Isaiah was practically born with rap and soul. As the eldest son of Max Herre and Joy Denalane, 21-year-old Isaiah was introduced to music at an early age. The prospect of a successful music career should not be the worst thanks to the prominent parents. His latest single “CHBABY” shows that the newcomer is quite willing to go his own (musical) way. Here Isaiah raps about his everyday life in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district on a relaxed trap beat with a soulful sample. He impresses with a relaxed laid-back flow and audible R’n’B influences. The instrumental comes from the producer Ethnik.
Isaiah is part of a new wave in German rap that is moving outside the trap and cloud rap bubble, building on old hip-hop traditions both musically and in terms of content, and also incorporating funk and soul elements. No wonder, because the music of the rapper was already playing in the children’s room Mobb Deep, Earth, Wind & Fire, 50 Cent and Frank Ocean. On CHBABY he combines these influences with a modern trap sound. The Berlin newcomers Apsilon and Wa22ermann recently delivered a comparable sound picture.
It remains to be seen where Isaiah’s musical journey will lead. Isaiah says very clearly about his rap style and his ambitions within the “rap game”: “I want to do something that I can ultimately say: no one else has done it like that. It has to fit lyrically and musically and in my opinion that is rare in Germany. I started to increase this quota.”