Saline's 14-year old Isaac 'Gameboi' Castor is the 'Posterchild' for Ann Arbor's youth hip hop scene
Isaac "Gameboi" Castor, 14, is the latest and the youngest Ann Arbor rapper to come out of the Neutral Zone.
Isaac Castor didn't know a soul when his family moved to Ann Arbor last summer. Then 13, and fresh from the Chicago suburbs, the aspiring rapper was looking for a way to get involved locally when he heard about The Neutral Zone.
Then Castor looked at the Zone's summer programs, which included a number of offerings in music. First, it was a music production workshop, then the "art of the MC" workship, where Castor could meet other young, would-be rappers like himself. Before long Castor could pass for a studio stool, he was such a regular fixture in Ann Arbor's teen center.
It wasn't until halfway through the school year that Castor 'fessed up: He was still in the eighth grade. The Neutral Zone requires students to be in at least the ninth grade for most of its programs, but allowed Castor to keep coming in.
"I was shocked," said Mike "Man in Charge" Hyter, formerly of Tree City, recalling how he felt upon hearing the news. Hyter teaches the "Art of the MC" workshop for aspiring rappers at the teen center. "We obviously don't want people lying about their age, but it shows his hustle, for sure."
That hustle culminated last month in "The Posterchild," Castor's 17-track introduction of himself to the local hip hop scene. Castor is the latest and youngest product of the Neutral Zone's "Art of the MC" workshops, which have functioned as a sort of pipeline for a young and diverse group hip hoppers in the Ann Arbor area.
Hyter is a product of that pipeline. As a junior at Huron High, he took up rapping at the Neutral Zone. Nowadays Hyter and producer/MC Carlos "L05" Garcia help prepare the next generation of would-be hip hoppers.
"We didn't have this in Chicago," Castor said during a recent session at the Neutral Zone's recording studio.
The young rapper's sound is hard to put a finger on — a roomful of MCs at that studio session all failed to make a suitable comparison — but Castor chalks that up to individuality.
"I never want to sound like anyone else," Castor said. "I go out of my way to create my own flow."
Sometimes, Castor sounds like what he is, a 14-year old ("Rhymes soak up so much Spongebob, they so porous"). Other times he's so polished that you wonder where a 14-year old comes by the confidence.
Listen to At Its Finest (featuring GP, Obi Iyoha, & L05) from "The Posterchild"
Each one, teach one
"At Its Finest" was a "straight-up bars track, no hook," with Castor and Obi Iyoha before producer L05 wrote the chorus. Kyle "General Population" Hunter of Tree City happened to be in the studio at the time. Not only did Hunter end up singing the hook, he wrote a verse as well. What resulted is one of the most successful tracks on "The Posterchild."
Eventually Castor pulled up a chair and started writing, too. Raised in a home where it wasn't uncommon to hear albums by Bob Marley, Run DMC and Paul Simon played in the same night, Castor learned quickly.
“At first he would try to mimic me,” Storm said by phone from Chicago. “Then he asked me what I wrote about, and I’d say ‘life.’
“I gave him as much game as I knew at the time, but remember I was young too,” Storm said. “It was like a third-grader trying to teach a kindergartner.”
But teach he did. Even though Castor has moved on, he and Storm still keep in touch. Storm said he's trying to get Castor out to do a show in the Chicago area.
"I used to tell him that if you’re really serious, we’d see it come out years later, when he got to be 12 and 13 and start growing up," said Storm. "He’s obviously for real.”
Castor's goal, for the moment, is simple, even modest: "I just want to make a living from this. I don't necessarily need or want that big record deal."
He is very wary of being swept away in the politics of the music business. He worries that as a babyfaced white rapper, he'll either be cast as "the next Eminem" or turned into a hip hop Justin Bieber. He's not interested in doing either.
Castor especially bristles at comparisons between himself and Eminem — "we don't sound alike or come from the same place or rap about the same things. If I wasn't white people would never think to compare us," he said.
Even at 14, Castor knows that lyrical skill is the least bankable talent a rapper has. That's why Castor is enrolled in a video production course when he starts at Saline High School this fall, and why he's looking to add producing to his portfolio.
The release of "Posterchild" puts Castor in the running for Ann Arbor's best-under-18 honors. But gauging the success of a mixtape can be tough.
Jay Storm cautioned Castor not to measure "The Posterchild" purely in terms of the downloads it gets or the gigs it generates.
"When you reach out to your audience," Storm said, "and they reach back to you, that's when you know you've got it. I think you're going to see people reaching back to Gameboi."
James David Dickson can be reached at JamesDickson@AnnArbor.com.
Comments
Jimmy
Fri, Aug 20, 2010 : 2:52 p.m.
Keep up the good work! Don't worry bout the haters!
Isaac
Tue, Aug 17, 2010 : 7:35 p.m.
@drew_blows: Correct me if I'm mistaken but I'm pretty sure the Clipse had one of the bigger hip hop songs of the year in 2009 with "I'm Good" (also the year the photo was taken.)
drew_blows
Tue, Aug 17, 2010 : 4:24 p.m.
To whomever said that the Clipse where the hottest rap group out right now must have just awoken from an eight year coma. Because thats how long ago they were hot with their hit "Grindin".
Noah Collins
Tue, Aug 17, 2010 : 12:28 a.m.
Oh my gosh. Give the kid a break. He's a kid, who has a talent he enjoys, people evidently like it (I for one), and he sounds pretty good to me. I mean, geez, music is so subjective that it seems kind of stupid for people to set themselves up as an authority on whether it's productive or just slop or whatever. I'm pretty sure the point of this article is point out and celebrate the fact that we live in a really diverse community and it's great to see that reflected in all different sorts of media. I like him, even though the name is...well...let's just say Gameboi made me grin a little bit on the inside. It sounds like the kind of name I'd come up with at 13 :)
ronn oneal
Mon, Aug 16, 2010 : 7:34 p.m.
This KID is off the chain and sure to go to high place with powerful people in this GAME called rap. I love ya Gameboi..... Michigan has been producing what I call real white boy's from the street since kid rock..
rusty shackelford
Mon, Aug 16, 2010 : 12:33 p.m.
I'll believe it when I see him selling records out the back of his car. Seriously though kid, you aren't going to make much of a name for yourself or get much experience in Saline. Take some No Doze or something and head 45 miles east. St. Andrew's and Alvin's are mixed-genre venues, but they have freestyling and other events on a regular basis. Just don't go to venues too far from downtown until you're older or you'll probably get jacked. Go learn something.
Lokalisierung
Mon, Aug 16, 2010 : 11:19 a.m.
Good luck to this kid. But seriously, burn this "video" from my memory banks.
Jay Allen
Mon, Aug 16, 2010 : 9:35 a.m.
Please, allow me to say that for a very young person, he does have raw talent. This is not open for debate. I have been and around music for 31 years. I have been in the studio and I/myself could mix a track like that in about 5 minutes. A drum machine, a keyboard, a sampler, a microphone and VOILA! We have music. The phrase "producing" by today's standards is sickening. I agree with the comments about ringing endorsements from grandma, and mom. A 35 year old housewife at the "Zone"? Kind of creepy if you ask me. If you pull out the emotion from this thread and READ what a few say that KNOW music and have ZERO to gain or lose, it is just another rapper with a lot to learn. He is young and can grow, no doubt, but hopefully that is what he does vs what "typically" happens when a 13-14 year old is introduced into the environment. Now to address a few comments. @Bethy: " Wow! This is not American Idol folks...he is an 8th grader with the nerve to stand up in front of others and express himself in an appropriate and poetic way (not easy for most teenagers to do). " -Please show us where ONE PERSON said this was "American Idol"? And, if one is going to be in the business of making videos, making music, criticism follows. Justin Bieber is quite young too. Look at what the critics say about him. I don't see his mom, aunt, or grandma attack those critics. If you are going to make music, share videos, you had better be prepared and if you are not prepared, then it is simple. Don't share it. And if what this fine young is saying is "proper grammar" we ALL have something to learn. Texting and the like does NOTHING but promote poor grammar. Just because a youth texts "OMG" and they realize it means "Oh My God" does not make them smarter and it does not show they have a better understanding of grammar. Whomever performed that study is blowing some serious smoke.
stunhsif
Mon, Aug 16, 2010 : 6:54 a.m.
Rap sucks, don't care who is singing it. Shame on his parents!
mgoblue12
Tue, Oct 11, 2011 : 3:29 a.m.
Shame on you for posting a rude comment about a teenager chasing a dream. Didn't your parents ever teach you "if you dont have anything nice to say, do say anything at all"?
Tex Treeder
Mon, Aug 16, 2010 : 6:11 a.m.
"Stop hating on him." How disingenuous. If you'll re-read my comment, you'll note I said it sounds like he might have talent. "Proper grammar is untrue." This is such a ridiculous statement I don't know where to start. I'll say it again: Why don't we encourage him to write real music? It sounds like he might have the talent for it.
Julie-Anne
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 11:24 p.m.
isaacs a good kid, he wont be writing bout any of that stuff tex treeder, he's really nice and funny. so stop hating on him.
tre
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 11:09 p.m.
Oops, couple of typo's in my last entries but you get the point!
tre
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 11:03 p.m.
We'll put Bethy. In fact it takes a great deal of concentration and cleaverness to put a rap together. "Dont believe me try it". In fact it's not only grammer, but a education in public speaking. As for proper English "Rap" is an art that allows the artist to go outside the box with creativity. So, before hating start celebrating that this young man has found a postitive outlet.
tre
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 10:56 p.m.
drew_blows and tex_treader you need to stop hating. I don't consider the heavy and death metal music at all. Anyone can make noise on a guitar, so that requires no talent whatsoever. I'm very excited to see this young man posing with the Clipse, one of the hotteset groups in the industry "That's Big". What do these guys have to show besides open mic night pictures from the Blind Pig. Isaac continue to do you, persistence pays everytime. Use the haters as motivation. Like Kat Williams said, so far you got two haters hear, try to have ten by the end of the summer. "That's Whats Up"
Klayton
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 10:53 p.m.
Wow! This is not American Idol folks...he is an 8th grader with the nerve to stand up in front of others and express himself in an appropriate and poetic way (not easy for most teenagers to do). In addition, in a day and age when we give teens a hard time for not being interested in literacy, he is writing his own poetic lyrics and coming up with the beat and music to accompany it. Whether or not you are a fan of rap, you should encourage his interest in literacy, public speaking, lyrics, rhythm, rhyme, and music. There are many other problem-type activities that he could have fallen into as a teenager who did not grow up here, and he found a niche and an outlet that welcomes him for who he is and the talent that he is trying to hone in on and cultivate. I think that is wonderful. And to the person who claims that not using proper grammar means you don't understand proper grammar is untrue. I am an educational researcher who has read many studies (Univ of Coventry in UK does great studies on literacy and "teen texting or speaking") that finds children have a better understanding of spelling and grammar when they have to shorten sentences or words...such as rap or texting. This is because they must know proper grammar in order to change the sentence or word structure for it to make sense. They also tend to have a stronger vocabulary.
Tex Treeder
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 9:19 p.m.
Great, just what the world needs, another rapper to spread poor grammar and self-aggrandizement, as one commenter put it. When he graduates to misogynistic lyrics and bragging about his sexual exploits, we'll know he's reached the peak of his profession. Why don't we encourage him to write real music? It sounds like he might have the talent for it.
drew_blows
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 5:54 p.m.
Having suburban housewives and grandmothers praise your hip hop product is not exactly a ringing endorsement. Todays hip hop and rap is the least artistic form of music. Who cares? The Nuetral Zone could be doing better things with its money than doing this program.
walker101
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 4:54 p.m.
It's all the same, just a different face. You gots lots of time to learn??
adameichner
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 4:13 p.m.
While it is great to see his kid's hustle and verve, the product is just average. Derivative of his local hero in Chicago - Kanye West (sped up piano sample, breathy, sped up flow, predominantly self-aggrandizing in subject matter). About two inches above the commercial bar of crap rap slung by WJLB "strong songs" etc. For my money not adding anything to the culture, just imitating. But he's young. Perhaps a lot more listening to lots of stuff -- (hey kid -- pick up some last poets, gil-scott heron, some old audio clips of black and white old time preachers, some audio clips of carnival barkers, auctioneers, etc.) Listen to some Edan, some De La, some Funcrusher Plus, and Mos Def. Even the thuggy ghostface can teach you. Change the game, don't wallow around in the same old gangster / player stuff. If you can do this at 14, you got lots of time to learn. You need an agent or a listening library librarian, give me a holler.
dmae
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 2:44 p.m.
Great Kid, he rocks! I am a 55 yera old grandma who listens to nothing but rap, yes rap. Got the fever from Snoop Dog who is still my favorite! This young man has a great future in front of him! Let the rap live on!
flyingpatricio
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 2:17 p.m.
I really don't like rap, but this sounds just as good as most of the stuff I've heard.
Klayton
Sun, Aug 15, 2010 : 1:09 p.m.
I've heard Isaac and he is really good! He writes great lyrics and has amazing timing (this is coming from a 35 year old housewife too!).