by numerous investigators on an attempted murder case a friend was involved with in 2002. He went in for a lie detector test, and even after passing it, the police tapped his phones; "yea my parents weren't too happy about that." At age 19, after being thrown out of his house several times, he was ultimately kicked out in November 2003 and moved into a hotel. He lived there on welfare until early 2004 when welfare cancelled him, so he moved in with his girlfriend of that time in St. Thomas, Ontario. He stayed there until fighting with his girlfriend became too much, and in July 2004 he moved back home. In November of that year he moved to Banff Alberta, and it was here that he started selling drugs and using, to which Hatherall describes himself doing, “way too many and getting way too f***ked way too often.” It was not until one morning coming off an intense coke binge that he phoned a girl he knew from Ontario, and she made him realize his options: he was either coming home, or he was staying in Banff to die. In January 2005, he returned to his parents’ house. With such an addictive personality, Hatherall had a rather difficult time with drugs. He started drinking alcohol when he was 12 years old and started smoking weed when he was 14. After enjoying experiments with these drugs, he moved on to other harder drugs. After indulging so much he says "I'd even just smoke weed and my heart would go nuts and I thought I was dying. But I was stupid cause I still kept doin' drugs for like 3 years after that." It wasn't until he returned to his parents home from Banff that he quit all drugs; "now I just drink my ass off like everyday (laughs)..." In terms of school, Hatherall has said he was “a stupid kid” and went most the way through High School barely passing "at the time I believed I was too smart for school, now I know I just hated it cause it didn’t interest me.” So he often skipped class to smoke weed, hang out with his friends or go home to make music; where he’d rather be. He attended Oakridge High School from 1998 2001; then Saunders High School for half a semester but was excluded for playing truant. He returned to Oakridge in 2002 and got a couple of credits, but the school did not let him back in the Fall. He then went to an adult school but was later excluded for skipping class. It was finally in 2004 that he went to Central Collegiate Institute in St. Thomas while living at his girlfriend’s parents’ house that he achieved his High School diploma. Hatherall first dreamt of making his own music when he was 11 years old. He tried starting a band with some people he knew, but youth and naivety meant that nothing could become of it. The following year he met some new people and began a small rock band consisting of two guitars, and Hatherall played bass (he can also play guitar and drums.) This particular band lasted on and off with different members throughout high school years until 11th grade, when he quit the band to focus on rapping. He had begun writing lyrics in 1999, which started off as poems, then rock lyrics; but a turning point came when he heard Eminem’s music, which truly inspired him into writing rap lyrics. Hatherall needs to be in a very enthusiastic, energetic and confident mood to write lyrics and make beats; because he sees no point in writing if you know you’re not in the correct frame of mind and therefore, won’t produce your best. He is predominantly motivated to write by his girl, and a beat he’s really into. Hatherall used to go by the emcee name Absent Minded for approximatelly 4 years. One day he discovered another rapper with the same name, from the same country, who appeared to be farther down the music path than he, although Hatherall had twice the skill he did. After discovering this, Neil switched to a previously considered name, iDLE. iDLE's music has been available on the Internet since 2003. He has been making beats as long as he’s been recording, which began as simple tape recordings in 2000, but in 20001 he began producing true beats on his computer with just an average computer microphone and the basics. He later purchased a condenser microphone, preamp, and exterior audio interface to make his music sound pretty much studio quality. The main response from iDLE's listeners is very positive, with praise for his beats and style. More often than not, he’s labelled as an Eminem sound-a-like, which he has heard ever since he started rapping. He took it as a compliment at first, but it later really annoyed him; “everything I came out with that I thought was hot as f**k and real goodeveryone else just said, it’s already been done, get your own style you Eminem wanna-be and s**t like that.” It does not bother Hatherall so much now, as he realizes there are innumerable rappers and innumerable styles so he believes it is “next to impossible” to have a completely original style with no obvious influences. Since Eminem, artists such as Swollen Members, Dialted Peoples, Kaos, Jedi Mind Tricks, Classified and Dead Prez have also inspired him. He adds that his skill is still growing and developing, and he will gradually develop his own unique and origional style. London, Ontario is not a particularly thriving hip hop scene, so it is a challenge for Hatherall to do his music where people are not so accepting of it. The majority of his friends have been somewhat supportive of him, but not to the point of making music with him. His parents have always been vehemently against his passion for music, as Hatherall says in his own words “they’ve always hated it, disrespected, and not supported me and my music, just like most things I do.” Outside of rapping, Hatherall is “usually making beats, working out, talking to my girls, chillin with some buddies, and getting drunkbut I’m usually getting drunk while doin all that (laughs).” When looking back on his life so far, Hatherall has several regrets and life-lessons. He regrets doing as many drugs as he did; he regrets doing “so much stupid s**t” to his family, and regrets dumping all his girlfriends. He feels he has learnt a lot about himself; that you should always live for the moment, and that the grass always looks greener on the other side. "but once you get there, you just want back on the other side." by Tamara Laryea