Meet Isaiah Shepard of Izzy in Gwinnett

Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaiah Shepard.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
To truly understand why I make music you must understand why I began. I have been around music my entire life, whether it was listening to Mary J. Blige or Keyshia Cole on repeat while riding in the car with my mom, or even hearing my uncle play chords on my grandparents’ piano that I never truly understood until later. Music has always been a part of my life, but that doesn’t mean I have always respected it and given it the attention I now believe it deserves. My appreciation for music was sparked in 6th grade when I joined band and played the alto saxophone for the next three years. This experience was the beginning of my journey and my interest in music grew over the next couple of years. Around eighth grade, my friends would always have “rap circles” at lunch and it was safe to say I could not rap to save my life, I would stutter because of how nervous I was and pause mid-sentence because I couldn’t think of what to say next. This led me to make beats. Making beats is something I was comfortable doing and felt safe.

Although, even with this newfound skill, my middle school friends didn’t seem to care. However, one day about six years ago, I found my voice and dedicated my time to making beats. An artist I work with, who happens to be my best friend, Tyler Walker (Regan Frost), asked me to send him samples of some beats I was working on, I agreed, of course, not knowing what he meant by “samples” or anything. Starting off, I thought making beats was the same as beatboxing. I downloaded an app called Magix Music Maker, it was confusing and humbling at first, but this app played a huge role in my beginning as an artist. I played around with the app for a couple of weeks and eventually uploaded my first track to SoundCloud called “The Kraken at USA”, a 3-minute dubstep track of prerecorded loops. I released my first track under my school nickname “Izzy”, little did I know it would stick with me to this day. Over the next few months, I continued to work on the music app and release some more, abstract “elevator/ringtone music” as my aunt would call it. The summer after eighth grade, hardship hit my family and caused my summer to reroute from playing football for the local high school team to spending the summer up north, in my true home, Redhill, Pennsylvania. My mom stayed in Georgia while I stayed with my family up north. My Aunt Roz had a computer that she would offer me to use.

At this time, I mastered the music app and started to look for a greater challenge. So, I began to search for programs I could use to make music, I had all summer for just me and my music. I learned Magix Music Maker also had a computer app so, I downloaded the app and got to work, the computer was a lot different from the app on my phone and more hands-on than before. This started the learning process of music production for me. Later that summer I had made a couple of tracks with the program, my first track ever made being made on a computer named “on concern,” the track resembled how I was feeling much of that summer and it was concerned about everything new that was happening around me. As I began to master the program, my life was up and moved to Augusta, GA. I was now in a place where I knew nothing and no one, but little did I know that Georgia would play a huge role in the influence and love I have for music today. I attended Grovetown Highschool, a very small school that had a variety of different people. The adjustment was difficult, and I didn’t like where I was, but the thing that stood out to me the most was the music of Grovetown Highschool, almost everyone was either an artist or producer.

My first friend that I ever made at Grovetown was Eddie Reynolds or EZR. Eddie was the first person to talk to me at the time, he made beats just like me and carried his laptop wherever he went. Eddie introduced me into a new music program that he used, called FL studio, which I use to this day, I downloaded the program on my computer at home and spent 90% of the time trying to understand it. At the time it was one of the most confusing things I had ever seen and made no sense whatever. EZR believed in letting me learn on my own, this forced, me to listen to beats all day. Over time, I met more and more people that made music just like me and we all helped each other get better at our craft. By the end of my ninth-grade year in Grovetown, I was beginning to get a strong feeling for FL studio. EZR gave me the tool I needed to make music, but I myself took the long journey of teaching myself the basics of a beat. Don’t get me wrong it would still be a couple of years before I could truly say I made good music, but Grovetown helped me grow as a person and I’ll never forget it. I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t go there for a year.

For the rest of high school, I unfortunately, left Grovetown and attend Buford Highschool, where I graduated. In Buford, there weren’t as many artists. I met some of my lifelong friends, Ej, one of the most talented rappers of our time I believe, Justin a painter, drawer and visionary, and Nolan, who always hyped up my music, even when it was terrible. Them, as well as many others, helped me grow as a producer but more importantly as an artist. I say this because, I make music of my own, just like a rapper or singer. The only difference is that I don’t need vocals all the time to get my message across. I explore different areas of music and do what no one else is doing because this helps my versatility and truly keeps my label as an artist alive. I pride myself on this and will hold to it. Today, the confidence and influence I have with my music goes unspoken, sometimes I want to yell “I am the best and there is no one doing what I’m doing”. But I’ve struggled and been through too much to be cocky and arrogant, I am humble, being humble has gotten me this far, the support and love from others have gotten me this far, I owe almost all my success to them, it took me the longest time to understand that. I am blessed, and fully respect the fact that I can make music, it is truly one the best gifts I was ever given and will never give up on it.

Has it been a smooth road?
It most definitely has not been a smooth road, I’ve encountered struggles from the strong learning curve of having to teach myself to make beats. But this was the least of my problems I found soon to come. I quickly found that the mental side of music is just as important as sitting down on a computer to make the art. If you do not have the mentality going into the process, you won’t grow. You have to become familiar with failure and embrace the bad as much as the good, nothing happens overnight. I struggled with this for a long time because I wanted to make masterpieces, but didn’t understand where to start, this stuck with me for a long time and I believe it stunted my growth as an artist and producer.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Izzy – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Over the years I’ve built a brand and influence around the name Izzy, Izzy is what I’m called by almost everyone I know and with that comes the repetition with music. The main goal and reason why I became an artist/producer were to one day make music that changes lives. I want my music to reach millions and help people around the world with daily struggles of everyday life, especially with mental health. The day I began to take music seriously was the day I made a plan for where I wanted to go with my music, I want to explore all elements of the art and I pride myself on the ability to make multiple genres of music. I live on, and wake up in the morning with the idea that my music will make an impact but not the way most would think. My delivery will be different, and big. I hold this as a standard, and the people around me should expect nothing more and nothing less.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I like the culture that is built around Atlanta, it would not be the same without it. If there is one place that you want to make an impact in music, its Atlanta. I moved from my home in Pennsylvania to Atlanta for a reason and I believe I am in the right place. I least like the effect Atlanta has on the music industry, it has seemed in my opinion to have built this idea of the common hip-hop/trap music is the thing only accepted. The room for genres other than hip-hop in Atlanta is little and I believe needs to expand more.

Contact Info:

• Address: 501 Wilbanks Street, Buford GA
• Phone: 678-542-7945
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izzy_comethru/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/isaiah.shepard.73
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JustIzzy_
• Other: https://soundcloud.com/pieceofmind24

Image Credit:
Studio Portraits – Troy Sawyer

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.