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We spoke to Washington State's Isaac Peabody now transformed as Peabod.
When in 2014 a folk-tinged singer/songwriter from Washington with the distinctly uncool name of Isaac Peabody emerged onto the scene with an EP 'Steps', nobody could have guessed - Isaac included - where the next four years would take him. But his metamorphosis this year as Peabod, a RAPPER, is surprising. And what is absolutely staggering is that his debut album 'Healthy Snacks' and his much-watched videos are demonstrating that he is one of the cleverest and funniest hip-hop exponents to emerge for years.
Peabod explained how the transition took place. "I have been a fan of hip-hop for a long time, even though I've been writing folk music mostly. I think I had finished up 'Indigo' (Isaac Peabody's 2016 EP) and then I was writing songs just for me. I thought that it would be really fun to write a hip-hop project that was purely just for fun, not, like, to meet anyone's expectation or prove that I could do something, but to just have as much fun as I could. So I started with some reflection and that got good feedback so I decided to do a whole mix tape. The more I wrote the more it felt natural to me because I think I had put off writing hip-hop for a while because who would take me seriously, look at me. But then I was like, well maybe being taken seriously isn't the point, maybe having fun and being happy in hip-hop could be a good route and so trying that out felt more natural than I expected and ended up being really fun."
The 'Healthy Snacks' mix tape got a limited release independently in 2017 and such was the quality of the man's flows and production ideas that Peabod got signed to Centricity Music, the label distributed by EMI Christian Music Group. Now a re-recorded 'Healthy Snacks' is impressing all who hear it.
On the album there are odes to friendship like a tribute to his roommate Fletcher, "Summer Of Fletcher", while "Hat Hair" (describing the mess a hat makes to your hair) is hilarious. Not everything is light-hearted, of course. The track "Dang!" over propulsive rhythms colourfully describes how his home was broken into by thieves:
"They took all my hoodies and flannels and tees they all gone
They took my recording gear and homemade cookies from my mom
They took almost everything that they could get they hands on
Worst of all they took my laptop and with it all my songs”
But even when Peabod's themes are serious, like the young lady to whom he is now engaged, his confessionals have a wry twist. On "Steady" he admits:
"I'm a little bit distracted I go back and forth
Anytime the beat is lacking I tend to get bored
Sometimes my thoughts just get so loud that they can't be ignored
I'll keep my head up in the clouds until my neck gets sore."
When Centricity released the first Peabod single it came with a photo not of a scowling young man standing in a graffiti-covered street but of Peabod aged five with a lollipop stick in his mouth. Peabod explained the unusual publicity shot, "My dad was in graphics design for a long time and he had put together an album cover that I was using for promotion before I met Centricity. Then we started to work together and they wanted to go in a different direction. My mom had just randomly sent me some old picture and I thought 'oh my goodness this would be perfect' so I sent it off to the label and they loved it and it kind of all just fell into place."
Peabod grew up in a Christian home. He remembered, "I was going to church with my parents, reading Bible stories. I think that it was just in steps of becoming real for me. I guess I've only gone through phases of feeling kind of stagnant with my relationships with my Lord or bitter, but always at my core I've always known this is what I believe and this is what is true. I don't think I ever went through a big rebellious phase, I'm kind of a rule follower, so it isn't your classic rapper story. I think that through growing up and going to college and graduating college, starting life in the real world, I think there has been a bunch of phases of me realising God's faithfulness and the Gospel becoming more real for me."
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