Zeke Pablo
| Zeke Pablo | |
|---|---|
 WIKIPEDIA PIC.jpg Zeke Pablo at ICS2 Photoshoot (2021) | |
| Born | Isaiah Ezekiel Ja'son August 2, 1993 (age 29)Manassas, Virginia, U.S. |
| 💼 Occupation | Singer, songwriter, rapper, author, executive |
| 📆 Years active | 2013-present |
Zeke Pablo (born August 2, 1993) is an American singer-songwriter, author and label executive for the independent record label Thank My God LLC. Zeke was born in Manassas, Virginia and raised in Philadelphia, PA.
He made his debut into entertainment at 16 years old starring as extras in independent films in Center City, Philadelphia before getting signed to an independent record label at 17 for his rapping ability. Right after his deal, his father passed away November, 30th 2010 sending him into a great depression while still in school.
Zeke Pablo started to make a name for himself in the streets of Philly under the name Zeek P rapping on the then popular DVD circuit shortly after the rapper Meek Mill blew up, so the scene was hot. After graduating high school, Zeke could have stayed in Philadelphia with his newfound rap career but due to his father's wishes he went on to college at Norfolk State University down in Norfolk, Virginia to try and do both music and school but due to mismanagement of money from family and harassment from the local police, Zeke dropped out of college to pursue music in Los Angeles. After many trials and tribulations, he eventually started his own record label TMG Independent LLC which was renamed Thank My God LLC.
Early Life[edit]
Isaiah was born in the small town of Manassas, Virginia right outside of Washington D.C. He was always surrounded by music as his cousins and brothers always used to rap around him when he would go on family trips to Brooklyn, New York and Philadelphia. Originally taken a liking to sports and art, his father Don always would also expose him to music more specifically Smooth Jazz and Hip-hop. Although Isaiah had a fun childhood, both of his parents struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and they would clash badly, so they eventually split up leaving Isaiah to choose who he wanted to live with. Initially, Isaiah wanted to stay with his mother in Virginia but due to her excessive drug addiction and chaotic household he chose to be raised up by his father who had less resources at the time. He then moved with his dad from Virginia up to Philadelphia where he and his father were briefly homeless bouncing around between Philly, Chester, PA and Wilmington, DE before settling. The upbringing was very tough for Isaiah but humbling remembering that he would rather live in peace surrounded by chaos than live in chaos surrounded by peace.
Career[edit]
2011-2014: Career Beginnings & Mista Magma
After getting acclimated to the inner city life, Isaiah started to appear in small independent movies throughout Philadelphia and recorded freestyles to sharpen his lyrical skills. His father would also help him get extra roles in films to help keep him out of trouble and off the streets. Whereas Isaiah would normally be hanging on the corner with the guys selling drugs, he would now be on a movie set with those the likes of Anthony Mackie, Jamie Hector and Kerry Washington for the movie Night Catches Us. This entertainment side was new to Isaiah, but he knew it was positive and something he would want to be involved in some way. Eventually Isaiah ran into music heavyweight Charlie Mack while hustling his mixtapes in Center City Philadelphia who invited him to a showcase alongside his peer Bryshere Gray where he landed a record deal with an independent label SBR. He then started to participate in hip hop cyphers all throughout the city and record the first of his mixtape series Mista Magma out of Heat Factory Studios in West Philadelphia. Shortly after this, his father died sending Isaiah into a deep depression. He didn't want to talk to anyone or do music at first but ultimately, he channeled his pain with the music. Isaiah then created a street buzz under the name Zeek P appearing on almost every rap DVD there was to be on alongside guys like AR-Ab and Quilly. He became extremely lyrically talented and hot however he could not take it to the next level because he also chose to go to college in Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia to honor his father's wishes of him getting an education.
School did hinder his career but the biggest dagger he suffered was the mismanagement of his father's funds from family. After the small advance of $3k, Isaiah was poor in college with no family support so he reverted back to what he knew in the streets, but this led to severe harassment from the local police. One day while he was walking to a nearby 7-11 for a juice, a rookie cop profiled him, beat him up and arrested him for a bogus loitering charge but this case was immediately dismissed when he went to booking so he was dropped off where he was arrested. This event damaged Isaiah causing him to leave the east coast all together and pursue music more seriously. In 2013 Isaiah dropped the single "Grinch" assisted with a feature from Philly legend Gillie Da Kid and moved to Los Angeles to build more connections however it didn't go how he planned it. After 2 weeks in LA, Isaiah was homeless and reduced to a dreadful night in a Skid Row shelter and sleeping on the streets. He quickly got himself out of this situation but got involved in the streets of LA in the process. He did have a run in with the legendary Hip-hop mogul Suge Knight whom he had a very important conversation with about music and ownership, so this motivated Isaiah to start his own label rather than signing all of his rights away. He then had a near death experience getting hit by a car and getting locked up for 6 months in Virginia after moving back east.
2015-2018: Mista Magma 2 & 2.5
After getting out of jail, Isaiah started to focus on getting money and traveling more so he went to Atlanta to build connections within the industry. In 2015, he dropped a single called ITILWUTITIL (It Is What It Is) which was a heavily Atlanta and southern influenced song originally for one of his artists and friends. The single started to grow fast reaching 100k plays on Soundcloud and over 50k views on Youtube the first week. He had talks with the then popping artist at the time from Jersey who was Fetty Wap about jumping on the remix but Zeke couldn't afford his feature price. Zeke Pablo was already connected with Ohio internet sensation Slim Jesus's camera man so he helped facilitate a remix with him for more exposure for little to nothing but the song didn't get to blow up because of lack of credits in the video so Zeke took the video down before it could gain traction. Zeke also got a chance to work with Houston internet sensation Trill Sammy who jumped on his Doe (Trappin pt 2.) song which also helped built Zeke's name. This was the hottest period in Zeke's career to date with the success of these 2 singles allowing him to travel to SXSW in Austin, Texas and perform in front of crowds solidifying the Mista Magma name. In 2017 Zeke dropped the video for "Doe" which he shot in LA and released the audio for his song "Just Got Stacks" which also garnered buzz but he failed to deliver a video in time. He released the follow up song "Glizzo", but he didn't reach the heights that Just Got Stacks did.
2019-present: Yogi Day, I Can Sing 2 & Mista Magma 3
In 2019, Zeke compiled the singles from 2017 and 2018 and recorded new songs to release Mista Magma 2.5 which was the deluxe for Mista Magma 2 however this wasn't released until 2021. Zeke also re-released the ITILWUTITIL video in 2020 with the Atlanta based platform All Urban Central as well as a parody song called "The Bear" with his artist "THNKMYGOD P." Both of these releases performed well but Zeke got hot again with the release of his new single self-titled "Pablo” in 2021. Pablo was a Latin inspired record to help bridge the gap between the black and brown communities because Zeke saw firsthand the difference in the black and brown relationships on the west coast compared to the east coast. This song got Zeke attention from blogs he never got before doing over 300k streams and views alone across all social platforms. He then released "Yogi Day" as an EP which was originally one of his old mixtapes with Pablo as the single. He also dropped the single "Mind" which currently sits at over 400k plays on Soundcloud. Zeke recorded the follow up song to Pablo entitled "Pabla" with a more melodious flow introducing his singing style to his fans who known him as only a spitter and he also got a chance to work with Philly Tik Tok star Zahsosaa for his Glizzo song series entitled 'Glizzo 4" or Glizzo IV. Zeke is currently working on his I Can Sing 2 EP set to drop on September 30th, 2022 and his Mista Magma 3 album set to drop in summer of 2023.
Thank My God LLC[edit]
Thank My God (Initialized TMG, formerly known as TMG Independent) is a record label founded by Zeke Pablo. The label houses artists Zeke Pablo Boom Rasta, TMG NOkari, Devon Supreme, Ne$$god and THNKMYGOD P
Discography[edit]
Studio Albums
- Mista Magma 2 (2018)
- Mista Magma (2020)
- Mista Magma 2.5 Deluxe (2021)
- Mista Magma 3 (2023)
EP
- Yogi Day (2021)
- Mista Magma 3 Pre Pacc (2022)
- I Can Sing 2 (2022)
Mixtapes
- Mista Magma (Hosted by DJ Malcgeez) [2013]
- Mista Who??? (Hosted by WERUNTHESTREETS) [2013]
- Yogi Day (2013)
- Mista Magma 2 (Hosted by DJ Victoriouz & DJ 837) [2016]
