 |
|
Empire
Isis’ recently released first album Sound the Trumpets is laden
with politically driven messages that one would expect from the likes
of the tradition folk artist, not those of a twenty something
reggae/hip hop/urban artist. The messages are disguised however in
catchy tracks that are popping up on charts in Canada and the U.S. and
reaching as high as # 3 and remaining in most top 10 Hip Hop charts
across Canada.
The track titled Guzzelah discusses the
controversy behind gas consumption and capitalism in North America.
With lyrics like “People driving hummers not even wondering. How
the average man would be balling with what you spend on gas would feed
his children.” one can only wonder where this women emerged from
when most other contemporaries in her industry are singing about bling
and violence and using offensive language.
Empire
Isis’ life is one that could, even at her young age, be adapted
into a feature length film. Isis grew up in what she describes as a
“Pan Africanist revolutionary and very social conscience
family”. With a British Muslim mother and a Ugandan stepfather,
her cultural heritage is rich with diversity, something she has found
much of her inspiration in. “Some people have obsessions with
video games. Some people have obsessions with clothes. I always had an
obsession with knowing the world and especially knowing Africa.
I’ve always been very proud to be African”.
Although
she spent much of her formative years as a child in Morocco, Isis came
to Canada with her African upbringing close behind. She went to primary
and high school in Quebec which made for an interesting childhood, but
created confusion in her identity. “I grew up in this dichotomy
of being here in Quebec and having this North American slash European
upbringing, but at home being very much still in Africa.” As a
result Isis thinks of herself as having “always been that weird
unexplainable girl, the other, who would disappear for a couple of
months every year and come back with tan and talking in a different
language”
Now her ability to set herself apart has
enable her stand out in a notoriously tough industry. Although Isis is
a newcomer to the industry, Sound the Trumpets has more traditional
party reggae tracks with reggae bigs like Sizzla and Turbulence and
five out the twelve tracks where produced by Prayon of G Unit. This is
no small feat for a former member of a “nerd group that actually
does stuff”, the Bio Regionalists. Isis has gone from building
“solar showers in the middle of the Darien Gap in Columbia with
17 scientists who reforested a field devastated by coffee
plantations” to living in New York City working with the likes
of hip hop uncensored and the HSAN a hip hop social action network
as well as all your favorite rappers and djs. All this to say Isis is
living her own philosophy, in her own words, “I’ve always
wanted to have an impact. I want to see action.” and one thing
you can say is she is true to herself and her dreams in the middle of
industry that has puts overwhelming pressure to conform.
|
|
|
 |
