Vizual Records’ Joshua Iz Talks About His Passion for Charity Work and Volunteerism
DJ Joshua Iz Shared What Inspires Him about Philanthropy, Music, and Culture
By Jordan Strong
Recently, we had the pleasure of teaming up with one of our favorite DJ/producers and people, Joshua Iz, AKA DJ Iz who has been a house music innovator since the ‘90s. Historically, as house music gained traction, Joshua’s music was some of the most sought after. Not only does he produce incredible music to this day, but currently holds residencies as a DJ in Chicago, San Francisco and London.
Last year, at the Detroit Music Festival, Give a Beat had a blast producing a game of Giant Jenga, where some of house music’s all star DJs competed against each other and people placed their bets on the winner. Joshua has been a major proponent of this and we couldn’t wait to do it with him again this year.
Jordan Strong: How long have you been involved with charity work and what is your experience with it?
Joshua Iz: I've tried to be involved locally in volunteering and supporting local causes. When I lived in San Francisco, I began teaching a DJ class to middle schoolers at a community center and that was really rewarding. That was probably my first direct experience. I couldn't find anything quite like that in Chicago but I started doing web development work for United Way of Metro Chicago which opened my eyes to the whole world of nonprofits. Through my connections at UWMC, I have had a lot of web development clients in the nonprofit space. While nonprofit organizations are, well, nonprofit, that doesn't mean I don't get paid to do my work. However, I do have nonprofit rates vs. my regular rates so in essence that is an in-kind donation.
How did you get involved with Give a Beat and what are you doing for them?
I've known Lauren Segal for many years but first got involved with Give a Beat last year leading up to Movement. Aside from donating small amounts, I played Giant Jenga last year and it was a lot of fun and seemed like a great way to get DJs and fans involved. This year, I don't think I will be able to play because of time constraints but in lieu of that I'm working on the signup website for the game and doing that for free.
Do you have any inspirational people, groups etc. when it comes to philanthropy?
Organizations like United Way of Metro Chicago and Chicago Commons both do a lot locally. While Chicago Commons helps individuals directly, United Way collects money from both individuals, corporations and employee campaigns and distributes that money to local organizations that do the most good. In that way they are different models but both can have great impact.
Globally, organizations like Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are quite inspiring. There are several foundations giving microloans to people in the developing world and these are having a huge impact as well.
Still, there are many more inspirational organizations and people doing miraculous things in every community so it's hard to narrow it down to just a few.
What would you like to see more of when it comes to philanthropy?
Even though Americans are the most generous people on earth when it comes to giving to charities, I think more people should volunteer in their own communities. I should do more, too.
What’s new with your music? Releases, mixes, tours, etc.? What can we look out for?
Diz and I have recorded a new album called 'Fort Nightly' that should be out sometime this year. I have quite a few releases on Vizual Records coming as well. Beyond that, we are planning a big fall tour as we speak.
Who are your current musical inspirations? Who should we look out for or check out?
Some of my favorites right now are Max Graef, Frits Wetnink and Eli Escobar. All that said, there are lots of great new people making music from all over the world.
What do you like most about the current state of affairs with house music? Least?
With the proliferation of technology, this has democratized the music creation process so it has made it easy for anyone with an idea to make music. Overall, I think that is a great thing and given a voice to many more people. This is also a problem as there is way too much crappy music. People still need to work and pay their dues.
Probably the thing I like least is the rise of the Instagram DJ. People get hired now almost solely on the basis of the number of social media followers, without any regard to whether they can actually DJ and put a set together. While I believe the cream still rises to the top, people are getting huge bookings with little or no talent and it doesn't seem to matter. This trend can't end soon enough.
Any advice for the younger generation of DJ/producers?
Practice, know your history, and host a night in your hometown. All of these things will make you a better DJ and producer.
Where do you like to shop for music these days?
Mostly Traxsource but I still like to buy vinyl at Gramaphone and at record shops when I'm traveling.
What’s your advice on living through the Donald Trump era?
Consume a lot of news from different sources and yet be critical of where the news comes from. I think actual journalism is needed more than ever and it's important to place value in objective facts.
It's also important to participate in the democratic process, especially locally. More people need to vote and get involved with local government.
One thing people can do (and I've considered it), is moving to a red state and becoming active in the political process there. While there was a lot of talk about 'urban educated elites' living in a bubble in the cities after the election, I don't think there is anything wrong with living in a city or being educated. New York City or Chicago is just as much 'Real America' as anywhere else.
More broadly, I think we need more compassion and more love in the world so in this sense we need more philanthropists in the sense of people spreading goodwill. As Americans, we need to listen to each other and at least try to understand others' points of view without the vitriol.
Is there anyone or anything special politically or socially you’d advise people to check out?
I think women more than any other group have stepped up and asserted themselves in the wake of Donald Trump so they have been a point of light of late.
Are there any current books, articles, people, webisodes or anything you think people should see?
“Chef's Table” and “Abstract” on Netflix are really inspiring series’. I also quite liked The Expanse on SyFy — about as good as it gets for science fiction on television.
The last great book I read was “The Hidden Life of Trees,” by Peter Wohlleben, which will change the way you look at the forest and life in general. Highly recommended.
Check out his Sound Cloud! It’s a treasure trove!
Back in the late nineties, at a now legendary event called Melodic, Iz dropped this set! For those who were there, you can remember just how special this set was. We were lucky enough to have the event producer Alvaro Castro post for us online for the first time ever so we could share it with you!
Follow Joshua Iz on Twitter or check him out at Vizual Records, Bionic [SF], and Myspace.
Ayyyyyyyyy you can catch ya girllll at "Give A Beat Bar Giant Jenga" on Sunday at @movementdetroit along with some other crazy musicians for a greatttttt cause! Sponsorship link in my bio. Proceeds benefit @girlsrockdetroit and @giveabeat so come cheer us on 😘😘 #movementdetroit #giveabeatbar #giveabeat #girlsrockdetroit #detroit #musicforsocialchange (at Movement Electronic Music Festival (OFFICIAL))
Sean Wilson, Give a Beat Advisory Board Member and Member of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition Shares His Experiences with the Criminal Justice System and How a New Mentorship Program with Give a Beat Can Change the Lives of Many Young Americans
Sean Wilson, Give a Beat Advisory Board Member and Lauren Segal, Founder/ED Give a Beat
By Celine West, Give a Beat Social Media Team Member
Sean Wilson of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition openly shared with Give a Beat about his early life experiences and the time he spent in the criminal justice system. He shared how his journey eventually led him to become a member of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition and to later partner with Give a Beat Founder, Lauren Segal. Together, Lauren and Sean are creating a mentorship program that bridges a critical gap for the younger generation who face incarceration, teaching them how to develop productive and fulfilling careers. While the inspiration for this project was made clear through Sean's own personal story, he explained how the mentorship project with Give a Beat can change the experience of many young Americans in the Criminal Justice System.
GAB: Could you tell me about your earlier experiences growing up with your mother and grandmother?
SW: I would describe my household as a family of love. That’s the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about the family that I come from. My mother and grandmother were loving and affectionate. I had everything I wanted and needed growing up so there was nothing that was missing from my household. I would consider my background pretty normal as far as my childhood goes.
Sean Wilson during his football years
GAB: Please tell me about your early academic inclinations and the influence of your parents in becoming a music enthusiast?
SW: By the time I went to elementary, my mother was enrolled in college. Since then, she always instilled educational values in me and told me that education was going to be the key to my success. I love learning, I love reading, I was always a big science geek and my grandmother worked at UCLA. I was accepted to multiple magnet schools growing up. Until the age of, I would say, 11 or 12, I was pretty much an A, B student. I was a pretty smart kid. It was just my behavior that was my problem. That’s what my teachers would always say.
And as far as music goes, my father was a DJ and a scratcher. So, growing up, I can remember from the age of 2 or 3, music was always around me. He was always DJing at a house party or something like that. My mother was always in the living room singing. My grandfather was a leader of his own band. So, music has been around me since the beginning of time.
GAB: What would you say were the experiences that influenced you, in your early adolescence, to engage in a lifestyle that was contrary to your character and upbringing?
SW: In hindsight, just looking at my entire life from the time I was getting in trouble, obviously, with most kids, you would identify them as seeking attention. And that may have been the case, but I would like to look at it on a deeper level. And I was just trying to figure out how it was to be a man or what my manhood should look like even at such an early age because as I said earlier, growing up, I had all the love and nurturing and support from my mother and my grandmother. But there were characteristics and elements of being a man, a boy to a man, that were missing. So, I was searching for these things within my environment, not even knowing, through gangbanging or selling drugs or just participating in criminal activity in general. And I can see all of that as a way to figure out what it is to become a man, but just in a negative way.
GAB: What would you say could have been a factor in preventing you from engaging in this lifestyle in terms of positive support and productive outlets?
SW: Just having a positive role model. Growing up playing football, I noticed that a lot of my teammates had their fathers there or some male role model in their life who they aspired to be like, and that was their positive role model - even if it was their own peers. I think, first and foremost, just having a positive male role model or even a mentor, or something like that, or just a guide for the things that I was dealing with —the talents and skills that I had cultivated— to something more positive as opposed to allowing them to be misled by other negative outlets like gangbanging and selling drugs. Whatever it is that you participate in in your environment – I just look at it is as an outlet, or trying to find out what is an appropriate outlet for them, but it takes the maturity and guidance of an adult to actually lead them. Unfortunately, they don’t have that and you should have that in your household. But not everyone is fortunate to grow up with both a mother and a father, so I think it would have been something that would have kind of deterred me from going down that route.
GAB: Could you tell me about the juvenile facilities and continuation programs that you were in prior to the incident that led to your 10 year prison sentence?
SW: I look at that whole process, and I mean, the continuation program and the juvenile facility. But just beginning in the school system, it’s like when you have a kid who has a behavior problem, the first thing you do is you exile him and kick him out of school and send him to a continuation school, calling him a behavior problem, not really sitting down and taking the time to figure out what is the issue at hand. What that does is it leaves you with a kid with a lot of time to do what with it? And not know what to do with it. That’s generally how you get into trouble - just having too much time on your hands and not being productive. In other words, I’ve just seen that process of getting kicked out of school, going to jail, learning how to become a better criminal while in jail, getting out, practicing the things that I learned in jail and making a mistake and coming back again - and then this process getting deeper and deeper. And slowly I’m getting extracted from mainstream society or what kids my particular age should be doing I’m not doing because everything has been taken away from me. I’ve been kicked out of this school, kicked off this football program, just different things. So, you’re just left to do what? And not knowing what to do with it.
It’s a process that is designed to make you worse and not better. Just between the facilities and the continuation program and how they deal with the issues or what they’re doing with you, you’re not being rehabilitated when you’re in a juvenile facility. In fact you’re learning how to become a better criminal.
Teenage Sean Wilson at home
GAB: Please tell me about the time when you were in prison when you had come to accept that the lifestyle you had previously been involved with did not line up with your character and upbringing?
SW: While incarcerated, you have to survive. You have to keep moving forward. You have to keep living even though you’re in this place where you don’t feel like living or it doesn’t feel like you are living. So, again, being in institutions like that, especially for someone like me, I started off in a maximum security prison where the majority of the population were lifers. So, you were exposed to a deeper realm of criminality because they had nothing to lose, whereas someone like me, I had a release date. But you get exposed to the pressures of selling drugs or just being manipulative. I like to look at it as just that and engaging in that because I had seen that as an opportunity of helping me get through my time because the first question that I had to ask myself was, “How was I going to get myself through this entire 10 years? What was I going to do?” And so anything I could do was everything.
But at a point, I had to just stop, and I remember a particular time where I had begun to start selling drugs and I just had this epiphany where I was like, my mother never taught me to sell drugs. I never sold drugs on the streets. Why would this be something that I would do in here? Why would I risk doing longer time when I can’t even endure the time that I’m doing now? And I realized that none of this stuff was working for me. I look back at my life at this particular time. I was 21. I’ve been in this lifestyle since I was 12 and it hasn’t been working for me. Why would I keep going? Why would I risk being like the very people that are around me and trying to push this on me and that’s when I realized this just wasn’t for me because it’s not working. If I was a good criminal, I wouldn’t be where I was and I wouldn’t continue to be going through the things I was going through. And that’s when I came to that acceptance that I had to give myself a chance to do something good, give myself a chance at real life, to try to be successful, like a real person, a normal person and a normal citizen like your mother wants you to be or any parent, or whatever, would want their kids to be. That’s how I came to that acceptance.
GAB: Please tell me about the time when your love for music solidified and when you decided to explore music production?
SW: Music was the thing that I turned to, to help me get through my time. That was like the most important thing to me while I was incarcerated. I just had to have my music. I had to have it. So, I would just spend nights, like late nights, 2 or 3 in the morning, just listening to music and absorbing a beat, and taking it all in, and breaking down the creative process and construction of sound.
I just remember in one moment just listening to a beat. I was just infatuated with how you can just take all of these different sounds and where they come from and how they sound and find the right tempo, the right beat, the right rhythm, and everything - the whole harmony, the melody, and how you can just put this all together and just make one beautiful sound. And then it just imposes this feeling upon a person that is just so great, and I wanted to be good at something. I’ve always wanted to be good at something and excel at something. If there was anything that I wanted to do with my life, it would be that. I would want to give people the same feeling that music gives me. And that’s what did it for me.
GAB: How did your enrollment in community college, during your incarceration, help you to realize your true values and your personal aspirations?
SW: For the first 3 years, I avoided going to college because I was afraid I would fail. I looked at it like I was already in the worst place that you could ever be in life, or so I felt, and just to fail at something else, I couldn’t bear to feel that at that moment.
But after a while, and after having accepted the lifestyle I was living prior to wasn’t for me, my only choice was to move forward and do something positive or productive and college or education was the one thing that I knew that I could turn to, or felt most comfortable with, because it’s what I knew. So, I felt like, “I’ll settle for being a C student,” and then I started getting A’s. Then I’m like, “Okay, I’ll settle for a B on a test,” and then I started getting A’s. It was just this continuous process of not believing in myself or not believing I could do better and then proving my own self wrong. And then I had to come to terms and I had to reconcile with what I really believed about myself and start to try to change and start to believe differently about what I could accomplish and my capabilities and so on and so forth. I went from just wanting to settle and being a C student, just to say that I was a college graduate, to a graduate and valedictorian of my class.
To do something that you didn’t intend to do or expect to do, but it’s something that’s in you and that you have the power and capability to do, makes you question everything. What else can I do? If I did this and I didn’t intend to, what else can I do and how far can I take this?
Sean Wilson, Valedictorian, at his graduation ceremony with Scott Budnick, Founder of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition
GAB: I understand you gave a TED Talk in 2014, entitled, “Fear.” Congratulations, by the way, because that is quite an accomplishment. Can you say one thing about fear and how fear has played a role in previously holding you back in life?
SW: One of the biggest moments when fear played a role in my life was when I started playing football. I started playing football at a later age than when most kids typically start, which is usually around 6 or 7. I started around 12 or 11-years-old and I felt inferior to my peers and teammates because they had fathers. Their fathers put them in football when they were young. They probably were more proficient at playing their sport then I was or more athletic than me. I felt like I couldn’t match them in their capabilities although I was actually wrong in that. Had I not told myself these things, my self-confidence would have been a little bit more positive, or had I had someone by my side to actually point out my capability compared to theirs I probably would have excelled a little bit more in football than I did. And I think that’s the reason why I had stopped playing in the first place or why I was kicked out of school and I wasn’t able to play football anymore. I think that was the big down turn of everything - just losing in something that I actually gravitated towards and was actually good at. But I just didn’t have the confidence to match my potential.
GAB: Did giving the TED Talk give you a new impression of your abilities since that is such a big thing to do?
SW: Yes, again because I’m terrified of public speaking. I’m super terrified of public speaking, but again I had to look back at my life and I had to realize that the whole process of my life from the age that I started getting in trouble was a process of fear and shying away from it. And where fear had led me, it had led me in a box, literally and metaphorically speaking. It just kept taking every opportunity away from me just because I was afraid I couldn’t do this or do that and I realized that I couldn’t continue to live my life like that anymore, otherwise I would wind up in a position. Maybe not the same position, but just in a box or prison in your mind, mentally feeling like you just can’t do anything.
So, that’s what gave me the confidence to go against something that I had been shying away from my whole life. That opportunity came after my realization that I had from going to college and I felt like this was the time to do something different. This was the time to be confident. This was the time to tell my story and everything. That’s the whole reason why I named my TED Talk “Fear.” I didn’t know what it was even going to be about or what I would talk about and that’s just how the whole talk came about in the first place – looking back and realizing the process of my life.
Sean Wilson during ARC camping trip
GAB: Could you tell me about how you became involved with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition and how that led to your introduction to the founder of Give a Beat, Lauren Segal?
SW: I met the founder of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Scott Budnick, through my co-defendant Bruno Williams. Scott Budnick used to facilitate a program called “Inside Out Writers,” this creative writing program in the juvenile hall and now they’re in state prison. So, I expressed my desire to go to college and that’s when my co-defendant connected me with Scott Budnick who was able to help me get to an institution where I could enroll in college. As I succeeded in college I became someone on his radar, someone whose potential he wanted to help cultivate. And that’s when he gave me the opportunity to do the Ted Talk.
My membership with Anti-Recidivism Coalition became informal and now it’s formal – I’m an actual member. When I came home, I expressed my interest in music production and that’s when the program director, Cheryl Bonacci, introduced me to Lauren. This was about a month post my release and Lauren and I had an extensive conversation. We shared our stories. We shared our passions and everything. We just connected from there. Ever since then, Lauren had been very supportive and proactive in my life and has always kept in touch with me. She always made sure if I needed something she was there - she would do her best to try to help me get it. That’s the role that she’s been playing in my life since I met her.
Sean Wilson with fellow ARC members and artist T.I.
GAB: Could you tell me a little about your hopes and vision about the mentorship program that you are helping to create with Give a Beat?
SW: My vision for the mentor program is just simple. We want to help people coming out of prison choose music and a career path as an outlet instead of the things that I chose as an outlet --or people who come from similar circumstances-- like we all do. What we usually choose as an outlet, we want to change in hopes that that outlet will eventually evolve into a music career or other career with the right guide. It’s the right support, the right skill, the right talent with the right people around them, with the right love and everything like that. Instead of them wasting their lives and their potential in the institutions with so much talent.
I’ve experienced from the time I was 12, 13, 14, and I started going into these institutions, I’ve seen so many talented individuals, specifically, like artists and musicians and they just don’t know. They have the skill and the talent but they just don’t know what to do with it because they don’t have the right people around them. My hope is that we will create a mentorship program with the right people around these people who need help and who need this guidance and who need to have their artistic abilities cultivated as opposed to going down a road that will never lead them anywhere.
Listening to Sean describe his experiences with exceptional clarity and insight imparts an invaluable understanding of the early life experience of many young American men. It also reminds us of the inherent vulnerability and the profound courage that each of us share in our humanness and the capacity of music to drum out the love and tenderness that reside in the soul, re-establishing commonality, bridging community, and when necessary, allowing us to begin again.
Join us in supporting the “Die Jim Crow” EP Kickstarter campaign, closing on April 6 2016.
Artists record most songs within studio spaces; Fury Young records his material within cell walls. Collaborating with former and current incarcerated black Americans across the country, Young plans to release their recordings as an album, one which takes a long hard look at the racial disparities within our prison systems. Titled “Die Jim Crow,” the project includes the stories and struggles of dozens of incarcerated men and women through a variety of genres ranging from hip-hop to heavy metal.
We spoke to Young about “Die Jim Crow,” and the time and effort put into the upcoming EP, debuting on May 1, 2016. Listen to the interview and please donate to the KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN by April 6, 2016.
To learn about this music, art, story, and justice project, visit the website: www.diejimcrow.com.
Related: GAB’s interview with “Die Jim Crow” collaborator and co-producer Dr. Israel.
