Izzo Flii

Born Darnell Howerton, twenty-three old Izzo “Mazaratti” Flii’s style, behavior and zeal for his music, craft and respect for Hip-Hop has been influenced through many facets of growing up in Queens, New York. One of those was being a comic book and cartoon addict. While watching cartoons seem to be innocent and childish, one such animated film influenced a Queens Middle Village five year old to pursue a career in the rap industry. The first ever animated feature to feature an all Black main cast, Bebe Kids, now considered a cult classic mesmerized him to dare to grab a microphone and start “spitting.” As Pee Wee, LeShawn and Khalil (Bebe Kids characters) rap, causing havoc and eventually destroying what would be a Disneyland-like amusement park, Funland to pieces, this “animation with attitude” saturated with a hip-hop beats echoed in his mind to the point of being a rapper.

Like most parents, they don’t understand why their child would want to rap. His mother said anything he wants to do he can do, but his father attempted to discourage him by using Uncle Jeff as an example. Uncle Jeff, back in the days, MC Jeffski was “nice” according to his nephew. “An opportunity was given to Uncle Jeff,” said Izzo, “by my grandmother who at the time worked at Time Life Recording in New York City as a secretary”. Through her connection she setup a meeting with one of the staff of Time Life to listen to Uncle Jeff, however, he never showed up. As a result, he squandered a once in a lifetime chance to be heard and possibly a recording contract. “My grandmother was told never to bring anyone else ever again,” said Izzo. Despite that, Izzo seemingly looked passed that and began to realize that within him, similar to his uncle, is the same fire in his belly. His uncle failure will not be his.

From being a member in the chorus playing drums, rhyming during lunch period in elementary school to recording his ever first song in his room, he has pursued his musical endeavors vigorously, without failure. At fourteen, learning through trial and error, Izzo decided to lay down a track. Izzo worked with a computer microphone, Cool Edit Pro 2.0 – old recording software, by the way, it was a stolen copy (got it keep it real), in his small bedroom. He recorded over Biggie Smalls and Lil’ Kim’s joint Drugs while his family relatives passed by his room uninterrupted. With the 808 and the hard-hitting snares kicking combined a playful guitar-riff track, Izzo recorded a song but with a slight technical problem. The constant stopping after four bars on the computer caused him grief, nonetheless, he eventually finished, Would You Believe in 2000. It took twenty minutes to write and thirty minutes to record. Later on, he would never need to record another song by himself, not with the talents of King Sage by his side.

Throughout his young life, he has become a student of Hip-Hop music and studied his predecessors in the rap industry. His lyrical influences are from Biggie Smalls, Young Jeezy, Mobb Deep, Slick Rick and especially Jay-Z. “If you can sit down with your parents and “feel” the same song together, that’s hot!” says Izzo. He smiles. Children’s story and other joints like that made him realize to have fun, establish a flow in your songs and be lyrical with your rhyme telling. As an emcee, he stated, “I am New York personified”. He further adds, “I am all over. I am all over Queens – Jamaica, Queens Village, Albans, and East Elmhurst. I am Brooklyn. I was told I have a Harlem swagger. I am up in Rucker’s.“ “Its not about being a tough guy,” when asked about representing his hometown, New York. His emcee name is a by-product of fellow New York resident Jay-Z’s song entitled, H to the Izzo off his 2001, Blueprint album, in which Jay-Z spells his name. Iceberg Slim swagger and egotistical demeanor resonated with Darnell and envisioned of being “fly.” The intergrading of Jay-Z ‘s spelling and the persona of a pimp, his comrade-in-arms, Ghost da Lyrical thought it would be better if he spelled “fly” with two i’s – just to be different.

You have no choice but to appreciate his thought-provoking lyrics with its double entendre. His raw, undeterred energy as only matched with his lyrical wizardry. He collaborated once again with longtime affiliate, music engineer King Sage to produce his sophomore mixtape. He worked with Izzo on his first mixtape, Flii Summer NIghtz. When posed the question about the difference between Diig D33p and his first, Flii Summer Nightz, Izzo replied, “Its simple. The first one, I flexed, knowing that it can be done. With Diig D33p, I had a direction with no time deadline”. He added, “With Summer NIghtz all the recordings were one take jobs”. Izzo Flii innate ability to rhyme is very evident in his newest mixtape recording, Diig D33p; a fourteen song hit list, head-banging barrage of soulful, rock piano chord music samples set to melodic and hardcore beats interlaced with a distinctive voice and creative