Vel R. Phillips Students Virtually Interview Rapper IshDARR
IshDARR posing for jewelry and fashion house Whensmokesclears. (Picture by Ryann Ussery/300ARCHIVES)
The one and only IshDARR took time to meet with us MCAP students, sharing advice on his life and successes. He shared words to motivate us to do better, to be hungry and to follow our dreams.
IshDARR is a Milwaukee-born rapper, actor, and more. He was born Ishmael Ali. He got the rapper name IshDARR by putting together his first name and the name Darr from his mother's side of the family. Growing up, he went to Milwaukee schools, including Messmer High School.
His dad helped him stay focus and stay away from trouble. One piece of advice that IshDARR gives us is to stay focused. He knows there are lots of distractions in Milwaukee, and it's hard to stay focused.
IshDARR started to focus on his music and really go for it around 8th grade. He worked on his hooks, beats, and lines. People started to notice his talent.
He built much of his career through hard work and grinding it out. He teaches us to grind, grind, grind when going for our dreams.
IshDARR started getting more social media hits after he was grinding to get his music out--finding blogs that post music, even overseas blogs. He kept posting and posting. Eventually, YouTube picked up some songs and the hits flowed from there.
“The connects started to build and expand. It's like a web, building every day. It was just a matter of keeping at it, being consistent. Something was going to have to happen,” said IshDARR.
Then in 2015, actress Chloë Grace Moretz retweeted one of his songs, adding thousands of new fans. His fan base became nationwide around then.
IshDARR Teaches Us to Seek out as much Free Knowledge that's Out There and to Grow in New Areas
He grew his own career when he followed advice from his agent and sent in an audition tape for the movie White Boy Rick. The producers loved him, which eventually landed him the role of Freaky Steve in the 2018 film.
IshDARR comes from Milwaukee and sees talent in Milwaukee. He wants to show “there's more to Milwaukee than what a lot of people see and all the negative.” He wants to lift up the city he grew up in and spend time with young men looking for guidance--to showcase what's here, to collaborate, and highlight more local people.
Who knows, maybe some of us will follow his advice, be among those he lifts up, and be among those local artists working with IshDARR in the future.
Thanks to IshDARR for keeping it real, spending time with us, and teaching us how to follow our dreams. And a big shout out to Nyesha Stone of Carvd N Stone for setting up the interview, having so many Zoom meetings with us this semester, teaching us about journalism, and being a great role model.
Listen to IshDARR here.
Learn more about Vel R. Phillips School here.