Photo: iHeartRadio
ISSA, Jacquees, Boakie and their FYB crew have been making music together forever. What started out as a band of brothers has flourished into a hit-making collective who are out to dominate every lane in Hip-Hop music.
The Georgia-based group of creatives recently celebrated the release of another banger from their diverse vault. ISSA and Jacquees recently dropped their new single "Hair Down" featuring Fabolous. On the soulful banger, all three artists encourage the ladies to relax while they shower them with affection and all the finer things in life. ISSA says he was adamant about getting Fab to hop on the track.
"I've been sitting on the record for over a year," ISSA tells iHeartRadio. "I recorded it in the studio in Arizona and then I had brought it back to Atlanta and I pulled up on cuh [Jacquees] with it and I let him hear it and then we just took it from there. We ended up getting Fab on it. I was just hitting him. I was kind of bugging him like 'We got to get Fab on this joint,' and so he ended up sending it to him and Fab sent the verse back. So that's how it came together.
"The inspiration behind it was just like soul," he continued. "I love soul beats. I love that classic rap. So anytime I hear soul beats, whenever producers send me those, I always got to just write something. Usually I just rap over soul beats. This time I was like, when I heard the song, this can actually be like a radio record even though I had that soul background in it."
"Hair Down" is just one of various record the crew has dropped this year. FYB, which stands for "Forever Your Brother," is a collective that features Jacquees, ISSA, Boakie, C-Trillionaire, DC DaVinci and DeeQuincy Gates. Trill and Quincy previously released their joint album TrillDaVinci which was led by their single "Too Easy" featuring 'Quees & DaVinci. In 2022, FYB assembled for their 20-track compilation album Hood Relatives. It arrived the same year as ISSA's solo project Here Comes The Light, Boakie's project The Most High Vol. 1 and Jacquees' Sincerely For You album.
"I think when you're around each other making the music, it's like you're going to want to grow with each other, you know what I'm saying?" Jacquees says about the group's rise over the years. "When somebody else go to the next level, you're going to want to go to the next level with 'em. It's almost like a challenge. It's almost like playing football with somebody. If y'all start off playing together, every level y'all go to, y'all going to try to get better together. It's the same thing with this. Just every level we go up, we just try to get better together."
The only place left for the collective to go is up. ISSA, Jacquees and Boakie are all working on new music that is set to drop in the near future. Issa plans to drop new music towards the end of September and will follow up with more before the end of the year.
"I'm always recording new music," ISSA says. "My catalog is just filled up with tons and tons of songs. So I had to organize them into different folders and I put three volumes of projects together that I'm about to release consecutively back to back."
While Jacquees also records a lot, the Cash Money artist is extremely focused on his upcoming "Sincerely For You Tour" beginning this month. The King of R&B will kick off the tour on September 29 at Republic NOLA in New Orleans, Louisiana, and will hit other major cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and more until he wraps up in Sacramento om November 22.
"It's going to be lit," Jacquees says about the tour. "I think it's like my fourth or fifth headlining tour. But the fans, man, they just going to get a good experience. I always try to give them an experience from the album, create an element that's around the album. You're going to get the records from the album. Of course I give you classic records also, but it's just going to be a show. I try to take it up every level."
Artists Nick Lavelle and Tyler Michelle will join Jacquees as supporting acts, but fans can expect to see an appearance or two from the FYB crew especially ISSA. He plans to perform their latest collaboration at every show possible. According to 'Quees, he and ISSA have a lot more music coming in the future.
"We got a lot of special stuff that [Issa] is working on that people really going to love," Jacquees said. "I know they're going to love it."