ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: WHO IS ASSASSINATE — Nathaniel Illig, Colorado Horrorcore Headliner of HALLOWEINER
Colorado Springs horrorcore heavyweight ASSASSINATE (Nathaniel Illig) of Switchblade Grenade headlines HALLOWEINER — Bust Out the Box #12 — Friday, October 30, 2026 at the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall. A Sarge LLC artist spotlight.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Colorado Springs, CO — October 1, 2026
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: WHO IS ASSASSINATE
If you run in Colorado horrorcore circles, you already know the name. If you don't — you're about to. ASSASSINATE — Nathaniel Illig — is one of the most commanding underground performers in Colorado Springs and the Denver underground scene, a horrorcore heavyweight whose live show hits like a shockwave and whose story reads like a myth. On Friday, October 30, 2026, he headlines HALLOWEINER — Bust Out the Box #12 — at the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall in Colorado Springs.
THE ORIGIN: BORN AGAIN OF THE NIGHT
Nathaniel Illig's story starts long before the stage. Born July 8, 1991 — in his Words. "more than a sequence of numbers," as he puts it, "the day fate decided a legend would be born" — he was brought down from the mountains to a small suburb of northern Colorado, where his family was searching for more opportunity. He grew up, in his words, "raised to be the people's champion." As a teen, he rose to face his bullies, his fears, and at one point, death itself.
What happened next is the kind of story that either breaks a person or forges one. Nate describes standing in the void while his body was not there, staring into "the silent abyss of endless nothingness" — and chuckling. He challenged his own existence, saying, "heaven or hell, let something begin." And the void, he says, whispered back: "we have no room for you, you still have work, that must be done."
Surrounded by shadows emitting electricity, spinning faster and faster, his chest feeling as if it should have collapsed "under the pressure of a stars mass pushing through him." He was expelled from the beyond — "chased from the gates by Cerebrus itself" — and recovered "beyond where medical records had made sense to."
Most people would spend a lifetime processing something like that. Nate turned it into a mission. "As his strength grew, he became a keeper of people," he writes. "He stood for those without strength, and learned to be a voice for those that had none."
At one point, He had wished to join the Marines. They told him, "you have more metal in you than we send soldiers home with." So he found another way to serve — another battlefield. Music.
"Faced by his own new greater personal demons, he wandered into the night, with nothing but his backpack," his bio reads, driven by the understanding that he would miss his mark if he didn't keep searching for opportunity beyond a town that had grown too small to contain him. The people who believed in him sent him into the unknown with words he still carries: "when you get there, don't forget about us." And he never did.
"Through music, he would become a small light, in a sea of darkness." Challenge after challenge, demon after demon, he grew and built — until finally, he began to build a name for himself. "Our hero, was born again of the night."
Today he describes himself as "a leader of the lost," working to become "the lighthouse to guide others, through their darkest moments, to inspire them to find their paths too." The merc with a mission. The militant merchant. His name: "AssassiNate."
THE SOUND: HORRORCORE WITH A MISSION
ASSASSINATE reps horrorcore — the dark, aggressive, theatrical lane of underground hip-hop where horror imagery meets hard bars and heavier truth. He's one half of Switchblade Grenade, the duo carving out territory in Colorado's underground, and a trusted soldier in the broader horrorcore family that runs between Colorado Springs and Denver — the same scene built by SCUM, the Gorefather, and his Lyrikal Snuff Productionz camp running the Roxy underground operation.
THE STAGE: A FORCE OF NATURE
ASSASSINATE doesn't perform at you — he detonates in front of you. Full dark beard, black shades, forward-facing cap, tattooed arms, stocky build planted like a wall. He's rocked the Wagon Wheel before, and every time, the crowd remembers — part horror show, part revival meeting.
HALLOWEINER: OCTOBER 30 AT THE WAGON WHEEL
Friday, October 30, 2026. The Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall. Bust Out the Box #12: HALLOWEINER — an underground horrorcore Halloween costume party, headlined by ASSASSINATE and Friendz, with Chloe Killz, DROC, CU$H, Hazadis, and XO RECKLE$$ rounding out a stacked lineup. The monthly Bust Out the Box residency is run by The Sarge LLC and AntiFamouz Ent. Tickets are moving now — 21 and up.
WHY SARGE COSIGNS HIM
The Sarge doesn't hand out cosigns lightly. He's put ASSASSINATE on Wagon Wheel stages more than once, and the respect runs both directions — he has experienced Nate live at the ROXY Theater in Denver, the Black Sheep and many other locations. "When you get there, don't forget about us" — Nathaniel never did. That's the cosign.
Read the full spotlight: https://thesargellc.blogspot.com/2026/10/artist-spotlight-who-is-assassinate.html
About THE SARGE LLC: THE SARGE — U.S. Army Infantry veteran turned hip-hop and pop-punk-rock artist, producer, and sound designer (BS in Audio Production, Full Sail University; currently a Music Major at UCCS). CEO of The Sarge LLC. Published artist on Billboard Hip Hop and HipHopSince1987. Founder of BUST OUT THE BOX, the monthly multi-genre music residency at Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall in Colorado Springs. Stay Different.
Media contact: [email protected] · (719) 229-5212 · www.thesarge.net
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Colorado Springs, CO — October 1, 2026
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: WHO IS ASSASSINATE
If you run in Colorado horrorcore circles, you already know the name. If you don't — you're about to. ASSASSINATE — Nathaniel Illig — is one of the most commanding underground performers in Colorado Springs and the Denver underground scene, a horrorcore heavyweight whose live show hits like a shockwave and whose story reads like a myth. On Friday, October 30, 2026, he headlines HALLOWEINER — Bust Out the Box #12 — at the Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall in Colorado Springs.
THE ORIGIN: BORN AGAIN OF THE NIGHT
Nathaniel Illig's story starts long before the stage. Born July 8, 1991 — in his Words. "more than a sequence of numbers," as he puts it, "the day fate decided a legend would be born" — he was brought down from the mountains to a small suburb of northern Colorado, where his family was searching for more opportunity. He grew up, in his words, "raised to be the people's champion." As a teen, he rose to face his bullies, his fears, and at one point, death itself.
What happened next is the kind of story that either breaks a person or forges one. Nate describes standing in the void while his body was not there, staring into "the silent abyss of endless nothingness" — and chuckling. He challenged his own existence, saying, "heaven or hell, let something begin." And the void, he says, whispered back: "we have no room for you, you still have work, that must be done."
Surrounded by shadows emitting electricity, spinning faster and faster, his chest feeling as if it should have collapsed "under the pressure of a stars mass pushing through him." He was expelled from the beyond — "chased from the gates by Cerebrus itself" — and recovered "beyond where medical records had made sense to."
Most people would spend a lifetime processing something like that. Nate turned it into a mission. "As his strength grew, he became a keeper of people," he writes. "He stood for those without strength, and learned to be a voice for those that had none."
At one point, He had wished to join the Marines. They told him, "you have more metal in you than we send soldiers home with." So he found another way to serve — another battlefield. Music.
"Faced by his own new greater personal demons, he wandered into the night, with nothing but his backpack," his bio reads, driven by the understanding that he would miss his mark if he didn't keep searching for opportunity beyond a town that had grown too small to contain him. The people who believed in him sent him into the unknown with words he still carries: "when you get there, don't forget about us." And he never did.
"Through music, he would become a small light, in a sea of darkness." Challenge after challenge, demon after demon, he grew and built — until finally, he began to build a name for himself. "Our hero, was born again of the night."
Today he describes himself as "a leader of the lost," working to become "the lighthouse to guide others, through their darkest moments, to inspire them to find their paths too." The merc with a mission. The militant merchant. His name: "AssassiNate."
THE SOUND: HORRORCORE WITH A MISSION
ASSASSINATE reps horrorcore — the dark, aggressive, theatrical lane of underground hip-hop where horror imagery meets hard bars and heavier truth. He's one half of Switchblade Grenade, the duo carving out territory in Colorado's underground, and a trusted soldier in the broader horrorcore family that runs between Colorado Springs and Denver — the same scene built by SCUM, the Gorefather, and his Lyrikal Snuff Productionz camp running the Roxy underground operation.
THE STAGE: A FORCE OF NATURE
ASSASSINATE doesn't perform at you — he detonates in front of you. Full dark beard, black shades, forward-facing cap, tattooed arms, stocky build planted like a wall. He's rocked the Wagon Wheel before, and every time, the crowd remembers — part horror show, part revival meeting.
HALLOWEINER: OCTOBER 30 AT THE WAGON WHEEL
Friday, October 30, 2026. The Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall. Bust Out the Box #12: HALLOWEINER — an underground horrorcore Halloween costume party, headlined by ASSASSINATE and Friendz, with Chloe Killz, DROC, CU$H, Hazadis, and XO RECKLE$$ rounding out a stacked lineup. The monthly Bust Out the Box residency is run by The Sarge LLC and AntiFamouz Ent. Tickets are moving now — 21 and up.
WHY SARGE COSIGNS HIM
The Sarge doesn't hand out cosigns lightly. He's put ASSASSINATE on Wagon Wheel stages more than once, and the respect runs both directions — he has experienced Nate live at the ROXY Theater in Denver, the Black Sheep and many other locations. "When you get there, don't forget about us" — Nathaniel never did. That's the cosign.
Read the full spotlight: https://thesargellc.blogspot.com/2026/10/artist-spotlight-who-is-assassinate.html
About THE SARGE LLC: THE SARGE — U.S. Army Infantry veteran turned hip-hop and pop-punk-rock artist, producer, and sound designer (BS in Audio Production, Full Sail University; currently a Music Major at UCCS). CEO of The Sarge LLC. Published artist on Billboard Hip Hop and HipHopSince1987. Founder of BUST OUT THE BOX, the monthly multi-genre music residency at Wagon Wheel Sports Bar & Concert Hall in Colorado Springs. Stay Different.
Media contact: [email protected] · (719) 229-5212 · www.thesarge.net
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- Last Updated
- October 1, 2026