Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaiah Johnson.
Hi Isaiah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Started producing at 13 when my friend rj showed me FL Studio. The first genre I started making was jersey club music because my best friend Azim who was from jersey told me to try to make club music for the parties. I built a name up in that genre by the time I was 16 I had millions of streams and was in notable jersey club producer groups such as Real Music and JiggyThvtMusic. Some notable producers from those groups are DJ Smallz, DJ Telly Tellz, Smatt Sertified (Prodijee), JIDDY, SBF, Acetheproducer and more. From 16 – 18 I continued to mainly produce Jersey Club but the genre hype was dying down. Around the same time I was kicked out of my house and was forced to move on my own. This put me in different environments where I was asked to make actual beats more frequently instead of Jersey Club. This started my production career as an actual beat maker for artists. I slowly started getting better and started getting local artists on my beats. Then I took an internship oppurtunity at The Blackroom Studios where I met SumYunGhai, Justin Rarri, Jens The Guru, Big Jah and the rest of their team. This is where I learned the importance of being an engineer. While all of this is going on I was uploading beats to youtube to get my name out there and started to build a new following. This lead to me working with Lil Tjay which lead to a major demand for my beats. I was networking with all the NY producers locking in with at the time some of the best producers in NY from AyoLucas, JabariOnTheBeat, EMRLD, Lucaonthetrack, NXRRE, Great John and many more. After learning about engineering I went from studio to studio each one being better than the previous just grinding and gaining experience. Eventually I got an opportunity to manage a professional studio and was there for a year and a half got to work with 600 breezy, Tony Sunshine and hundreds of local artists. This studio allowed me to build my name in the engineering world. Around this time I had a bunch of songs I produced out doing well a few that stuck out to me were Mention with Grand Khai and a whole album with NoJuice Q with a feature from Uncle Murda. After that I took a break from engineering then I went to another studio in center city to help build up the hype and get back into a lead engineering role. This is where I got to be in more of a mentor role like how SumYunGhai was for me with a talented producer/engineer ProdbyLo9. We helped each other alot while working with each other and this was the first time I got to work in a studio with another active engineer. During this got to work with people like Lil Rekk, Jstar Balla, DD Osama, Notti Osama, Sugarhill Keem. After that the studio moved locations and I started expanding my platform from just music to doing interviews and making content. I started a media company called “UNFLTRD” where we showcase creatives from a unfiltered perspective starting from the beginning of their life to present day. I also built a gaming titktok up to over 140k+ followers and 22k+ subs on youtube. The gaming community I was in allowed me to network and interact daily with NFL players, NBA players, Rappers, Producers and more. I got cool with NFL Players Ceedy Gardner-Johnson, Kenny Gainwell and Dylan Parham, NBA player Montrez Harrell, Streamers Kaysan and Silky just to name a few. Now im pivoting into through events through UNFLTRD and making content around that while still being an active engineer/producer. I also coach AAU for 15u Brotherhood Basketball program and have been doing UNFLTRD sports content highlighting players from the area. From 12-23 I was in and out of jail, probation or parole. Music allowed me to change my path and live off of my passion to create and connect.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Definetly struggles. Going from studio to studio, dealing with egos and different personalities everyday. Home life, having kids, managing a whole studio by yourself, being in and out of jail or just the system in general, Not having a team or when having a team its the wrong team, stress of living up to a name, work life balance there is so much I cant even write it all out.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Music Production
Beat Making
Engineering ( Tracking and Mixing )
Content Creator
Im most proud of working with different artists from around the world or just seeing a song I produce have a viral trend and watching all the videos from people around the world. Ive work with people in Germany,Tokyo, South Korea, Nigeria, South Africa, Canada, United Kingdom, Dominican Republic and more.
also proud of getting over 1.5 million streams on a song I made with my close friend Grand Khai. That meant alot to me knowing we didnt need a big team to do that.
I think what sets me apart is my knack for reading people and allowing them to not feel judged and be as comfortable as possible in a session.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I like that my city is very arts based and has a lot of creative spaces for people to take advantage of. What I like least is that my city only comes together when they feel like it. I wish we were more accepting of one another more consistently.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/zaithecannon instagram.com/unfltrd.ig
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/UNFLTRDYT
