This is a post from a blog that I own and run by a talented writer, Henry Rohlf. Nice to know schools are turning out good people:
Finding a passion can take years, sometimes decades for a lot of people, but that was not the case for Minneapolis rapper Isaiah Small .
Describing himself as “music-minded,” Isaiah Small has been musically active since age 3, starting first on the piano, making it an easy choice for his favorite instrument. He also describes the piano as the main structure of everything musical, making it crucial for his music.
However, despite his early attraction to music it was not until middle school when he first started rapping. “I started rapping in 8th grade, but didn’t start getting attention until I released the JC – 6 Foot 7 Foot Remix .” Isaiah Small (at the time JC)’s remix to the popular Lil Wayne song has accumulated 400,000 YouTube views (here’s the link ).
Having grown up in Edina, MN, one would guess that becoming a rapper would be impossible, but that just wasn’t the case for Isaiah Small. Regardless of the mostly white environment in which he was raised, Isaiah Small has dropped three “projects,” as he likes to call them. His first was debuted in 2012 on iTunes, a project he called The Colour, which ended up selling about 50 copies.
However Isaiah Small credits his success to the networking he has done and also to his shows over the years, rather than the projects by themselves.
Despite what you may think, it was at his local shows where he really began to take off. “I started doing small shows at the Depot and a month later I was performing with Bobby Raps at First Avenue.”
Since then, Isaiah Small has had the chance to perform with some pretty big artists like Casey Veggies and Wiz Khalifa, but he says that each one of his performances have contributed to his overall success, rather than just the one’s with big names.
Isaiah Small performing with Chris Webby on 4/29 .
At each show, Isaiah Small follows a sort of routine; at the beginning of each show he always makes sure his throat is clear but more importantly he always wears an orange shirt during performances. Orange is common trait among a lot of Isaiah Small’s work, his second project is even called Orange Music . Orange is also a way that he wants his music to be, saying that “Some music is dark, some music is light. Mine is orange.”
For more on Isaiah Small and the writings at groovyman, go to www.groovyman.com