Music Spotlight: Joey Aich

Mr. Smalls Funhouse, where Joey Aich will be performing this month. Photo credit – License

by Ryan Durstewitz

Joey Aich, an up-and-coming rapper based out of Columbus, Ohio, has been on his music journey for a long time and has no plans to stop anytime soon.

Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Joey Aich’s journey started when he discovered a love for writing poetry in middle school. As time passed and he continued writing, he entered high school and joined the school choir and theater. It wasn’t until after high school and enrolled in Denison University that he finally found his passion, music. With the help of a college friend, Joey started taking music more seriously creating and performing his own original music. He started small, performing locally on campus but, also traveled to neighboring cities such as Cincinnati, Dayton, and his hometown of Cleveland. Once he reached his junior year at Denison, he knew this was what he wanted to do with his life, so he ran with it. Since then, Joey has not looked back. Over the years, he has grown and improved as a rapper in more ways than none. His biggest change was his style. Joey’s rapping and writing style has changed immensely saying, “With age, time, and practice things are more evolved and just better.”. He started modeling his rapping from things he learned from his early childhood heroes such as Jay Z, Nas, and Lupe Fiasco. As he got older and matured, he took a liking to J Cole, Mac Miller, and Kendrick Lamar, taking bits and pieces of their style to help shape his own.

One thing, besides style and writing, that he took from these rappers was how to be a good person and role model. He said, “That’s what I want to be like as an artist, not even just a rapper but as a person too. That’s how I want to be.” Joey emphasized how important it is for him to be a good person and music fan first, and a rapper second. “I’m a fan of music before anything,” Joey says, “Being a music fan first allows you to see what you want to be.”. His main goal with all his music and his motivation behind his journey is to give what music gave to him, a way to connect with others. Joey says, “Being a fan of music I know what music has done for me, I know what different artists have done for me, music has always been a way for me to connect with people.” He wants his music and his journey to be an inspiration for others saying, “For me, I just want to inspire people and use my music and my story and put it into the world so somebody else can listen to my music and relate to it and also feel inspired in the same way I was inspired.”

Over the last few years, Joey has been working with students which allows him to realize that there is more to music than just rapping. He sees how these kids look up to him just like how he used to look up to some of his favorite rappers. The students reminded Joey how important it is to be a role model for the younger generation. He wants his music to leave a positive, long- lasting impression on these students, one that they’ll remember years down the road. Joey said, “Before I was like I want to be the biggest artist and now it has changed to a point where I want to make a mark on people’s life.”

Joey ends every show with his saying, “Always love always inspire” which perfectly encompasses him not only as a rapper but as a person too.

You can find Joey Aich’s music on Apple Music, Spotify, and SoundCloud. You can also catch him live at Mr. Smalls Fun House on March 30th in Pittsburgh where he will be performing with Isaiah Small and Rico Blu. This will be his first stop on his Aich Madness 2024 tour. To learn more about Joey Aich and his upcoming tour you can head to his website, https://www.joeyaich.com/.