Local music from the heart

“Your friendly neighborhood postman, I walk the streets, king. Just like the wish, I get it, whatever you need,” musician Kingill sings in his 2025 song “Postman.”

Sound like a familiar story? Hip-hop and rap artist Kingill often dives into deeper topics, such as overcoming adversity and keeping true to oneself. However, sometimes his music can draw from more simple aspects of his life, such as his career as one of Creston’s favorite mailmen.

Kingill, also known as Khalil Sherrod, released his first album in October 2024, almost a year after his time at the Creston Post Office began. Prior, Sherrod was a member of Creston High School’s graduating class of 2022.

During the day, he walks through rain and shine to deliver mail to the people of Creston, something Sherrod said his mother prepared him for.

“Just from learning from my mother - when you work, you work hard,” Sherrod said. “It wasn’t too hard for me to apply that to the post office. They want you to work hard through the conditions. So I was like, alright, I can work with this.”

Sherrod applies this same mindset to the creation of his music, having put out 23 songs in the last 18 months. While focusing most of his attention on hip hop and R&B, Sherrod got his musical start by entertaining his family.

“When I was really young, I liked to make parodies of songs,” Sherrod said. “I thought that was enjoyable and it made my family laugh.”

Writing parodies soon morphed into something more, and Sherrod began to seriously contemplate making music during his sophomore year at Creston High School.

“By my senior year of high school, I knew I would be consistently making it and producing it, but I would say before that, I always kind of knew,” Sherrod said. “I’ve always been doing this, even before it was putting a project out or putting a song out in general. I knew I was always going to be writing stuff, so I always had that in the back of my mind.”

This has worked out well for Sherrod, with the artist performing throughout Iowa and even at Pre-Lollapalooza in St. Louis in July.

“I did that down there in St. Louis and I got a lot of good opportunities from that,” Sherrod said. “I was performing up in Des Moines for a while and I’ve been doing a lot of shows up in Iowa City. That’s been super fun. I’ve been just getting to travel a lot and get a lot of experience out on the road and that’s just been real good for me.”

Over the last few months, the cold weather has kept Sherrod closer to home, but he’s stayed busy with music creation. In January, Sherrod released a single called “Borders,” which focuses on some of the recent political strife.

“Sometimes God just tells you like, ‘Hey, I gave you this gift, it’s your time to give back.’ That’s kind of what ‘Borders’ is for me,” Sherrod said. “One reason I started music is to tell stories that people aren’t telling and tell a reality that is seen but not always vocalized. With ‘Borders’ especially, I tried to put that at the forefront, like, listen, we got things that we need to address, and at the very least we can support our brothers and sisters in this world.”

Sherrod worked with a producer for the creation of “Borders,” and that relationship has continued for possible future projects.

“I’ve been working with him pretty closely, and I’ve got another few projects lined up after that I’m excited to get out and get to the people. So really, that’s what I’ve been working on in the colder months,” Sherrod said.

Though many might find it difficult to produce so much music while also holding a full-time job, Sherrod said the schedule of a mailman works out well alongside his music.

“The balance is pretty good, I’d say just because the post office is more so morning into the middle of afternoon work,” Sherrod said. “I’ll get off work and it feels like I have a whole other day to work with. Really, it’s just like using the time we’re given. I also understand that time has to be shared and it has to be balanced with work-life balance and music. There’s a work element to [music], but it’s almost freeing.”

Plus, as shown with “Postman,” sometimes the two can mix.

“‘Postman’ is pretty much just me growing into a person that is obviously a working man in the society, but also it’s kind of my interpretation of, you go through life so quickly and being a postman, you see so many different faces and peoples and names. You see all these stories that you don’t get the full story to. It’s almost like you get just a preview into other people’s lives,” Sherrod said. “Really, that’s a blessing to have someone connect with you and really all you’re really doing for them is giving them their mail. It’s a blessing to be allowed in.”

This type of connection with community members isn’t something easily found outside of a small, rural communities. However, this experience can come with some negatives, too.

“Growing up here, a lot of the experiences I had and I’ve held, not all of them are positive. And I know that speaking from the perspective of a Black male. Especially as a young Black male, and my sister’s a young Black woman, and both of us were growing up here, so we experienced a lot of things that didn’t always hit correctly, weren’t always positive,” Sherrod said, “but knowing that I come from here, I can paint a different light. I feel like through this acceptance and support through the community and all this, I feel like I’ve been given the opportunity to set something right. I can make a better picture for people.”

Though young himself, Sherrod has had the chance to connect with other young Iowa artists in the last few years, both through music creation and performing around the state.

While now defunct, Sherrod was also part of a network for young Midwest artists through Des Moines-based Syntriss. Through this, Sherrod was able to spread his music and meet others in the same position as himself.

But whether two years or 20 years into the industry, Sherrod said it’s important to take others’ feedback with a grain of salt.

“It’s very easy to get caught up in what a lot of other people want and think and feel about your output. But at the same time, that’s all just creative feedback to learn from,” Sherrod said. “You can hold their opinions to a degree of the sense of, OK, this is what people like and whatnot, but at the end of the day, it’s your art. And art has always been up for interpretation, so not everyone’s going to like it. And at the end of the day, if you like it, you’re going to be happy with it.”

Sherrod’s music is available on Spotify and Apple Music.