isaiah 11:11

Isaiah 11:11 is a highly lyrical and intensely passionate Hip Hop and Spoken Word artist whose songs and poems paint murals in a listener’s subconscious. Take Gil Scott-Haron, Curtis Mayfield and Cool-G Rap and mix them together and you get a clear vision of his music and talent.

Isaiah 11:11 broke on to the Atlanta poetry scene in 2005 with the release of his first album, For the Children for the Future. Released on his own label, Promiseland Muzik, the album’s mix of spoken word, hip hop and soul introduced a thought provoking artist comfortably exposing his soul. The album easily segued through topics ranging from homelessness, love and the degradation hip hop music is causing to the souls of the youth.

A civic minded artist, Isaiah 11:11 takes his message of hope and spiritual consciousness beyond club stages to many high school and middle school students as well as the youth caught in juvenile facilities in the Atlanta area. “I am glad,” Isaiah explains, “and humbled when adults feel and understand my music but when a young man or a young woman is moved to tears because they identify with the pain in the music, I know that those tears are washing away their grief, pain and confusion. This leaves room for the hope needed to survive their personal struggles. I know! I went through that same catharsis as a confused and angry teenager listening to Bob Marley and Tupac.”

Born in Painesville, Liberia, Isaiah 11:11 moved to the United States at the age of 6 with his mother and baby brother leaving behind a country in the initial stage of a civil war. After his mother found his father residing in Bridgeport, Connecticut, she left him with his father and she and his brother disappeared from his life for the next 10 years. A troubling situation that turned into a blessing, Isaiah’s music would be shaped by the loneliness of his childhood and the violence of the city he grew up in. This blessing would come from the strong and spiritual foundation given to him by his Jamaican stepmother and her family. “Jamaicans tend to be either extremely religious or secular. My mother and grandmother were on the religious side of things so though I don’t believe in organized religions personally, the undiluted love I have for the Most High was nurtured through them.”

Choosing to avoid the allure of the streets that trapped his brother and murdered his two cousins, Isaiah graduated from South Carolina State University Cum Laude with a degree in Civil Engineering and the hopes of one day going back to the war sacked country of his birth to build roads. After living a double life of corporate aspirant and hip hop artist for a few years, Isaiah has listened to the call of the wild and chosen his passion. He left corporate to become a high school teacher and a focused artist.

“Being a teacher is like being on stage everyday,” says Isaiah. “I’m a motivational speaker everyday. I get to use my life story, my experiences to help shape the minds of our future. I get paid to do what I love, working with the young. One day I’ll be able to use the proceeds from the success of my music to build schools in Africa that will put out thousands of engineers and scientist.”

Isaiah 11:11 is presently working on completing his sophomore album, Spirit Rebellious. The album’s single, “Shaky Ground,” produced by DJ Supa Kush sets the stage for the rest of the album. The fast driving hip hop/reggae “riddem” allows him to speak truth to power while keeping the dance floor moving.