Hip hop artist Ishan wanted to tell his story his own way, so he began producing his work when he was just 18.
In just a year, he learned how to produce, engineer, write, and record, and he dedicated himself to improving his skills with each fresh piece of art he created.
“I produce my own beats. I mix, master, and engineer myself. Everything,” he told online writer Hunter Berube in a 2021 interview.
He records out of a closet that he revamped into a sound booth, a DIY project that reflects his passion for music and his desire to keep outside influences from infiltrating his work.
“I feel that once you start making music in certain ways because you want a certain audience to flock to it, you lose the meaning for why you do this in the first place,” he told the art magazine Boston Culture. “My sound has grown over the years, but that’s because I have allowed myself to grow as an artist and person, so at any point in my music career regardless of sound, I have been myself the entire time.”
His love of hip hop was deep-seated, so it was easy for him to find the right musical genre to speak his truth. But he does so with his own unique flair.
He stands out from other musicians, he says, “by experimenting with new sounds and styles and allowing myself to be me when I make music and engage with fans. By producing myself, I have an advantage, because I have full authority to make whatever I want without having to articulate what sound I am looking for. I am not afraid to go against the grain.”
His production company, Rarebreed, is dedicated to those artists who step out of the proverbial box to create something fresh and innovative, and it speaks to Ishan’s work quite well.
“Rarebreed was started with the intention of combining the minds and personalities of rare individuals to create art,” Ishan said. “New sounds, new ways of thinking, anything that is against the grain falls under the umbrella of Rarebreed.”
While Ishan’s music has moments that are decidedly old school, he adds musical twists and surprises that give traditional sounds a totally contemporary spin.
His latest EP, “RANDUM ThOUGHTS,” is his favorite work to date, he said in the Boston Culture interview.
“These beats in the project speak to me on a different level, I love them to death,” he said. “The music on this EP was me allowing myself to get all the random shit in my head onto a track and allow myself to make a project that was entirely me. I wasn’t thinking about what people would want to hear, what would sound best on stage, I just made whatever I felt like making. I am extremely happy with the project.”
The EP features a flow of thoughts from Ishan, reflecting his life in the moment.
“There will be things that I really just want to talk about, things that I can’t stop thinking about,” he says. “Those will become songs.”
For more information on Ishan, visit his website at www.ishantherapper.com.
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