Published: Tuesday - September 9, 2008
Words by Todd Davis
Izza Kizza (Photo: Mosley Music Group)
Terry Davis, more famously known by his crazy moniker Izza Kizza, hails from the small rural town of Valdosta, Georgia. He first began by forming an R&B group with his brother and a young friend, the, then, pre-teen aspiring entertainer opted instead to abandon his burgeoning singing career for one in rap music. After garnering quite a local following, Bless, one half of the multi-platinum production team Soul Diggaz, soon took notice and the rest, as it is said, is history ... still in the making.
BallerStatus.com recently got a call from the hot newcomer, following the release of his impressive street banger Kizzaland, a precursor to his forthcoming, still untitled, Mosley Music Group/Interscope solo offering.
BallerStatus.com: For starters, you have a very interesting and unique moniker. Where exactly did it derive from?
Izza Kizza: Izza Kizza, a lot of people say that it came from [Malcolm McLaren's] "Double Dutch Bus," and a lot of people say they would think about Missy [Elliott] how she had it in a couple of her songs, but actually when I created it, I did a song called "Izza Kizza." When I was doing that song, I wasn't thinking about the "Double Dutch Bus" or I wasn't thinking about Missy's "Gossip Folks." Actually, I got a beat and I was listening to it, and I was listening to what the beat was saying, and I was like, "What's that word? What are the words to this song?" You know? It's a great beat, but you got to listen to what the beat is saying, and the beat was saying to me, "I'm the Izza Kizza n****." I was like, "Yeah, okay, I'm the Izza Kizza n****." Then, I did the first one, and then I said, "I'm the Izza Kizza n****," and then I began like every other four bars, or every other eight bars, I would say, "I'm the Izza Kizza n****," and then it just came about to where that was a tag that I had on a record. Then, you know, when we was coming up with changing the name and everything to start remarketing and re-shopping around, then we was going through names and they was like, "Izza Kizza," and I was like, "Yeah, you know what, yeah, that's dope." That's dope because when I did "Izza Kizza," the record had a certain swag. It had a certain feel, it had a certain bounce, and I put that same bounce and that same swag on a lot of my records. So, like, my manager would tell me, "Yo, go back to this record, and you gotta Kizza it out. You gotta Kizza it out." So, I'd be like, "Oh, okay, cool, cool, cool/" So, you know, Izza Kizza derived from that, and also it's my swag, it's what I do to my music, it's the feeling of it, and eventually it became who I am.
BallerStatus.com: With that being said, define that Izza Kizza swag?
Izza Kizza: Well, I just let people put their own definition to it. I just do it. I don't really ... I'll just say creative. I just try to stay creative and new, and focus on different sounds. I like working with producers who got different sounds, and I learned that from Missy from hanging out with her. Even with Soul Diggaz, they go out and they do a record for her, you know, and she pushes them to make the record tighter even when you think your record is the tightest. That's what makes it dope with my team. Also, because even when I think I got my record as tight as I could possibly get it, they push to make me make it more tighter. So, I would describe the music that I do as just different, creative, and my best. Everything I put out, I put my all into it. I put 100 into it, and then my team also puts 100 into it, and that makes for a great record.
BallerStatus.com: Initially, how did you get down with Soul Diggaz? And, this is also a joint venture with Timbaland's Mosley Music Group, right?
Izza Kizza: Well, what led me to ... I knew one of the Soul Diggaz, Bless, and he drug me in with them, and they sent me a record and I wrote to it. I called them back and they took the time to sit down and listen to me spit it over the phone, and it eventually brought me up here. Then, we did our first couple records. I recorded my first record, not only was they feeling it, but my very first record, it's called "Here Come The Police," which was produced by Soul Diggaz. They played that when I was down with Cipha Sounds, and then Cipha Sounds is my man, and so Cipha Sounds and them liked it, so they got into it more. We went through like a whole lot of events that was ... we had a deal before. I was under another name, and everybody was digging it, and actually my first song that I ever recorded in Soul Diggaz' studio got played on Hot 97. Yeah, it was real dope. So, it was like I would hear Busta Rhymes, and then I would hear my song come on after that. So, that was really, really dope, and then we just kept working towards it, and eventually we made our team stronger. It started with just me and Soul Diggaz, and then it became me and Soul Diggaz, and Mosley Music Group. So, that's, like, how the whole line-up, how the thing came about.
BallerStatus.com: So then, what's up with your forthcoming Mosley Music Group/Interscope solo debut?
Izza Kizza: It's a surprise, it's a surprise. You gotta get the album. No speaky, speaky! No speaky! I'm gonna keep it on the low just so everybody can have the [surprise of the] first listen.
BallerStatus.com: What goes through your head when you pen your rhymes?
Izza Kizza: Um ... emotions, what I'm going through, feelings, you know? I might've just watched a great show, I might've just watched one of my favorite movies, I might've just seen something funny. Sometimes I just flip through ... and, I ain't never told nobody this ... sometimes I flip through my cable, like, On Demand, and I go listen to a beat, and I say, "Yo, that beat sounds crazy." So, I go to my On Demand, I'll flip through all my channels on my cable and through the guide, and I would just look at all the names. Like I flip through it, and I say, "Ooh, 'Bad Boys', or Ooh, 'Blood Diamond.' " And, I just try to find a name that fits the song.
BallerStatus.com: When did you first get into hip-hop?
Izza Kizza: When I was really young. I got into it back in the day, but it's always been like a fantasy. It's like living a fantasy right now to be able to be into it now, but I always had a passion for it. Good sounding music, not particularly rap, like soul. So, it basically drew me in, you know, probably like a life-long thing.
BallerStatus.com: So, it's fair to say you're surprised that you've already come this far?
Izza Kizza: Actually, it came by surprise. Everybody who does music hopes that it takes them somewhere one day, but everybody don't get the chance to really be heard and expressed. So, I think that for me, as far as it being my fantasy just like everybody else's fantasy, it took me be surprise. I got a couple of homeboys who wish they could make their living a rap career, people back home, everybody I know. Myspace, you got 394 million people who wish they could make it in the industry. So, it's like it became real to me once I got into the area, and I started ... I found myself around people who was really doing big things, since the Soul Diggaz introduced me to the industry. Like my first parties, I went to Kanye's album ... record label launch party, and I started being around people. My first time really being in there, like, fresh off the bus, I went straight to ... What record company was it? Where I went and met my man, Rockwilder ... straight to Sony, fresh off the bus. When I first stepped foot into New Jersey, I went straight to Sony, and I met Rockwilder. He was the first guy I met off the bus, so these guys kinda took me in, and it gave me extra motivation because I start seeing myself like, "Damn, I'm in the same room as Kanye and Jay-Z, and Beyonce walking through right now, and Missy's right over there taking a photo shoot, and John Legend is performing." Like it really gave me the extra push, and the extra inspiration that I needed to continue and actually pursue it.
BallerStatus.com: In a sense then you were just thrown right in the mix with probably some of your very own musical influences?
Izza Kizza: I used to rock out to old people. One of my most favorites ... well, I would listen to a lot of stuff that ... when it came to my mom, she would listen to stuff like Gladys Knight, and then Betty Wright, and the all famous "Ring My Bell" (Anita Ward), back when it was record players. Still my favorite record used to be Michael Jackson, the "We Are The World" record, and the "Ring My Bell" record. They're the records that I remember when I was younger, and those are a couple of things that influenced me then 'cause I loved those records when I was young. Also, there was Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. They used to be rockin' on the radio real heavy way back then -- Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, or Cheryl Lynn. Like all those era artists, like that whole thing.
BallerStatus.com: How do you feel about today's era of hip-hop, since we're basically in ringtone rap world?
Izza Kizza: I mean, yeah, you know, I ain't mad at music. Like people could always put more thought into what they're doing, but it's obvious that what they're doing is good, what they're doing is getting 'em paid, and it's not hurting me. Like a lot of people try to complain about what's really going on, but actually at the end of the day, let those dudes eat, man. Like if that's how they gotta get it, let 'em get it like that. It's up to the next person. Don't worry about what the next man doing, it's up to you to make sure sh** dope. Make your sh** dope, and don't worry about what they're doing because real true talent is gonna stand out. So, I think most people need to step their individual game up. If they think there's something wrong with the industry, then there's something wrong with them. There's something wrong with their game, or they need to step their game up a lil' bit.
BallerStatus.com: Who exactly is Izza Kizza?
Izza Kizza: I'm a real dude, man. I'm real, you know? I'm down to earth. I ain't off that bourgeois sh**. I don't be drinking Pinot Grigio, and all that sh** in a club. I cool out, man. I cool out with real people. I mingle with the people. I don't try to act like I'm better than nobody. So, if you see me on the street, I'm definitely gonna speak unless there's a situation where, like, which I doubt it, if I had mad bodyguards around me or something, and I gotta do a show, then, of course, I probably won't have time. But, if I'm just in the streets, I'm speaking to people, man. I'm interacting with the people. I'm not gonna act like I'm better than nobody.
BallerStatus.com: Tell me about this foundation that you're about to launch.
Izza Kizza: Right now I'm putting together ... well, I try to connect everything I'm doing with music, but even though it's different. Right now, we're putting together a children's foundation. A children foundation, and a food and clothes drive, and it's gonna be going up on my site shortly. Also, got a song coming out that I want to make it like a "We Are The World" type record, but with rappers mixed with like Marvin Gaye "What's Going On." So, we're trying to push this drive, and push this fundraiser for them. It's going up on my blog: IzzaKizza.Blogspot.com, and also they gonna be able to find the information on my Myspace which is Myspace.com/IzzaKizza. You can search either one of them, and find out more about the food drive. We'll send, like, shoes, clothes, you know, I'm bringing stuff out of my own closet. We putting music out that's gonna speak out about what's going on in this day and age, as far as politics. Every rapper on it gonna have free speech of however they've been feeling about things, like, you want to talk about global warming, you want to talk about the issues that's really affecting us even in hip-hop, 'cause certain stuff people might think that they too high and mighty and that food shortages ain't gonna effect them. They got a lot of money, but it's affecting hip-hop. It's gonna touch us, and the main reason for this fundraiser is to try and help. It's millions of people homeless, and they lost their houses. So, we're trying to get that started.
BallerStatus.com: That's real cool! You have a lot of exciting things going on, and this is really just the beginning of your career.
Izza Kizza: I want to be ... let me see, I'll probably be, ideally, I probably would eventually retire, you know? At the end of the day, I will still be doing music, but as far as the rapping goes, I would move out the way, man. Like if I eat, I'm gonna move and let somebody else eat, and bring somebody else up like that. Eventually I'm also trying to start this school in my hometown. It's like a mass-media school. We'll have, like, actors, like, little kids coming up who want to be actors, and want to be singers. We'll have classes for them that they can take where we actually take the most talented kids, and people come through and check 'em out. We'll make progress for underprivileged families and families that's better off, too. Just something I'm thinking about, but I'd like to do it. But, like, in ten years, we'll be finding stars, and giving kids chances who don't have chances. So, we're trying to start a multi-media school in my hometown, but I got plans for it and I'm thinking it through right now, so by the time I can really get it off the ground I can have it all put together.
BallerStatus.com: On the music front, what's next for Izza Kizza?
Izza Kizza: A couple of mixtapes with a couple different DJs. And, yes, the album will follow. Also, I am going on tour, so that's gonna be real dope. And back working, like there's never gonna be a time where I am not doing nothing. I can always find something to do.
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