We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Iismaill. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ismail below.

Iismaill, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

I feel like misunderstanding comes from misinformation, and it all depends on which attributes of a person are portrayed accurately and positively. Personally for me as both an artist and as a person of color living in America, I’ve seen and heard of so many stereotypes about my race (first generation American Indian), with some of them being ridiculous. One such stereotype is that Indian people are very geeky and don’t really have much of a creative side, and are usually portrayed as comic relief in films. I would absolutely love to break that stereotype as an artist not only because of the representation in main stream media, but to show that a certain group of people doesn’t have to fit into any one mold.

Iismaill, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

So my name’s Iismaill (pronounced is-mile), and I’m a 27 year old Indian-American first-generation artist from the Inland Empire, CA, specifically from a city known as “Fontana”. Coming from a traditional Hyderabadi background, I’m the first in my family to pursue music. I started writing poetry at the ages of 13-14, which eventually evolved into me writing full-fledged songs. I was on “SoundCloud” for about 2 1/2 years before making my jump to music streaming services such as “Spotify”, “Apple Music”, “Google Play”, etc.

I released my first official project titled “Marzi” in January 2019, and since then I’ve released many singles as well.

My second and most recent project titled “Hydboii” was released on February 21, 2022, and it’s based off my TikTok persona with the same name. I also have a new single titled “Humara Zamana” which actually released recently on May 26th, 2023, so go check that out! Ultimately, my goal is to break ground within the U.S. and internationally as both an artist and a content creator. I want to represent and be the first Hyderabadi artist to go mainstream globally, whether it be with music, comedy/acting, or both!

I’ve learned over time that it’s better to go for something, fail at it, and come back wiser/stronger than to never go for something at all and later regret it. My biggest fear of all time is regret, in any aspect, which is why I’m working so hard to get to where I want to be. I want the world to know my story, and that if you can envision yourself, and I mean really envision yourself being at a certain place, the universe will guide you in the right direction to get there. I’m beyond grateful and proud of my journey thus far, and hope to learn from both the good and the bad that will inevitably come my way.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I would definitely have to say the ability to express my internal thoughts in a very personalized way out into the world, almost like a whole different dimension of communication. It feels amazing to be able to create, but even more so to inspire and see how your work affects others’ lives. Plus it’s an INSANE amount of fun, even if it’s hard work!

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

There are most definitely certain things that non-creatives definitely do not understand about creatives, and I’ll list 3 here (there’s A LOT more but 3 should suffice for now). The firsts point being that being creative ain’t just something that can just be turned on and off. It can bleed into normal life, relationships, the way a person sees the world in general and as a whole…my point is, creativity can’t be contained once it’s been set free, because it will most certainly show in other aspects. The second point would have to be how non-creatives tend to not understand that networking is a HUGE part of a creative’s existence. Any chance to network and push the art out into the world should be taken, and sometimes that can be misunderstood. The third and final point is that sometimes creatives can feel like they are doing too much, simply because it’s within their minds that they need to fulfill the vision of whatever it is in question. But I will say that life with a creative will NEVER be boring,

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iilltivity/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realiismaill
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/iilltivity
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@iilltivity
• Other: TikTok: @hydboii

Image Credits
@visceralvisualshots @harnamsingh @singhejking @anthonymterryofficial @yourasianpapi