Joey Holbert, Lyricist and a Creative
Joseph Holbert is Joey Aich; Aich is Holbert. The Cleveland (Woodmere) native, started performing in 2017 locally. His music is a satisfying mix of backpack and jazz rap. He brings a youthful spin to that old, soulful sound. Being a rapper and the son of the Mayor of Woodmere Village, a vision of his style starts to take shape. He takes on a litany of themes in music. From his first Single release “Rope Break,” a track about overcoming doubt and tough circumstances to find success, all the way to his 2020 Open Treehouse album release “Extra Sauce” where he’s got enough on his plate, please don’t over dress his wings.
A true statesman, growing up in Cleveland, attending college near Newark at Denison, and now living in Columbus… you could say Joey embodies Ohio. This past June, he released Open Treehouse, but as 2020 was a wild ride, he kept writing and writing and accrued another batch of songs. In my studio this past week, he told us he grappled with these questions, "would it crowd all his hard work on Treehouse to release more music so soon? Should he give the album more time to breathe?" Well, as an artist, 2020 gave him strength in addition to giving him questions, a common theme I’ve been recognizing in the artist community. So, he decided to release the EP “Out of My Own Way” this February and get out of his own head about overthinking releases. Check out both the album and the EP on Bandcamp. Also, follow him on Insta, he's hilarious and keeps us all up to date on his live streams. Joey brings the best content and support for those Cleveland Browns.
"Life throwing curves like Kershaw
Gotta couple things I gotta work on,
Build on me, build on self
Jayhawk, I build the world, I’m Bill Self
Built to face fears and build wealth"
-Aich off the track "Run Down."
Joey Aich was such a pleasure to have in the studio. He was so easy to photograph, and I’m so grateful to have snapped these images of him. I love his messages, especially the one above about working on the self and setting himself up for success through hard work. This is a message Brown Girls Mentoring is working endlessly to instill in their girls. His place in King Lincoln is close to the nonprofit's HQ, which I think is important to mention. I want to reiterate that this noble work is in our own backyard of our own city.
Joey continues our #CenteringBlackVoices campaign while we fundraise for Brown Girls Mentoring. The sign-up link is now live! We’ll be offering 30-minute portrait sessions for 150 dollars, 50% of which will be going to Brown Girls Mentoring. If you can't make it this month for your professional portrait, consider donating directly to their cause on their website.
So, grab your slot while they’re still available and help us reach our goal of $1000.00 for Brown Girls Mentoring which does such important work in our community.
All photos are taken by Emma Parker Photography except the cover art for Out of my Own Way which was taken by Zane Osler.
For more information, please contact Emma at eparker.photo1@gmail.com.
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