COURTESY PHOTO

Ishmael Sadiq Montague is a producer and songwriter on the “F9” soundtrack.

RALEIGH – Raleigh native Ishmael Sadiq Montague, professionally known as ISM, has risen from a set of toddler drums to self-taught musician and producer making a mark in the industry.

An early passion for beats born on a tin of Legos has landed Montague a spot as a featured producer and songwriter on the original motion picture soundtrack of “F9: The Fast Saga,” released on June 25.

The Raleigh-born CEO of ISM Beats & SE7EN Intl LLC is credited for Track 3, “Hit ‘Em Hard,” featuring Offset, Kevin Gates, Lil Durk, Trippie Redd, and the late King Von. The 14-song compilation was released June 17 by Atlantic Records and has already made Billboard’s Top 10. The film has grossed more than $292 million since its May 19 international release, making it this year’s fourth-highest grossing film.

“I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know how to play,” Montague said of his first instrument. “It’s kind of like knowing English or how to walk or how to breathe. It was always a thing in my life.”

ISM, 24, is a self-taught beatsmith whose roots run deepest in Southeast Raleigh, where his parents, real estate development moguls James and Wonza Montague, were born and raised, and continue to impact the area’s economic landscape with an expanding commercial real estate footprint. He is a 2015 graduate of Enloe High School.

At 15, with a following built playing drums in church and a high school band, The Program, ISM used money earned cutting grass to buy his first computer and began teaching himself how to make beats – and how to get them in the hands of artists. He scored his first placement his senior year in high school on Chief Keef’s “Michelin.” ISM postponed plans for college and began working with his manager and Atlantic Record music executives. Within a year, he secured placement on his first major album with Ty Dolla $ign’s “My Song.”

At 19, ISM produced “Party” by Chris Brown featuring Usher and Gucci Mane, landing his first Billboard Top 40 debut.

ISM also has songs with Wiz Khalifa, French Montana, T-Pain, Kid Ink, and Jason Derulo, including as producer of Derulo’s "Colors – The Official Coca-Cola World Cup Anthem." Although F9 is his big-screen soundtrack debut, Washington, D.C.-area artists Thraxxx, Big Flock, Lizzle and Freak Show have for years relied on ISM Beats on their self-released mixtapes, which helped catapult one of his largest followings in the DC-Maryland-Virginia market.

ISM also is building a following beyond producing as an artist himself with tracks such as “Lately,” featuring both his beats, songwriting and voice; evidence of his plan to pursue that avenue, as well.

ISM said his music is inspired by real life, his own and that around him. His process is to express himself honestly, hoping to connect with the audience and that “they genuinely harmonize with your frequency.”

While he continues to learn how to navigate the industry of producing, songwriting and overall music artistry, ISM has made North Carolina home and will call on the lessons learned from his family legacy of entrepreneurship, realizing passions through hard work, and community service and development.

Specifically recalling his father’s instructions to learn his craft, commit to it, and earn the money and do the legwork to get it recognized, ISM referred to biblical scripture that employs that to teach a man to fish is better than to give him fish.

“That principle molded me to be able to sit still, stick to it, and polish my craft,” he said. “He was teaching me how to fish.”

ISM hopes to do the same by teaching and nurturing “home-grown” talent like himself that not only helps up and coming artists navigate the industry, avoiding some of the pitfalls he’s endured, but also shines the international spotlight on local talent.

“That’s what I’m here to teach and accomplish,” he said, assuring an open door for “home-grown producers” to seek him out for guidance, molding, shaping, and development.

“Raleigh will have to have its own moment; its own artists, sound and culture,” he said. “I see Raleigh having its own powerhouse, its own industry.”

Comments