Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaac Lucas.
Hi Isaac, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Lawrence, KS. Growing up, my parents had a reggae band that performed locally and opened for a lot of nationally recognized acts. Seeing that as a kid, I used to think that everyone on earth had to be in a band at some point when they grew up. Somewhere deep down, I’m sure that influenced where I am today.
When I was five, my mom started teaching me piano, and in my household, I had to play a sport and play an instrument, so my older brother and I both ran track and played piano in our early years.
When I was still pretty young, we moved to Lacey, WA, where I grew up for the most part and picked up the trumpet in elementary school. My musical upbringing primarily consisted of Reggae and Ragtime, but I started getting into Hip-Hop more once I got exposed to artists like OutKast, Dr. Dre, The Black Eyed Peas, Nelly and Tech N9ne. This sparked a curiosity that led to me getting into beat-making and freestyling in high school, typically on the team bus headed to basketball games. I seemed to have a knack for writing and producing and ended up in LA after high school to attend USC. Initially, the music was just a hobby, and I was majoring in architecture, but my roommate was a drum major in the music school and after showing him some beats, he persuaded me to join the school of music, where I earned a degree in music business & technology.
My junior year is when I decided to pursue a career as an artist professionally when I signed my first record deal with independent imprint Blue Elan Records.
Being able to live & work as a signed artist and focus all of my energy on making music was great for my development as an artist, and a few years into that deal I was approached by Bridge Compositions, aka The Math Club, to create music for film & television on a part-time basis. This was a further step in my development as an artist that gave me an opportunity to understand how to effectively write for the purpose of sync licensing and how that differs from writing just for artistry’s sake.
Today, I produce, write and record three full songs a week, in addition to custom music for different film & tv projects, and feel as though I’m in a great place to take another step in my career as an artist.
My latest LP Green Shoots, with production from Rascal (Kendrick Lamar, Chance the Rapper), Keyon Christ (Ye, Rihanna) and myself, is a culmination of the many years of work I’ve put into my craft and something I’m extremely proud of. Making music is what I love and I can’t wait for what comes next.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road by any means. There have been plenty of instances where I’ve felt like giving up, and trying to find success in the music industry wasn’t worth the struggles I’ve had to endure.
When applying to the USC Thornton music school, I was denied the first time around. That forced me to take a step back and really consider if a degree in music was really what I wanted. Fortunately, I decided it was, enrolled myself in a few of the music electives to meet some of my potential professors and peers, and applied again. They only let you try twice, but I was accepted on the second attempt.
During my time with music label Blue Elan Records, I had all of the freedom in the world, which turned out to be a blessing and a curse. It was great in that I could make what I wanted when I wanted and really began to understand myself as an artist more during my years there. I entered making music that I thought other people would like but left making music that I liked. That said, I was the only hip-hop artist at that label, and beyond my own personal progression, I didn’t receive much professional development, and once I delivered my music to the label, they didn’t have much of a network in the hip-hop realm to make a ton happen with it in terms of exposure. Overall I’m grateful for the experience, but there’s definitely a lot I would do differently looking back.
Today, I feel as though the quality of the music I’m making is on par with anybody out there, which leads to another struggle. Exposure. I’ve been fortunate enough to play dozens of gigs in the SoCal area, have my music placed in hundreds of movies and tv shows, and collaborate with some extremely talented artists and producers, but getting enough eyes and ears on my content without a massive marketing budget can be challenging to say the least.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m a musical artist by the name Relaye, and I produce and write music for myself, other artists, and film & television.
I would say I specialize in creative lyrics. I’ve written a few theme songs and soundtrack songs because I tend to do well at incorporating elements of a brand, theme, or topic into lyrics. That process can be extremely fun (and extremely tedious), but I think I do pretty well at it.
My most popular songs are ones that I’ve had placed in a few popular TV shows, most notably my song “Lemonade” that was placed in an episode of “Shameless”. I also have a song with Chicago-based artist Mick Jenkins that is the most streamed song from my recent album.
Currently, I’m most proud of how far I’ve come as an artist. There are a few achievements I’m happy to say I’ve accomplished in music, but what makes me proud is listening to music I made a decade ago, and comparing that to music I made this year. Every single element from the writing to production and mixing is leaps and bounds beyond where it used to be, and I think I continue to grow and get better each year. At the end of the day, that’s all I can ask for. That and a Tesla maybe.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I love music, and while I’m serious about it as an art form and profession, I try not to take myself too seriously, especially as a rapper. My goal as an artist is to be as versatile as possible lyrically and stylistically. In an ideal world, I could drop a hip-hop album, a dancehall/reggae album, a funk/R&B album, and they would all slap. I want to be recognizable but not predictable. And doing things like including a Samoan Haka on one of my recent singles is just the tip of the iceberg.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tell.ie/relaye/Rv6qSlKUTLx2
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reallyrelaye/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/relayemusic
Image Credits
Christian Yi Jeremy Alan Pappas
