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Meet Isaiah Guglielmo of Frybby in Central Phoenix

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaiah Guglielmo.

Isaiah, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’d say everything started in 6th grade when I started writing poetry. During this time, my dad was in prison and I was dealing with some heavy issues at home. We were studying poetry in English class and I grew to really like it, so It became an outlet to express myself. My dad also inspired me because he would write me poetry while he was in prison. Instruments have also played a big role in my life. In 4th grade, I started playing the saxophone in band class and picked it up again in 7th and 8th grade. I didn’t really appreciate the Sax until 7th grade because I didn’t quite understand it. It felt cool to express myself with such a unique instrument. My passion for the Sax died early due to the weight of everything happening at home.

Towards the begging of 8th, grade I started to associating with kids who caused trouble because I felt accepted. A lot of my school life was challenging because I felt like I didn’t fit in with other kids and it felt amazing to finally feel like I belonged somewhere. This is around the time I got expelled from school and my mom took it upon herself to home school me. My home life was getting increasingly more chaotic. I had met some kids from school that introduced me to underground rap and mixtapes which I found really cool. I had a lot of time on my hands so I started rapping and instantly became addicted. I was nervous my parents would not accept my dream to become a rapper, so I began purchasing equipment in secret to build an at home studio. It wasn’t the greatest but it was exactly what I needed at the time. Eventually, my parents ended up finding out about the studio and thought it cute hobby.

I have had several friends who have made music over the years, but no one committed to it like I did. When I was 16, I meat a kid named Austin and he invited me into his group of friends who were all about two years older than me. We started making music together in my studio and they quickly introduced me to freestyling. We formed a group which I named SNO Music. It was really cool, and we stayed together for a while. However, my home life started to crumble and I was kicked out by my stepdad. I was already dealing with extreme depression for several months before that and now it was about to get worse. I was struggling for a few different reasons but a majority of it was directly related to my stepdad.

I was the oldest out of my siblings. My dad was serving 14 years in maximum security prison. My mom married my stepdad when I was nine and had two children together, Millie and Dino. Millie is two years younger than me and Dino is nine years younger. Being the oldest, my parents put a lot more responsibility on my shoulders but that came with a significant amount of punishment.

My mom and stepdad fought a majority of their nine years marriage. I remember them fighting even during the early years and they would scream pretty awful things to each other. My stepdad worked while my mom was at home so he had very high expectations as to how he wanted his house maintained which fell on my mom and I. When I was younger, I didn’t always understand why my mom was upset but looking back she was in a bad place. He could be scary, sometimes violent and I think we were just trying to survive back then.

After he kicked me out, Austin’s family let me stay with him while I was homeless for three months. I was pretty messed up about everything going on in my life which caused me to sell my studio equipment to Austin. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to use it anymore, so I didn’t see the point in keeping it. I eventually moved back in with my parents but I only stayed for a few months before I had to leave again. During this time, my mom convinced me to get my GED, which was more important than I realized. While all of this was going on, I was still going to friend’s studios to record and posting singles on SoundCloud. My love for music still very present in my daily life.

After I turned 17, things got really hard because my stepdad and I just couldn’t get along. Eventually, we got into a fight because I got caught with weed by the cops. As a result, my stepdad told my mom I was drug addict and I was too unstable to live in the house. That’s when they moved me into the RV they had on the property, changed the garage codes and locks on the doors. Then he went on to tell my siblings to stay away from me.

Shortly after all of that happened, I moved in with my uncles Tyler and Aaron. I lived in their living room until I turned 18. When the lease was up, my uncle Tyler and I rented a two bedroom together. I finally had my own room again, so I borrowed a friend’s equipment and started recording my first mixtape named “Abstract Art”. I spent countless hours recording it and I start taking music more seriously.

After our lease was up, I moved around for a bit until I was 19. By this time, my mom finally divorced my stepdad, so I moved into the beat up RV she got after the divorce. The generators didn’t work well and the a/c was spotty but it did the job.

At the time, I was working for life touch as a school photographer. They sent me all over Arizona to take pictures, it was pretty cool job honestly. It was a seasonal job but, being the optimist that I was, I figured something would work out after the season was over. Around the middle of summer there was almost no work left. I broke my phone before pay role and couldn’t log my hours. Because of this, I ended up getting evicted from the rv park I lived in. It was the middle of summer and the RV AC was useless without a power source. The first night away from the rv park I parked in a neighborhood and woke the next day to find cops outside my RV. My brother Elijah (18 at the time), from my dad’s side, was living in the RV with me. Funny enough, I had picked him up the day before and he decided to plug in a battery charger to someone’s house so we could charge our stuff. (This was against my opinion If anyone was wondering) The owner of the house ended up finding out about the battery charger and called the police. Unfortunately, I didn’t have insurance on the RV at the time. The cops wanted to tow the rv but I talked them into just taking the plates and for the next two months, I moved the RV to a new location everyday with no tags, license or insurance. It was survival mode again. I stayed in Walmart and cracker barrel parking lots until managers kicked me out. I ate rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Eventually, I landed a job with a previous employer and he knew someone with a ranch that had RV spots. I moved my RV there for another month or two before selling it and moving into my mom’s spare bedroom.

Shortly after I moved in with my mom, I met Ky. We met at rave and I fell in love with Ky almost instantly. She inspired a wave of creative energy in me and it inspired my second mixtape. I borrowed studio equipment from my friend, once again, and got to work. This time, I wasn’t doing it alone. My long time friend, Bennet, helped me record the mixtape. It took us three months from start to finish and we ended up dropping it October 13th, a good two years from my last mixtape. My friendship with Ky was short-lived since she was moving to New York in the beginning of October for college. It broke my heart but we agreed to stop talking once she left. Afterwards, I laid low and started getting ready to move again since my mom’s lease was up and we had to leave.

I moved in with Bennet to a two bedroom in Central Phoenix. (Where I live now) This was a huge turn in my life. I moved here about a year ago while I was in the middle of wrapping my head around heartbreak and complex emotional issues related to my mom and stepdad. Dealing with the past can be challenging but I began to mature and move forward. There was a lot going on in life but things were finally starting to look up for me.

Right before Bennet and I moved in together I met my current girlfriend, Alice. I was on Instagram one day when I noticed this woman who seemed to have it all put together and I realized she’d just followed me back. I remember laughing to myself and thinking ‘what are the odds that someone as intellectual looking as her would be interested in someone as free-spirited as me’? To my surprise, she sent me a DM a few days later. It was very casual at first and we texted for 2-3 weeks before she agreed to meet me at Tempe Town Lake. I don’t know what it is about her but it’s so easy to be with her. We were fast friends but after a month of spending time together and going on dates, we decided to be together.

A few months later, I found out Bennet had been lying about some pretty serious things he’d done during our friendship. With our friendship being rocky to begin with, I deiced I couldn’t live with him any longer. So, Bennet moved out and Alice ended up moving in afterwards. Alice helped me get on my feet. I started working with a producer named beat creep, who helped me release a few of my newer songs. Finally, I was starting to meet more creative people and collaborating with other artists again. However, it became hard to rely on people and getting projects done by a due date so I started taking things into my own hands. I did some research and purchased some high-quality equipment to rebuild my home studio, but better. Now we are here!

Recently, I’ve been heavily focusing on two major projects: The first is a mixtape that’s heavily influenced by hard rap and the second is JuiceBox live. I have been collaborating with several underground artists to complete my mixtape and release it by this summer.

In the mean time, I throw JuiceBox live which is a party with live performances by numerous talented local artists that we live stream on various social media handles. The best part is the direct audio connection we have that allows us to produce quality sound not only to the party guests but on live stream as well. I have several other ideas and projects in the works that will be rolling out in the next few months, in addition to a career in audio engineering.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think one of the biggest challenges in my life would be the lack of support I received from my mom and stepdad in regards to my music. Because of this, I fought with myself for a long time about making music because it might make me a failure but it’s all I ever wanted to do.

Being on my own at a young age was also a huge challenge, let alone the emotional struggles I was facing. Everyone has their ups and downs but at the end of the day my biggest issue has always been myself. Sometimes it’s hard not to lose hope or get distracted by life but learning to prioritize what’s important and taking care of yourself can really help.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
My name is fRybby (pronounced: fry baby) and I’m a musician. I would say I make indie rap mixed with some alternative indie rock/rap music. I remember being alone during some of the darkest parts of my life and music was the only thing that kept me sane. Because of this, want to produce music that can keep other company during their dark times just as my idols did for me. So, I put a positive spin on my lyrics and take rap from new perspective. I try my best to stay true to myself in every rap and never make music for money or to please a majority.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I’d say my favorite childhood memory has to be my 5th birthday. My mom woke me up in the middle of the night and led me down our dark hallway. I found my stepdad and sister waiting in the kitchen with a little LEGO cake and five candles. We were broke back then and all I got that birthday was the little Star Wars lego set on the cake. But it felt so special for us to be together, I think that’s the only time I’ve ever felt like that.

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Image Credit:
Deanna Bailey, Jake Segura, Bryan Villegas, Andy Barnett

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