3 weeks ago
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Iotosh Poyser is a three-time Grammy-nominated producer. Hailing from Kingston, Jamaica he has worked primarily in the reggae realm. Leading to his international recognition, Iotosh has developed professional relationships with Protoje, Lila Iké, Chronixx, Kabaka Pyramid and Jesse Royal. Though his success in music has been largely behind the scenes, Iotosh has also been honing his craft as a recording artiste. Gaining wide-scale success with his single Fill My Cup, Iotosh has become a mainstay of the modern era of reggae music. In the wake of the release of his first EP For The People Iotosh caught up with The Gleaner for 5 Questions With…
1. What first drew you to music?
Music was a big part of my childhood. Both my parents were in and around the music industry. They had a big influence on me. They were playing music around the house and stuff so that definitely armed my first musical sense. From there it was just a love for music that developed over the years.
2. You have been involved in a lot of what people are calling the ‘Reggae Renaissance’. What’s been your favourite project to work on thus far?
It would have to be the Protoje album Third Time’s The Charm just due to the involvement that I had in there, it was a lot. I worked on five out of the 10 songs. To be involved so heavily in a big album for an established artiste like Protoje, it was very eye opening. I learned a lot, I also got more songs to express on.
3. In creating your own EP recently, you drew on a lot of emotions that are really hard to express, like grief. What motivated you to include that?
I make music based off of life and I don’t really shy away from aspects of life that might make people uncomfortable. It’s great to make positive music and talk about positive emotions, but negative emotions are a part of life, too. I don’t even think it’s negative really, if anything I want to de-stigmatise the negative connotation of these things because grief is something that most, if not all of us, experience. We all lose people, and it’s just a part of human experience so why not [include it].
4. What has been your favourite track from this EP?
It’s so hard because it’s just eight songs and I love all of them. I think my personal favourite though would have to be Once Upon a Time, just due to the very biographical nature of it. That’s me talking about my entry into music from when I was a teenager and decide seh me nah guh back a school. That was a very pivotal moment in my life and every time I listen back to just the anxiety within it or even just the determination, even though I had no clue what I was doing at the time. The fact that I have now reached where I reach, it’s a very strong track for me.
5. When people hear this EP, what do you want them to feel?
I want people to feel hopeful. It sounds kind of cliché, but I think people could use a lot more hope in these times. A lot of things are happening that fight our hope daily. It’s the same thing I was saying a while ago when we were talking about these emotions people might view as negative; I hope it makes people feel a bit more comfortable just feeling things and not numbing themselves or bottling things away. It’s human to feel these things. It’s something we probably need more of in a society now and just sit with your feelings and realise seh things can get better.
English (US) ·