BANG: ISHAN

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS | ISHAN

INTERVIEW TERRELL “REALIFE” BLACK PHOTO @OFFICIALRUSCILLO

With the February 2021 release of his EP “Randum Thoughts”, and newly guest appearances on a slew of radio shows across the country including Statik Seletah’s “ShowOff Radio”, The Drama King, Dj Kay Slay’s “Street Sweeper Radio, Shade 45 with Lord Sear, 105.1 with Dj Self and Hot 107.9 Atlanta with Stu. But that’s not all, he recently opened up for Benny The Butcher’s “The Burden of Plugs Tour” in Poughkeepsie, NY, The Lox in Rhode Island and Ice T, Cypress Hill, Too Short, Big Daddy Kane and others at the “Art of Rap Tour” in Los Angeles, California. He just wrapped up the video shoot for his “Children” record. Needless to say the Boston, Massachusetts artist and producer is undoubtably making moves in the right direction. He credits his passion for hip hop to the forefathers of rap who introduced hard hitting lyrics and new sounds. Ishan looks to breakthrough the barriers that have trapped his generation of “SoundCloud” and “mumble rap” and consistency drop lyricism and banging beats. 

Ishan tells us about balancing college life and music life, writing, producing and engineering his own music, his latest record “BANG” of his “Randum Thoughts” EP and rereleasing his self titled EP “OBA”.

“I want listeners to understand it's okay to be yourself, to have aspirations, and to have fun with life.” - ISHAN

VALIDATED: Being from Boston, Massachusetts, what’s your earliest memory of hip hop culture? 

ISHAN: I remember my dad playing “In da club” by 50 cent and “Juicy” by Biggie one day in the car when I was around 4 years old and falling in love with hip-hop. How you can go from playful lyrics to real-life situations and your aspirations, the melodic beats with the hard hitting drums/808s, I could not get enough of rap music.

VALIDATED: Before we get into the music, you’re a full time college student. How do you balance your music life and college life?

ISHAN: I am not going to lie and say it is easy. I study biochemistry full-time at Northeastern, working full time as a researcher, and do music full time as well. I stretch myself thin because I don’t like living in a box, I want to do everything I am interested in and unfortunately if that means a little less sleep and less time with my friends then so be it. I ensure that everything that is a priority is completed to full proficiency, that means I study hard, I work hard, and I make the best music I can, and I have been able to make the best music of my career while maintaining a 3.81 GPA. It’s a matter of priorities and determination.

VALIDATED: You write, produce and engineer your own music, which did you do first and how did it lead to you picking up the other skills?

ISHAN: I started writing raps when I was 12, recording when I was 17, and producing/engineering at 18. This was always my plan because when I enjoy something, I want to understand every aspect of it. I understood early-on that I was unique as a rapper and I found it hard to articulate what I truly wanted out of a beat. In effort to not waste any producers time, and because only I knew what I truly wanted, I started producing and fell in love with it.

VALIDATED: Which produces that also mc influenced your style and what if anything did you “borrow” from them?

ISHAN: Kanye West definitely influenced me in my production and rapping. I did not aim to bite his style, however I wanted to adopt the fundamentals. He showed me that you can create your own lane and sound. I loved his use of samples and how he allowed himself to go crazy with it instead of trying to make the most stereotypical hip-hop track he could, he also did not hold himself back in his lyricism and said what he wanted. I loved and continue to love these things about Kanye West and I applied that to myself as a musician, I started sampling from the beginning and flipped these samples however I wanted, I did not try to make boom bap or trap or any of that, I wanted to make whatever I loved the sound of. I wrote whatever I wanted to write, whether it was about my life, or the game, or a girl, because that is what I wanted to do and I wasn’t actively looking for a rule to follow.

VALIDATED: What does freedom of expression mean to you?

ISHAN: Freedom of expression encapsulates everything I do as a musician. Its being able to let your heart control the sound, control the production, control the lyricism. Freedom of expression indicates that you are allowing your audience to catch a glimpse of who you truly are, you are expressing yourself and solely that, you aren’t trying to be anything but you.

VALIDATED: You dropped the 3 song EP “Randum Thoughts” in March, what’s been the response to the project?

ISHAN: The response has been amazing, it has made me love the music more than I thought I could. It feels so good whenever I perform the tracks, whenever I watch or film the music videos, its truly the most I have ever loved a project and it's great to see how much the people love it. I’m getting DMs every day, people called me the second it dropped listening to it, snapchat videos, it makes me so happy.

VALIDATED: What’s the reason or meaning behind the misspelling of “Randum”?

ISHAN: I would love to tell you this profound story, but to be honest there’s no reason to it, I felt like misspelling “Randum” and I liked the way it looked. 

VALIDATED: Massachusetts shows you a lot of love, how important is it that where you’re from supports you musically?

ISHAN: It means a lot, it motivates me to rep my city wherever I’m at. It makes me feel good whenever I am home, its nice that whenever I go out I meet someone who wants to talk music and chop it up and tell me how dope it is to see someone trying to put on Boston. The love I put into my city is reciprocated and that means the world to me.

VALIDATED: You’ve been doing shows in DC, New York, New Hampshire also, what’s the  interactions like with the fans outside of Massachusetts?

ISHAN: The interactions have been amazing truly. As an artist, it’s a little bit nerve-racking to go to a new city full of people that don’t know you and hit the stage, but the love has been everything I’ve wanted. Everywhere we have been has been a movie which only excites me more to go to more cities and rock out.

VALIDATED: Your new project “Oba.” drops in August, how do you feel you’ve grown as an artist/producer since your last project “Randum Thoughts”?

ISHAN: “Oba.” Is actually an album I had originally dropped in October 2019, however we feel that the project needs an overhaul; a remix/remaster and as much promo as possible. The project is so meaningful and true to my life that we need it to re enter the public eye and get the roll out it deserves.

VALIDATED: Are there any artists featured on the project, if so, whom?

ISHAN: I am the sole artist on the album, however you will hear verses in the perspective of others that are not Ishan.

VALIDATED: What will be the first single off the project and what made you select that as the initial record?

ISHAN: The first track is “Oba.” This song is the perfect intro to the album as listeners will hear my explanation of the meaning of the album, the reason for the title, and how much it means to me.

VALIDATED: What’s your favorite record off the EP and why?

ISHAN: I think my favorite track off the EP is “FAVOrITE.” I enjoyed every second of making this track, I let myself get creative with the sampling, the wordplay, the flow, everything. It felt so good to write a song about trying to make someone’s favorite piece of art, then getting DMs the next day about how much they love the song. That track truly means a lot to me.

VALIDATED: What do you want the listeners to take away from the EP?

ISHAN: I want listeners to understand it's okay to be yourself, to have aspirations, and to have fun with life. I think that’s generally felt when you listen to this EP, “HOLDup” shows people to value yourself, to think you’re the baddest motherfucker on earth and to let people know who you are. “BAnG” shows people that you can have fun with what you do and to enjoy every part of your life. “FAVOrITE” shows people that it's okay to have dreams, to want to be someones favorite artist, and to want to make someone’s favorite thing.

VALIDATED: I noticed you’ve got a lot of footage from your musical journey, is there a documentary or Vlog coming eventually?

ISHAN: Oh definitely. The cameras are rolling 24/7, so you should definitely be prepared for that.

VALIDATED: In August 2020 you dropped the video to “Justice”, addressing blacks and police brutality. As an artist do you feel a responsibility to shed light on social injustices? 

ISHAN: Personally, I definitely feel the responsibility. I think as an artist, whether big or small, you have a platform. Your platform is usually way bigger than you’d think, so why not use this platform to spread a message or raise awareness. There are systems in place currently that are against the best interest of the black community and force the inhibition of black successes. This is a real problem in this country and when that is coupled with the loss of innocent black life, I can never and will never be silent, and you will hear that in my music.

VALIDATED: Your recent video release “Bang”, should be a summer anthem. What I took away from it was to stick to the game plan in order to accomplish the goal even if that means you have to sacrifice a few things. But what did you mean when you wrote the lyrics… “My only goal in life is making a million, had to cut some niggas off, they acting like I’m a villain, they put a price up on my head ‘cause I been making a killing, but I don’t faces too many obstacles, fuck is a ceiling?, if we talking then let’s talk it but let’s say it how we mean it…”?

ISHAN: I have a dad that I plan to retire, siblings with student loans, and my own bills, I gotta take care of them and myself so fame is definitely cool to have, but there’s a monetary aspect to this because there’s people I gotta take care of. In regard to the other bars, being from Boston there’s a lot of hate and fake people that are in the mix and many times they’re the people in your circle. So there’s people I’ve had to cut ties with and go my separate way because I can see that they weren’t moving with my best interest in mind. For me, I’m always direct and blunt, I say what I mean and my message is clear, so when I say “if we talkin then let’s talk it bro let’s say it how we mean”, I’m saying don’t beat around the bush and don’t be subliminal, if there’s an issue let’s face it head on and take care of business.

VALIDATED: Other than the rerelease of the “Oba.” Ep, what does the remainder of 2021 look like for you?

ISHAN: I have another project in the works as well that I’m very excited for. I plan on branching out and producing more for other artists, doing shows every week like we have been, and expanding my name as much as possible. I’m excited for what the future holds, and wholeheartedly believe that things will be entirely different in a year from now, keep your eyes open!

VALIDATED: What's your social media contacts and website?

ISHAN: All social media @ishantherapper, find me on every streaming platform @ishan and my website is ishantherapper.com.