John Waller, a 22-year-old from south St. Petersburg, has four songs available on streaming platforms and plans to drop his first mixtape by the end of May.
Courtesy of Max Steele | The Crow’s Nest
By Max Steele and Anthony Rivera
In five years’ time, John Andrew Waller — who goes by the stage name “AyoDrew” — sees himself traveling the country on tour and performing in sold-out venues with thousands of fans singing along to his songs.
But before the 22-year-old becomes a household name, the aspiring hip-hop artist knows he must be willing to put in the countless hours of dedication and resilience that stardom demands.
“It’s definitely going to take a lot of hard work,” Waller said. “I’ll be dedicating a lot of time this summer to working on my craft.”
After hearing his cousins making music, Waller decided to “give it a try one day and ran with it from there.” In 2020, he released his first official song, “Again.” and quickly attracted a following.
Alongside “Again.,” Waller has three other singles — “Not the Same,” “Right Now,” and “Foreal.”— available on Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud and YouTube. He plans to drop his first mixtape by the end of May.
“I really haven’t gotten any bad feedback,” Waller said. “People are telling me to continue to do it.”
Among his fans is global music sensation and fellow Lakewood High School classmate Rod Wave, who Waller says has not only been an inspiration for him, but a mentor.
“He’s inspiring the movement throughout [St. Petersburg]. I see him shining and because we come from the same place, I feel like if he can do it, then I can do it too,” Waller said.
“He reaches out from time to time. I ask him about his experience and how he evolved throughout the city. He gives me advice and tells me what I should be doing at the moment.”
Despite the support and motivation he has now, making music wasn’t always Waller’s planned career path.
Born and raised in south St. Petersburg, Waller found his first love at the age of 8 years old –– football.
During his freshman year of high school, Waller attended Lakewood and earned the starting running back position. A season later, he transferred to Admiral Farragut Academy, where he gained nationwide recognition as a defensive tackle and accepted a scholarship to play with his hometown team at the University of South Florida — mainly because he wanted to stay close to St. Petersburg and have his family to come to the games.
“Being able to see my family after every game is all a college player can ask for,” Waller said. “I would definitely say it was a great experience.”
Due to multiple coaching changes and the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, Waller ultimately decided that “there’s more to life than football” and turned his attention toward school, music and video game streaming.
Waller is currently a partner on the popular streaming platform Twitch, and has been able to make an income off his content by streaming games such as “NBA 2K” and “Call of Duty: Warzone.”
Waller also takes classes at the St. Petersburg campus and plans to graduate at the end of the spring semester with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from the University of South Florida’s Tampa campus. He then hopes to find a job that will allow him to make investments so that he can further pursue his music career in a professional and high-quality fashion.
Follow John Waller on Instagram @ayodrxw .
Listen to his music at https://unitedmasters.com/ayodrew or search “AyoDrew” on Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud or YouTube.
Anthony Rivera is a junior digital communications and multimedia journalism major at the USF St. Petersburg.
